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Photo: Grand Chief Cathy Merrick. (Courtesy Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs)

Condolences have been pouring in over the weekend, after the sudden death of a senior Native leader in Manitoba.

Cathy Merrick was the Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, she collapsed outside a courthouse on Friday.

Police and those on scene performed emergency care before she was taken to hospital.

The Assembly of Manitoba chiefs confirmed her death in a statement and said it would honor Merrick’s legacy and continue her work.

In 2022, Cathy Merrick became the first female chief in the history of the organization and then she was re-elected in July.

On Saturday, Indigenous leaders came together to mourn her loss.

Here’s Pimicikimak Cree Nation Chief David Monias.

“She leaves a big void, a big footprint in our hearts in Manitoba, especially in the Indigenous communities across Manitoba and across Canada.”  

Merrick was described as a tireless advocate for Indigenous health care and for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Premier Wab Kinew says she was instrumental in calling on Manitoba to conduct a search of a landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women.

 “And so, when we think of the legacy she leaves behind in calling all of us to work together as one province to make this a place where we live up to that phrase that we’re going to honor in a few weeks-time, where every child matters, that’s why I say that she was our grand chief, chosen by the chiefs, but a servant of all people of all backgrounds.”

Merrick was also remembered for her positive attitude and guidance.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described her as a relentless and effective advocate for First Nations peoples, especially those most vulnerable, and a leader that inspired so many.

The death of a Rapid City, S.D. teenager has broken hearts across the Native community, as members of the community seek change.

Many attendees of a recent candlelight vigil asked for one thing – an end to gun violence.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene has more.

Xavier White Whirlwind was shot in the head on East Fairlane Drive between Ivy and Elm Streets on September 2.

The 13-year-old died later in the hospital.

Dominick Stands is Xavier’s father.

“I’ll remember his personality, and his little spirit. He had a free spirit. He wasn’t afraid to get into anything or try anything new. He had courage, braveness, no fears. Just happy. He liked to meet a lot of people and he brought everybody light.”

As the candles burn in the night for Stands’ son, parents clutch their children.

Coursing through the event is a plea to the next generation to avoid the cycles of drug abuse and gang violence that create the need for these vigils.

That includes Waylon Stands, who helped raise Xavier.

“There’s only two ways out, death or jail. We don’t want that anymore. They don’t want us empowering ourselves, educating ourselves. We have the power, and it’s got to stop. Thank you all for coming out tonight. Wopila tunkasila for guiding us. Wopila.”

After sharing sage, prayer and tears, the family and community shared in song.

The Rapid City Police Department has two persons of interest in the case.

An anonymous tip can be submitted by texting the letters “RCPD” and the information to 847-411.

The University of Arizona College of Nursing has received a federal grant to help support Indigenous students pursing nursing careers.

The more than $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Indian Health Service will fund the “Indians in Nursing” program for five more years.

The program provides Indigenous students financial support for tuition, fees, and a living stipend.

 

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Photo: Crazy Horse Memorial. (Jim Bowen via Wikipedia CC)

The Indian University at Crazy Horse has a new program designed for targeted healthcare.

Namely – culturally sensitive Native treatment.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene has more.

The Wichozani health and wellness program aims to create culturally competent healthcare workers in a career field that already lacks in Indigenous representation.

Julissa Fillmore is the university’s outreach coordinator.

“We have partnered again with Black Hills State University and Crazy Horse Memorial to come out with the new spring program called the Wichozani health and wellness certificate program. Wichozani is the Lakota word for health and wellness, which is what the certificate program is all about. Some of the classes we’ll be offering is ethno-botany of the northern plains, Native food systems, as well as Native American public health.”

Fillmore says this will be one of only a few programs of its kind in the entire country.

“I definitely think that having the cultural sensitivity as well as knowledge of specific issues that face Indigenous communities is a really helpful skillset we hope to provide students.”

Angel Lee is director of the Indian University of North America.

