Current Recipients

The Administration for Native Americans (ANA) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded $21.4 million to 26 Tribes and Native organizations to help improve their communities’ social and economic well-being and Native language programs.  For fifty years, ANA investments have supported Native-led, community-driven projects across the United States and the Pacific Islands. 

Funds were awarded in FY24 for new projects across five programs:

• $11,798,311 for Social and Economic Development Strategies (SEDS)  
• $1,763,567 for Alaska Social and Economic Development Strategies (SEDS-AK) 
• $743,567 for Environmental Regulatory Enhancement projects (ERE)
• $900,000 for Esther Martinez Immersion programs (EMI)
• $6,198,466 for Native Language Preservation and Maintenance programs (P&M) 

“I congratulate all new ANA awardees and we welcome you to our family of Community Partners. Your work is so important in the ongoing effort to better the lives of Native and Indigenous communities,” said ANA Commissioner Patrice H. Kunesh.

In FY24, the new projects were the first to be funded under ANA’s new simplified grant application and funding model.  For the first time, ANA fully funded its grant awards upfront, rather than in annual increments. This approach will help new projects get off the ground faster, reduce administrative burdens, and focus administrative support on the community project.

ANA’s newest Community Partners will assist Native and Indigenous communities through various programs. 

ANA FY24 AWARDS

FY 2024 ERE Community Partners:

The Chilkat Indian Village  will use their newly awarded ERE grant to develop baseline data needed to protect traditional and cultural lands from future contamination by providing evidence of baseline water quality and aquatic ecosystems before the large-scale mining activity within the Jilk̲ áat l'éiw héeni AaniK ̲a Héeni (Chilkat-Klehini watershed). The Chilkat-Klehinuwatershed is integral to Chilkat’s history and culture, and this data will help preserve the watershed and its traditional foods and medicine for generations to come.

FY 2024 SEDS Community Partners: 

Many Rappahannock  Tribal citizens live away from their homelands in Indian Neck, Virginia. With their new SEDS grant, the Tribe seeks to establish sustainable commercial enterprises and achieve tribal economic self-sufficiency. The Tribe expects that by increasing economic opportunity, more Rappahannock citizens will return home.  

FY 2024 SEDS-AK Community Partners:

The Alutiiq people of Alaska must import over 95% of their food in rural Alaska at great cost. With the Asisqat Neq’rktat (Healthy Food) For Our Alutiiq People project, the Chugach Regional Resource Commission , along with its partner Kodiak Archipelago Leadership Institute, seeks to establish hydroponic food production in the tribal communities of Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Qutekack. This project will increase access to fresh, locally grown food and decrease the economic burden on the Chugach region. 

Earlier this year, ANA  funded eight projects under the Native American Language Preservation and Maintenance programand one project under the Esther Martinez Immersion program. The new awards were in addition to $$10,218,134 for 37 continuing language projects, for a total ANA FY 24 investment of $17,316,599 in Native languages.

“Our language is who we are,” said ANA Commissioner Kunesh. “Only a people’s own language can communicate the full experience of their culture and identity. We need to keep this knowledge alive.”

ACF Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Jeff Hild added, “The Biden-Harris administration is committed to Indian Country and continues to support self-determination. The vitality of Native languages is critical to preserving traditional culture, ceremonies, identity, and sovereignty. ACF continues to increase access to funding that supports language preservation and culturally specific services in Native communities.” 

New FY 2024 EMI Community Partners:

New FY 2024 Community Partners: 

Hilo, HI

Owyhee, NV                                                                                                    

These new projects will foster family and cultural connections through Native languages.

For example, during the pandemic, the Forest County Potawatomi Community (FCPC) lost many fluent Bodwéwadmimomen (Potawatomi) speakers. To revitalize their language, FCPC plans to create an immersion-style language model to support new speakers. Other awardees, such as the Arctic Village Council, the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation and Waadookodaading Ojibwe , plan to create educational materials, dictionaries and interactive programs. 

While some projects are focused on improving language fluency, the Changemakers Community Economic Development Corporation aims to increase the use of the Hawaiian language in everyday settings by providing language instruction to small business owners and their employees. The Omaha Tribe of Nebraska plans to develop a five-year strategic plan for language revitalization.

Under the EMI program, ANA will support an early childhood program in the Pueblo of Jemez. The project entitled “Normalizing Towa for Everyday Oral Communication in Jemez,” serves 100 children, including the Pueblo’s Walatowa Head Start Language Immersion Program . The project will offer Jemez language classes to parents of language immersion students to support Towa fluency in their homes. The Pueblo of Jemez received its first ANA language grant in 2021 under the American Rescue Plan. This is the Pueblo’s first full language grant award from ANA. 

“We are so impressed with the dedication of these Native communities, not only for preserving their languages but also for creating holistic ways to learn and speak the language at school, home and work,” Commissioner Kunesh added in announcing the awards.

In FY24 ANA funded 26 new and 99 continuing projects for a total of $51.03 million investment in Native communities across the country.