CHICAGO—American Indian Center Board of Directors President Chantay Moore is a recipient of the 2023 National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development (NCAIED) “Native American 40 Under 40” award.
The 40 Under 40 is a prestigious award which recognizes 40 emerging American Indians from across Indian Country who have demonstrated leadership, initiative, and dedication and made significant contributions in business and/or in their community.
Nominated by her peers for her work in Indian Country and dedication to her community, Chantay, who is Navajo, is a Certified Financial Educator and licensed Financial Professional. She also serves as board president for the American Indian Center in Chicago. Through her work as a financial educator, Chantay has dedicated her life to improving financial literacy among Natives, which, she believes, will significantly improve the lives of Natives throughout Indian Country.
“It was an honor and pleasure to nominate Chantay Moore for the Native American 40 Under 40 Award,” said Georgette Palmer Smith, Executive Director, Seminole Tribe of Florida Native Learning Center. “I have been associated and worked with Chantay since 2016 during her Training and Technical Assistance consultations with the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Native Learning Center. In her role as Trainer and providing Technical Assistance to Tribes, she directly impacts the educational outcomes and operational efficiency of our training programs by providing support, direction, training, resources, and assessments to the Native Learning Center and our Tribal participants throughout Indian Country. Chantay has always excelled in her role and is truly a visionary in financial literacy for all Native Americans throughout Indian Country.”
In January 2019, Chantay launched Native American Financial Literacy Services (NAFLS) because she saw a need to provide financial literacy programs and resources to specifically support Native American Indian Tribes and organizations by Native American Financial Professionals. NAFLS teaches financial literacy workshops and offers ongoing one on one personalized financial planning services to Native community members.
In her work, Chantay has facilitated over 250 financial literacy workshops, partnering with Native-led organizations, such as: American Indian Center of Chicago; American Indian College Fund; California Indian Manpower Consortium, Inc.; Federal Aviation Administration Native American Alaska Native Coalition; Native American Chamber of Commerce of Illinois; Native Learning Center; Red Lake Nation College; and University of Illinois at Chicago, Native American Support Program.
Chantay also works part-time with Chicago Public Schools American Indian Education Program as the Project Coordinator where she is primarily responsible for the program’s marketing and communications and providing family and student advocate support.
Chantay’s other notable accomplishments include becoming the first woman to receive the Certified Financial Educator® Instructor financial industry designation and title in Chicagoland, which she accomplished in 2017; she earned a Masters of Business Administration from Grand Canyon University in May 2021; Chantay planned and facilitated the inaugural $pending Frenzy event by First Nations Development Corporation in Chicagoland for urban Native teens in August 2022.