She says this class roster was a collaborative effort alongside Black Hills State University.

“The goal is to provide a comprehensive course framework for students to earn a certificate that gives them an idea of the issues that face contemporary Native Americans in healthcare.”

The 12-credit program begins in the Spring 2025 semester, and the application is open through November 1

“I can’t understate how significant this is not only for our community in our area, but for our children and their future.”

Binesiikwe Washington is the tribe’s education division administrator.

She says historic federal policies and Indian boarding schools forced many Native Americans to abandon their language and lifeways.

“Turning back to teaching our students through our language and our cultural lens, I think, it will and it has had a very positive impact on our communities.”

She says students will learn all the same subjects like reading and math in the Ojibwe language.

The Office of Army Cemeteries says it is honoring the requests of family members and tribes to return home the remains of 11 Native American students from the Carlisle Barracks Main Post Cemetery in Pennsylvania.

This week, the process of disinterring the remains began.

The students are from tribes in Montana, South Dakota, California, and Oklahoma.

They died between 1880 and 1910 while attending the government operated Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

Over the next few weeks, families and tribes of the students are likely to travel to Carlisle to accept the remains.

The event “Reconciliation through Art” is taking place September 30 in Almonte, Ontario, Canada.

The day-long event is bringing together Indigenous artists, performers, and knowledge keepers from across the province.

Organizers say it’s an opportunity for visitors to celebrate and support Indigenous artists, while also building relationships in the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation.

 

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Photo: Members of the Central Arctic Caribou Herd congregate at the edge of the Arctic Ocean. A recent report by ACAT shows the Arctic Ocean Basin has the highest concentration of microplastics globally, making Arctic animals and people more vulnerable to toxic effects of plastic. (Courtesy Florian Schulz / Anchorage Museum)

A recent report from the Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) documents extensive community health risks from plastics in the Arctic region.

The report incorporated scientific information from over 250 peer-reviewed studies globally.

Alaska Public Media’s Rachel Cassandra has the story.

According to the report, concentrations of microplastics are higher in the Arctic Basin than in any other ocean basin in the world.

Pangunnaaq “Vi” Waghiyi is the environmental health and justice director for ACAT.

She says plastics and chemicals from all over the world deposit and accumulate in the Arctic oceans, in what is called a “hemispheric sink”.

“Because of our reliance on our subsistence foods and because of where we live, we are some of the most highly contaminated people on the planet, a burden we didn’t create, so it’s so important that we are proactive.”

Microplastics are found around the globe, but studies show the Arctic contains some of the most highly contaminated animals and people in the world.

Scientists still don’t know exactly how microplastics affect peoples’ health, but chemicals in plastics are known to cause cancer, to interfere with how bodies use hormones, and to harm brain and body development in children.

Pamela Miller is a founder and executive director of ACAT.

She says microplastics have been found in placenta, newborn stool, and breastmilk.

“Both microplastics and nanoplastic particles can cross the blood brain barrier. So the short summary of this is that babies are entering this world with their brains and bodies contaminated with plastics.”

ACAT is a nonprofit that advocates for legislation to protect Alaskans from toxic chemicals and plastics.

They worked with State Rep. Andy Josephson (D-AK) on a bill to restrict disposable styrofoam packaging in Alaska.

Styrofoam food packaging is an environmental pollutant and one way microplastics contaminate peoples bodies.

The organization also advocates for a global plastics treaty to reduce production and use of plastics, and to ban adding toxic chemicals to plastics during manufacture.

Dogs are feeling the heat. Shelters are at capacity – especially on reservations with underfunded infrastructure. And climate change is compounding the problem.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Hanna Merzbach reports.

When a wildfire burned through the San Carlos Apache Reservation earlier this summer, a rescue team drove around all night picking up dogs with burnt paws.

“So they had to, like, makeshift a shelter, which is really rough to do, especially when, you know, the world’s on fire.”

