American Indian tribes across the country have been putting federal pandemic relief money to work.
According to a report by Bloomberg, $20 billion in federal pandemic relief was given to 579 federally recognized tribes. This helped 2,666,151 people and 433,176 tribal employees, according to the Tribal Recovery Report of the American Rescue Plan Act.
Pandemic assistance from the government to Indian tribes is “the largest single infusion of federal funding into Indian Country,” according to the US Treasury, which manages aid from the 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP).
In all, they’re rolling out some 3,000 projects and services — including affordable housing, health care, broadband internet and job training — that will affect more than 2.6 million tribal citizens, according to the report.
Of all the ARP-funded projects supporting Native communities, 1,780 deal with tribal government services, including education; 646 with public health, such as Covid-19 vaccinations and mental health; 344 with housing, broadband, water and sewer infrastructure; and 267 with economic issues, including aid to small business, nonprofits and tourism industries.
As for Fort Peck, the one point highlighted was using the funds to help transport veterans to their medical appointments.
