The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund works to promote development in Indian Country. The CDFI Fund's work in Indian Country is born of an awareness that Native communities all across the Nation face extraordinary economic challenges and limited access to capital. Soon after the CDFI Fund's creation, it began a comprehensive, multi-year study of lending and investment practices on Indian reservations and other land held in trust by the United States. In 2001, the CDFI published the landmark Native American Lending Study. The study concluded that one of the key reasons for the lack of economic opportunity in Native communities was the lack of access to capital and financial services. The study identified 17 major barriers that limit access to capital in Native communities and offered a variety of recommendations to address them. Those recommendations became the blueprint for the CDFI's Native Initiatives.