Taylar Dawn Stagner is the Indigenous Affairs reporter at Grist, a climate-focused publication.

She has been investigating the impact of rising temperatures and more extreme fires.

And says reservations dogs – despite being known as resilient – are having a hard time finding water because of climate change.

“It’s going to make, um, some of our most vulnerable people, but also animals. It’s gonna make it worse for everyone.”

Stagner says tribes are working to expand spay and neuter clinics to curb the dog populations.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) will publicly apologize for its role and the role of the medical profession for past and ongoing harms to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people in Canada.

A ceremony will be held on September 18 in Victoria, British Columbia.

The CMA is inviting Indigenous leaders and community members to attend the apology.

 

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Photo: Elizabeth Lakshmi Kanter holds freshly-picked salmonberries on her land in Homer. (Rachel Cassandra / Alaska Public Media)

Wild Alaska berries are one of the most nutritious and antioxidant-rich foods available. But climate change is altering where berries grow in Alaska and when.

So researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks are gathering data to make sure Alaskans can pick both wild and cultivated berries in the decades to come.

Alaska Public Media’s Rachel Cassandra has the story.

About ten years ago, Genelle Winter noticed that berries in Metlakatla were much smaller than normal. So did a lot of other people in the community.

It was one of the early warning signs of what would later be officially deemed, in 2018, a regional drought.

“And then all of a sudden, all of those indicators that we had been taking note of made sense.”

Winter works for the Metlakatla Indian Community in Southeast Alaska. She says she’s also noticed other changes in berries since moving to Metlakatla three decades ago. She says service berries or saskatoon are thriving.

“We’re seeing more and more and more of it.”

Metlakatla is just one of many Alaskan communities noticing dramatic changes in berry production.

In the past few years, people have reported late salmonberries in Seldovia, insects on cloudberries in Trapper Creek, and early blueberries in Fairbanks.

Changes like this impact berry harvests that Alaskans rely on for nutrition, culture, and connection to their environment.

And berries are expensive to import, so many Alaskans can’t replace them in their diet if they have a low harvest year.

Katie Spellman is a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF).

For the past two decades, UAF has been collecting data on berry size and quality, life cycle timing, and impacts of snow pack, to help better understand the impact of climate change.

The good news, Spellman says, is that Alaska berries are not going to disappear.

“None of them are going extinct. They might shift their regions so that we have to start using other berries as substitutes for the ones that we’ve traditionally picked.”

Because climate change impacts are unpredictable, Spellman says the best way communities can adapt is to have a diversity of berry plants.

In Metlakatla, Genelle Winter is part of a team working to increase resilience and food security.

Winter says they’re planting as many fruiting and edible plants as they can throughout the community, swapping them out when ornamentals need replacing.

They hope that means people in Metlakatla can harvest berries for many generations to come.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren has signed legislation to provide for the protection of Navajo people when it comes to the transportation of radioactive materials on Navajo land.

President Nygren signed amendments last week to strengthen a 2012 tribal law to regulate transportation of radioactive materials across the Navajo Nation.

This follows the transfer of two trucks carrying uranium ore through the Navajo Nation in July by a production company near the Grand Canyon.

The Navajo Nation says it was unauthorized and tried to stop the trucks.

At the signing ceremony in Window Rock, Ariz., which was streamed online, Nygren says in August he joined marchers on the reservation who protested the transport and were sending the message that the Navajo Nation needs to be respected.

“And we wanted to make clear that people that live and reside on the Navajo Nation should be respected at all times.”

Nygren says signing the amendments to the law sends the message to “respect tribal sovereignty.”

 

The Cherokee Nation recently launched the Cherokee Film Institute, a tribally operated education and workforce development center.

The Cherokee Film Institute is intended to create educational and career opportunities aimed at removing barriers for Native Americans to enter the film and media industry.

It also aims at creating a sustainable workforce in and around the tribal reservation in Oklahoma.

