FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Contact: ACF Press Office
(202) 401-9215
Native American Initiative Announced
Fortune 500 donations will
help children and families
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced a Native American Initiative designed to strengthen American Indians and tribal governments through donations from private sector and Fortune 500 firms.
The Native American Initiative is a collaboration between the Administration for Native Americans (ANA), an agency at HHS dedicated to improving the social and economic conditions of Native Americans, and Gifts In Kind International, the world’s leading charity in product philanthropy and the third largest charity in the United States.
“The Native American Initiative is a great example of what can happen when private companies work with public agencies and non-profit organizations to help children, youth and families,” Secretary Leavitt said. “Native American and tribal communities will be strengthened as a result of this new partnership.”
ANA serves as the lead agency in the initiative by providing information to tribes, tribal colleges and nonprofit Native American organizations about Gifts in Kind and its programs. ANA is coordinating outreach to Native American communities that are interested in accessing resources.
“The Native American Initiative is one way for federal agencies to link the needs of Native American communities with charitable donations in order to assist American Indian children and families and support their efforts to achieve self-sufficiency,” said Dr. Wade F. Horn, HHS’ assistant secretary for children and families. “I am pleased our department is able to facilitate this important initiative."
The goals of the Native American Initiative are to:
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Increase communication through an information network to provide better service delivery of charitable donations to Native American communities; and
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Encourage development of Native American reservation-based distribution centers to ensure that charitable contributions reach those most in need.
Approximately 44 percent of all Fortune 500 companies and thousands of other businesses partner with Gifts in Kind, which designs and manages the donation process to over 200,000 non-profit organizations. Products available through the organization include office supplies and equipment, computers, software, health and personal care products, clothing, books, toys and building materials.
Today’s announcement coincides with Gifts in Kind's announcement of the availability of recycled three-in-one printers through a generous donation from Dell Inc. The Dell printers will be available to eligible tribes, Native American non-profit organizations, tribal colleges and local area school districts. ANA is coordinating outreach about the printers and future donations with ACF tribal program offices to enable wide dissemination of information to the Native American community.
For additional information about the Native American Initiative, contact ANA at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ana/ and go to Native American Initiative, or call toll-free 877-922-9262.
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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at www.hhs.gov/news