- Details
- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Economic Development
The funding spigot is slowly opening in the third week of 2024, with some new NOFOs and additional grant-making on the horizon. Here is this week’s rundown of funding opportunities, events, jobs, people on the move, and federal contracting awards.
MONEY
FOA: The DOE’s Office of Indian Energy intends to issue a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for clean energy technology deployment on tribal lands this spring, according to a filing. The Office of Indian Energy plans to solicit applications from tribes for a variety of projects including the installation of clean-energy generating systems or energy efficient generating systems for tribal buildings, and deploying clean-energy projects on tribal lands. The Office of Indian Energy anticipates making awards that range from $100,000 to $2,500,000 or from $250,000 to $5,000,000, depending on the area of interest. To be notified of the opportunity, you can subscribe to the Indian Energy office’s newsletter here.
NOFO: The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) posted the notice of funding opportunity for the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) Competitive Grant Program last week. Congress allocated an estimated $151 million for the program this fiscal year, with awards ranging from $500,000 to $7.5 million. Deadline for applications is March 19, 2024 at 11:59:59.
GRANT: Also on the Native housing front, the charitable foundation of TD Bank launched its 18th annual Housing for Everyone grant competition, focusing this year on funding non-profit organizations that are providing services that support independent living for marginalized community members. These services include rapid re-housing, permanent supportive housing or transitional housing. The TD Bank Foundation plans to award $7 million to non-profit organizations within the bank’s Maine-to-Florida footprint as well as Michigan. Applications are open until Feb. 13, and winners will be announced in May 2024.
GRANT: The California Energy Commission’s Clean Transportation Program announced the availability of up to $10 million in grant funds for projects that will accelerate zero-emission vehicle adoption among California’s Native American tribes by funding electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, EV infrastructure planning, and EV workforce training and development. The grant is open to all federally recognized tribal governments, California Native American tribes, California tribal organizations serving federally recognized California Native American tribes, tribal Organizations, and tribally owned businesses. All project locations must be within California. Deadline for applications is April 24, 2024, with awards expected to be announced in July 2024.
RFI: No money here yet, but the federal government’s United States Agency for International Development (USAID) filed a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit information and potential interest from organizations related to advancing community well-being through Indigenous-led tourism partnerships. At this point, the RFI is for the sole purpose of collecting information and responding won’t give you an advantage or a conflict if there is a future funding round. You can download the information and questions here. Deadline for answers is Feb. 16, 2024.
JOBS
Strategic Financial Analyst: Diné Development Corp., the economic development arm of the Navajo Nation, is seeking a strategic financial analyst to lay the foundation for data analytics, forecasting, trending, program finance control, and auditing.
Investment Strategies Analyst: The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians is recruiting an analyst to work under the direction of its chief investment officer to develop, recommend and implement investment board-approved plans.
CFO: Forest County Potawatomi Tribe in southeastern Wisconsin is looking for a tribal government chief financial officer.
Assistant Director: Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire is seeking an assistant director of the Native American Program.
EVENTS
The White House will host a “virtual engagement session” with tribal leaders on Jan. 22 at 3:30 p.m. (EST) to discuss President Biden’s Executive Order 14112 on reforming federal funding and support for tribal nations and the status of its implementation. Tribal leaders are invited to ask questions, provide comments, and share their perspectives on how EO 14112 can best meet the needs of their tribal nations. Register here.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will host one session this week as part of its first-ever consultation for tribal leaders aimed at protecting tribal cultural resources, such as genetic resources, cultural expressions, and traditional knowledge. The webinar on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, from 3 to 5 p.m. ET is for state-recognized Tribes and other Tribal members, Native Hawaiians and their representatives, and inter-tribal organizations. You must register to participate: https://cvent.me/bZRP3L.
The Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) will conduct a live webinar to walk organizations through the requirements of the revised Annual Certification and Data Collection Report (ACR) and Transaction Level Report (TLR) as part of the CDFI Fund’s revised certification application and policies. The webinar will not address questions on the revised CDFI certification application itself. Participation requires WebEx, which you can download here. The webinar can be accessed at https://www.mymeetings.com/nc/join/, using conference number PWXW3336070 and passcode 1337614. Questions? Contact [email protected].
The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s Native Edge series for tribal enterprises and Native-owned small businesses visits Seattle for an all-day session that will cover federal contracting, unlocking export potential, access to capital, and contracting with Boeing. There’s more information here.
PEOPLE
Pictured (from left): Owens, Slomsky, Cole, Cornforth, Coursolle
The American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA) announced its new board president and other new members last week. Travis Owens, a citizen of Cherokee Nation and the tribe’s vice president of cultural tourism, is the travel group’s new president, according to a statement. Other new members of the AINTA board include Jamey Cagle (Sitka Tribe of Alaska) representing the Southeast Alaska Region; Sarah Kazhe (Mescalero Apache Tribe) representing the Southwest Region; and Jimmy John Thompson (Timbisha Shoshone Tribe) representing the Central California Region. They join other returning board members.
Shiloh Slomsky has been hired as CFO and tribal liaison for Traverse City, Mich.-based 20Fathoms, a startup incubator and coworking space in northern Michigan. In her role as tribal liaison, she’ll lead efforts to deliver startup programming and support for Native communities in the region. Previously, Slomsky co-founded and served as executive director of Arrowhead Incubator, a Traverse City nonprofit that focused on Native American economic and community development by way of entrepreneurial and small business programming.
Members of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community elected Cole Miller as chairman, Natasha Coursolle as vice chairwoman, and Ashley Cornforth as secretary and treasurer last week. The trio will serve four-year terms beginning Jan. 31 and make up the tribe’s business council, which is responsible for day-to-day operations of the tribal government. Cole has served as the tribe’s vice-chair since 2020.
FEDERAL CONTRACTING
Here are some of the notable contract awards from last week. Be sure to check out our story about the record growth in federal contracting among tribal entities in 2023 and what experts are looking for in 2024.
Reno, Nev.-based Native American Transformer Services Inc., an American Indian Owned and certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), was awarded a $2.5 million contract on Jan. 17 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for contracted lines crews.
Akima Facilities Operations, LLC, an SBA-certified 8(a) company wholly owned by an Alaska Native Corporation, was awarded a $37.9 million contract on Jan. 18 to support the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Tinker Air Force Base.
Chenega Base & Logistics Services LLC, a unit of the Chenega Alaska Native corporation in Anchorage, was awarded an $8.9 million federal contract on Jan. 18 to the US Army Corps of Engineer’s (USACE) engineering support center in Huntsville, Ala.
If you have news, jobs, events, or other opportunities to share, email us at [email protected].