The institute’s first courses are set to begin in January.

The program is open to anyone 18 and older.

Native American applicants will be able to apply for a tuition waiver to help remove barriers for entry into the industry.

 

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First Nations leaders in Canada are reacting to the sentencing of a Manitoba serial killer who murdered four Indigenous women.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, Jeremy Skibicki was sentenced last week to four life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years.

The 37-year-old Skibicki appeared to be without emotion in the prisoner’s box of the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench during the sentencing.

He had been found guilty in July of the murders of four Indigenous women: Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois, and an unidentified victim given the name of Buffalo Woman.

He was sentenced for each of the four counts of first degree murder.

The sentences in Canada are served concurrently rather than consecutively. That means an automatic life sentence of 25 years with no parole.

Skibicki won’t be able to apply for parole until he is 60 years old.

Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak is the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. She says her heart still hurts for the families of the victims.

“I want to uplift the families. I know it’s been a long hard fought battle, and I want to lift them up for trying to fight so hard to get justice for their families. It shouldn’t have taken so much political pressure and they stayed steadfast through it. And I lift them up in a good way. And I think no other families should have to go through what these families have endured.”

The court heard, during the trial, how Skibicki preyed on Indigenous women at homeless shelters, invited them back to his apartment, and abused them. Then he killed them and disposed of their bodies in garbage bins and dumpsters.

Sheila North is a former Grand Chief in Manitoba.

“This is a very clear example of the problem that persists in Canada, that societal problem. And this unfortunately is still happening today. People targeting Indigenous women just because of their vulnerability. Just because of their social status and what people perceive of who we are as Indigenous women and girls and two-spirited people in our own country.”

In a statement, Cathy Merrick, the Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said the killings left a deep scar on First Nations people and the reverberations will be felt for generations.

The crown prosecutor said Skibicki can never be punished enough for his crimes.

A new program at Arizona State University (ASU) will help tribes with resources and support to establish a plan for digital sovereignty.

Mark Richardson has more.

ASU’s Center for Tribal Digital Sovereignty is designed to help Native Americans plan and develop their digital footprint.

The project is a joint effort between the American Indian Policy Institute and the school’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.

Tracy Morris, executive director of the institute, said it is all about providing full access to the digital universe.

“Tribal digital sovereignty is the exercise of self-determination of all digital aspects in a tribe, that the tribe itself controls. That could be the infrastructure, it could be the data, it could be the physical networks, it could be their cloud or whatever.”

Morris argued developing a platform for digital information is critical to tribal autonomy.

The program will support tribes in Arizona and across the U.S. in achieving equal access to the governance, social, and economic advantages of broadband and other technologies.

Morris pointed out digital sovereignty encompasses all aspects of a tribal nation’s digital plan and footprint, such as tribal codes, managing data protection, digital equity, network infrastructure, development of funding sources, and capacity building.

“The point is for tribes to be able to implement the best thing that they can and exercise their digital sovereignty so that they can serve their members. For the end user, they should be able to have the same access as, theoretically, you or I have in a city.”

Morris added broadband and other communications technologies are a necessary 21st-century platform for tribal independence.

She believes establishment of the Center is a significant turning point for Native Americans.

 

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Photo: 2024 Tri-Ute Games participants. (Courtesy Tri-Ute Games / Facebook)

The Southern Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, and Ute Indian tribes recently got together for their annual friendly sports competition for young people.

Clark Adomaitis has more.

At the Ignacio High School gymnasium, young people from three tribes are playing volleyball against each other at the annual Tri-Ute Games.

This year, the Southern Ute Tribe is hosting its sister tribes, the Ute Mountain Ute and Ute Indian Tribes, in Ignacio, Colo.

Other sports taking place throughout the three-day gathering include archery, skateboarding, golf, and hand games.

K’ia Whiteskunk is the recreation director for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. She says that the three sister tribes gathering for this annual event shows unity.

