Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
National Native organizations are celebrating the passage of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act Reauthorization (NAHASDA).
It was included as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2023, which was passed by the U.S. Senate last week by a vote of 86–11.
NAHASDA helps provide affordable housing to American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities.
It has not been reauthorized since 2013.
In a statement, National American Indian Housing Council Executive Director Chelsea Fish said NAHASDA has been a successful and supportive program since its inception, and allows tribes to create their own housing plan.
National Congress of American Indians Executive Director Larry Wright, Jr. in a statement called it a victory for Indian Country and said now the focus is on the House for its full implementation to help improve living conditions across Indian Country.
The amendment would reauthorize NAHASDA for seven years.
Among provisions, it would provide greater local control over NAHASDA programs, streamline environmental reviews for tribal housing projects, and incentivize private partnerships.
U.S. Reps. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK) and Pete Stauber (R-MN) have introduced legislation they say will end 50 years of unfulfilled promises – the Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act.
The legislation would allow the communities of Haines, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, and Tenakee to form urban corporations and receive land entitlements under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, also known as ANCSA.
It would amend ANCSA to provide the five communities with the right to form corporations and receive more than 23,000 acres, or one township of federal land, which was granted to other Southeast Native communities more than 50 years ago.
A version is in the Senate.
In a statement, the Representatives called it an unjust error and said it’s long overdue to correct it.
ANCSA divided 44 million acres of land among more than 200 regional, village, and urban corporations to resolve land claims in Alaska, but did not include the five Southeast communities.
Little Priest Tribal College, located in Winnebago, Neb. (Photo: Ammodramus via Wiki CC)
A community college in Winnebago, Neb., Little Priest Tribal College, celebrates its 25th anniversary this September.
Deborah Van Fleet has more about the school.
Little Priest President Manoj Patil says a common misconception is that only Native Americans can enroll, but the student body has been roughly 78% Native American and 22% non-Native students in recent years.
He says they’re looking forward to the groundbreaking for a major new science building in the next several weeks.
“We got a $1.2 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant two years back, and that’s how we started the chemistry and the biology program, and that is now leading to the construction of a $6 million, 12,000-square-foot, brand new state-of-the-art building.”
Little Priest offers an associate of arts degree in three areas, an associate of applied science in two including diversified ag and cannabis studies, and an associate of science in five.
It also offers a certificate program in certified nursing assistant.
Tuition has been free since the summer of 2020.
The college is part of the Nebraska Transfer Initiative, and also has transfer agreements with private Nebraska colleges and universities.
Patil says HoChunk language and cultural preservation is a major focus at Little Priest.
Camden Cleveland graduated from Little Priest Tribal College with honors and as valedictorian in 2021.
He has since earned a bachelor’s degree at Wayne State College, where his coursework was free because of the agreement between the colleges.
Cleveland says the diversity at Little Priest helped prepare him for what he found at Wayne State.
“You’ve got kids from all over the country at Wayne State, and with help from the staff at Little Priest Tribal College, that kind of just made me understand where they’re coming from, too.”
Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.
