ACF’s Commitment to Native Americans

In his Presidential Proclamation designating November as National Native American Heritage Month, President Biden reaffirms that “This month, and every month, we honor the precious, strong, and enduring cultures and contributions of all Native Americans  and recommit ourselves to fulfilling the full promise of our Nation together.” As we celebrate Native American Heritage Month this November, I am honored to share ACF efforts to effectively engage with and serve Tribal Nations. ACF commits to supporting Native American communities’ work to preserve their diverse Native cultures and languages and will pay tribute to the rich history and traditions of Native American communities through our ongoing work in the years to come.

I wish to offer my sincere condolences to those Native Communities and Tribes that have been devastated and lost so many of their family members from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a study in Pediatrics as many as 1 of every 168 American Indian/Alaska Native children experienced orphan-hood or death of caregivers.  We take this time to honor them and offer our support to build back not only during Native American Heritage Month, but in all ACF’s future work.

Many of ACF’s grant recipients had to change their normal mode of operation in order to continue to provide services at this time. For example, the Tribal Home Visiting Program has highlighted how the Fairbanks Native Association began provided services in March of 2020 and their program offers holistic wrap-around services to the family. Their work includes connecting the families to mental health services, participating in cultural connection opportunities, benefiting from nutritional services, and providing resources to meet the family’s day-to-day needs such as getting diapers and formula.

I wish to celebrate the perseverance of Tribes and Native organizations in ensuring the survival and continuing vitality of their respective Native languages, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic that disproportionately impacted Native American communities. On top of awarding roughly $13 million in discretionary funding to community-based language projects every year, the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) issued approximately $20 million to 210 grant recipients through a non-competitive Native American Language Emergency Preservation grant award under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) in September 2021. You can find an ACF story here of how these ARP funds have directly impacted the Corchaug (Cutchogue) Tribe in Long Island, New York. 

I am truly inspired by the ongoing efforts of Native communities in honoring and preserving their Native cultures, traditions, and languages, and excited that more federal agencies are joining to support these efforts. This week at the first Tribal Nations Summit since 2016, the First Lady announced  that the U.S. Departments of the Interior, Education and Health and Human Services launched a new interagency initiative to preserve, protect, and promote the rights and freedom of Native Americans to use, practice, and develop Native languages.  As part of this work,  ANA will co-host the 8th Annual National Native American Language Summit on November 18 and 19. This summit provides a dedicated venue to identify ways to further support Native communities teaching their Native languages and encourage Native youth to gain the skills to speak their language.