“We have relatives from the other tribes that we don’t get to see. But this is a time that it helps to youth get to know each other and come together.”

Over at the Southern Ute Bear Dance trail, athletes in colored shirts are running the Ute Warrior Challenge.

“Almost there, almost there, just good job, good job.”

Darnell Muniz is a recreation specialist at the Sun Ute Community Center. He’s guiding kids running along the road after they just slid through a slip and slide.

“The challenge is having them running bout half a mile on our Bear Dance trail, and then there at the park we have various events like army crawl, slip and slide.”

Muniz says that this year’s Tri-Ute games was the first one since the COVID-19 pandemic with all three tribes.

In 2022, the games only included two of the three sister tribes.

“They still had the temperature checks and also the mask mandate still so at that time there wasn’t that many participants.”

This year, the Southern Ute and Ute Indian Tribes opened up youth registration to second descendants of tribal members.

Muniz says over 300 youth athletes participated this year.

Next year’s Tri-Ute Games will likely be hosted by the Ute Indian tribe in Fort Duchesne, Utah.

A Native American man who was one of three ironworkers who died in a construction accident 25 years ago this summer was recently remembered at a public ceremony.

Chuck Quirmbach of station WUWM reports.

William DeGrave, Jeffrey Wischer, and Jerome Starr died in July 1999, when the so-called man basket they were in crashed to the ground after a crane was unable to control a 450-ton piece of metal roofing being lifted in a strong wind.

The construction project was a new major league baseball stadium, now called American Family Field, where the Milwaukee Brewers play.

Jerome Starr was Ojibwe.

Part of a recent ironworkers-sponsored remembrance ceremony outside the ballpark included tribal member Maynard Webster performing an honor song.

Later, Starr’s sister Katherine Hamilton Starr choked up while talking to a reporter about her relative.

“He was a great brother. He was always providing for everybody. Always cared about everybody. Very caring.  He was always there, (if you) needed anything. We were very close.”

Standing next to Katherine was her daughter – Jerome Starr’s niece – Dawn Hamilton, who tearfully relayed a favorite memory.

“Going over to Uncle Jerry’s house, in the summertime to go swimming. And then the holidays or whatever, he always opened up his home to everybody in the family. Everybody and anybody was welcome. He kept us united.”

Hamilton and others also took part in a smudging ceremony to pray for the deceased.

Hamilton says she’s grateful all of those who passed away building a ballpark were honored.

 

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U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) has finalized a decision to maintain protections for 28 million acres of wilderness lands across Alaska, known as “D-1” lands.

KYUK’s Evan Erickson reports.

It’s a move widely supported by tribal and conservation groups across the state, who say removing the protection would directly threaten Indigenous ways of living and critical fish and wildlife habitat.

The decision follows an extensive environmental impact analysis released in June by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that recommended the Secretary of the Interior take “no action” regarding the protected lands.

This leaves the lands off-limits to potential mineral exploration and development.

The lands were set aside following passage of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and have been locked up ever since.

The lion’s share of the D-1 lands is concentrated in the western part of the state, with millions of acres lining the Norton Sound region and extending to border large portions of the Yukon and Kuskokwim river systems.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Department of Interior said the decision comes in response to an unlawful move made in 2021 during the final days of the Trump Administration, when then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt signed orders to lift the protections on the land.

In the statement, Sec. Haaland said that tribal consultation must be treated as a requirement – not an option – when the federal government is making decisions that could irrevocably affect tribal communities.

In addition to negatively impacting subsistence hunting and fishing activities, the BLM’s analysis found that as many as 117 communities could see the loss of a federal subsistence priority on some lands if protections were lifted and the state were to gain ownership.

Over the course of the environmental review process, more than half of the state’s 227 federally recognized tribes expressed support for maintaining protections.

According to a press release from conservation group Salmon-State, 183 Alaska Native communities are located within 50 miles of a D-1 land area, and half of all the D-1 lands in question lie within the range of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd.

