Rebecca Adamson
Rebecca Adamson, a Cherokee, started First Nations Development Institute in 1980 and First Peoples Worldwide in 1997. Co-author of The Color of Wealth, Rebecca pioneered asset-based development strategies among American Indians. Her work established the first reservation-based microenterprise loan fund in the United States, the first tribal investment model, a national movement for reservation land reform, and legislation that established new standards of accountability regarding federal trust responsibility for Native Americans. Rebecca serves on the board of The Bay and Paul Foundations and the Calvert Social Investment Fund (the largest socially responsible mutual fund). She has received numerous awards for her work. She holds a Master of Science in Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University (formerly New Hampshire College) in Manchester, NH, where she has also taught a graduate course on Indigenous Economics within the Community Economic Development Program.
