Oklahoma Native News (OKNN) applauds the efforts of Tribal leadership, Tribal members, and Tribal employees for making Oklahoma Tribal Nations modern lifesavers and changemakers of Indian Country. The information found on OKNN’s Tribal Profiles and social media highlights the $4.3 billion dollars in federal grants, contracts, and compacts brought to Oklahoma by Tribal Nations, according to their latest annual single audits of federal funding. OKNN Tribal profile data comes from existing public information and can be independently verified.
Tribes rely on Federal funding to grow their capacity to govern their citizens and administer services to meet their community needs, just like states and the Federal government. Funding and service areas are tied to each Tribe’s former reservation boundary. Some Tribes have overlapping service areas, and some Tribes have expanded service areas.
Any enrolled tribal citizen in Oklahoma, or any member of the 574 federally recognized Tribal Nations in America that live in Oklahoma, or any tribal member stationed at an Oklahoma military base, should be able to get help in Oklahoma Indian Country.
Our goal is to connect eligible Oklahoma Tribal citizens with the services available to them, so no one misses out on the support they need.
Tribes are classified in governance as Direct Serve (Indian Health Service (I.H.S.) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) provide the service for tribal members and the Tribe), P. L. 93-638 contracted and/or Self Determination (reimbursable contracts to provide I.H.S. or BIA services just like the government does), or Self Governance (lump sum annual funding, compacts/Federal agreements, no reporting except annual single audits, and ability to redesign services and dollars to meet needs). Being a Self-Governance Tribal Nation allows for the greatest flexibility of that tribal government to meet the needs of tribal citizens.
A Tribe can compact all programs or certain ones and may compact and contract with the Indian Health Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs, or one or the other, and may compact with other Federal agencies and departments such as Health and Human Services childcare, Department of Labor employment and training, and Federal Land Highways for road and bridge construction, to name some big ones.
Some Tribes prefer to accept direct services from the Federal Government rather than provide services themselves.
The Federal grants, compacts, and contracts listed in each Tribal Profile show the annual allocation the Tribe expects to receive for recurring programs.
Carry-over years are not included unless a Tribe has stockpiled allocations rather than spending them down.
This has an impact on tribal citizens getting help. Carryover is unspent annual federal funding that a Tribe may carry over until spent. If money is carried over in one year, the needs go unmet.
Some Tribes self-fund programs. Also, federal grants start and end at different times. Some years, when the Federal government is under a Continuing Resolution to keep America operating, Tribes are the last to receive their annual funding. Tribes must then rely on their general accounts, taxes, and enterprise income to provide public services for all eligible Indians in their service area.
Tribal Single Audits of Federal Expenditures and Awards are only required when a Tribe spends over $750,000 in a fiscal year. Federal funding is public information.
OKNN Tribal Profiles only show what Tribes reported in their last federal (grants, contracts, and compacts) audit.
Compacted funds and funds that are clustered may be reprogrammed by the Tribe. Without seeing a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for a Tribal Nation, tribal members and OKNN do not know the actual dollar amounts spent in the needs categories. When Tribes do not disclose audits to tribal members, it causes strife between leadership and citizens. Some Tribes do not let their members see any financial data, even though Tribes are communally owned entities.
It would be like the United States President or Congress not disclosing to the American public America’s annual budget or comprehensive audit of spending. Tribes do not have a Government Accountability Office (GAO) to publish what is working and what is not.
No. The OKNN Tribal Profile data does not include COVID or the American Rescue Plan Act funding for the Tribes, except for emergency housing assistance.
Tribes self-fund many of their own programs and create new ones to improve the lives of their tribal citizens.
Competitive grants are very hard to get for Tribes.
Please check with the Tribe in your area to see what services they have to meet your needs.