The state of Alaska as well as U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) have strongly opposed maintaining D-1 protections.

The public land order finalizing the decision will be published in the Federal Register this week.

Tribal leaders and California state lawmakers held a press conference Wednesday in Sacramento urging President Joe Biden to designate three new national monuments in the state.

It was held as the State Assembly considers Senate Joint Resolutions 16 and 17, which urge President Biden to use the Antiquities Act to designate the proposed Sáttítla, Chuckwalla, and Kw’tsán National Monuments in Northern and Southern California.

The resolutions previously passed the State Senate and the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife.

Assemblymember James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla/D-CA) says the proposed national monuments would protect lands that have cultural resources and sacred significance to tribes.

“By designating these areas it’s not just designating a monument. To us as Indian people it’s a way of life and protecting the lives of our ancestors and who we are and for future generations to move forward.”

Altrena Santillanes is secretary of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians.

“We want it to be where our ancestors they were able to enjoy it and live in it and we also want that for the present and for the future generations where we can also share this with our communities that are in our surrounding areas. We can educate and we can teach about our culture.”

The proposed three national monuments would protect more than one million acres of land.

 

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Some government backed food distribution programs are experiencing supply chain issues nationwide. This is having a significant effect on Indigenous communities.

In response, the USDA is providing emergency grants for tribes.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Yvette Fernandez has the details.

To address the lack of food access caused by supply chain issues, some communities like the Navajo Nation will receive over $5 million to obtain food locally.

Spokesperson Justin Ahasteen says the Navajo Nation plans to use the emergency funds to create more farming opportunities to promote food resiliency. This will allow them to move away from preservative-filled food items to food that is also culturally enriching.

“Traditional diets like corn meal, flour, beans, potatoes, and get that out to the people so that they have better quality food but also food that is part of our traditional diet.”

When their local farming effort is fully functional, the Navajo Agriculture Production effort will be able to provide food delivery for nearly 50,000 residents.

Minnesota’s new free college tuition program may help Native students pursue higher education, as Mike Moen reports.

This fall, the state launched its North Star Promise initiative, where households earning below $80,000 qualify for free tuition at state colleges and universities.

Experts said limited scholarships are one of the many obstacles Native Americans encounter in the world of higher education.

Anna Sheppard, president of White Earth Tribal and Community College, does not sense the new program will lead to a big enrollment boost but for students receiving aid, it could take their college journey to greater heights.

“What I really appreciate is that they’re not going to have to graduate having debt. Maybe they’re going to pursue a master’s or doctoral, so then they don’t have to worry about that.”

She noted juggling student loans and other college debt often limits Indigenous populations from obtaining advanced degrees.

Research from the Postsecondary National Policy Institute shows that between 2010 and 2020, there was an 18% decrease in graduate enrollment among Native Americans.

This story is supported by the Lumina Foundation.

A measure to include tribal voice and knowledge in natural resource management is headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA).

Under the measure, the state’s natural resources agency would be authorized to enter into co-governance and co-management agreements with federally recognized tribes.

It was introduced by Assemblymember James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla/D-CA).

Asm. Ramos says, under current law, the agency is not required to work with tribal communities.

Asm. Ramos says the bill fosters government-to-government relationships, and authorizes the state to begin negotiations on agreements with tribes within 90 days of a request by a tribe.

The bill has support from a number of tribes and conservation groups.

The governor has until the end of September to sign or veto bills passed by the state legislature.

This week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced more than $10 million to provide rental assistance and supportive housing services to Native American veterans.

The funding is intended to help veterans who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Through a HUD program, vouchers are made available for housing.

Case management and other services are provided by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.

According to HUD, the program has helped more than 1,000 Native veterans.

The new funding allows about 500 veterans to remain housed and offers housing opportunities to more homeless veterans in tribal communities.

The latest round of funding is going to tribes and tribal housing authorities across the country.

 

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