This webinar will focus on providing information about the emergency debt relief specific to Socially Disadvantaged producers. This information is a part of the American Rescue Plan and the IAC’s Indian Ag Rescue Initiative. Join us for this information session and a live Q & A period.

Register to join today, May 10th, at 2:00 pm Mountain Time: http://bit.ly/USDADebtReliefWebinar.

On May 12 and 13th, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will be holding tribal consultations on the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development’s (IEED) proposed regulation to implement the Native American Business Incubators Program Act. The Indian Business Incubators Program (IBIP) is a program in which IEED provides competitive grants to eligible applicants to establish and operate business incubators that serve tribal communities.

The regulation under consideration establishes: program eligibility, the application process, application evaluation criteria, awards disbursement, and program administration.

Both consultations will take place at 1:00pm EDT.

To register for the May 12 Consultation, click here.

To register for the May 13 Consultation, click here.

“Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said Tuesday that it is “unfortunate” former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) recently claimed that “nothing” was in America before white colonizers arrived and that Native Americans haven’t done much for American culture anyway.

“Of course it’s unfortunate,” Haaland, the nation’s first-ever Indigenous Cabinet secretary, told HuffPost in a Zoom interview.

“It’s unfortunate that, first of all, that perhaps we haven’t done a good job of educating Americans about Indian history, because Native American history truly is American history,” she said. “When we think about the influence that Native Americans have had on the forming of the United States, right? The U.S. Constitution is based on the Iroquois Confederacy. Native Americans from some tribes here in this country have some of the oldest democracies in the world.”

Haaland was responding to a question about offensive comments made late last month by Santorum, currently a CNN senior political commentator.”

Read more in HuffPost.

Executive Director The Executive Director serves as chief executive officer of the organization and is responsible for overseeing the administration, programs, and strategic plan of the organization. The position reports directly to the Board of Directors. Learn more and apply at www.nafoa.org/jobs.

Senior Policy Advisor
The Senior Legislative Policy Director (“SLP”) is responsible for both managing and supervising the legislative policy practice areas of NAFOA’s operation. As a manager the SLP will make essential decisions that affect all aspects of NAFOA’s legislative policy practice area, including the formulation, development and advocacy of federal Indian policies in the fields of tax, finance, investment, banking, infrastructure, and common sectors such as energy, gaming, and government contracting, as well as issues related to land use, among others.

Learn more and apply at www.nafoa.org/jobs

By Bruce McCain, PhD, CFA

Regrettably, the Coronavirus pandemic remains a centerpiece of the economic outlook. Now that the vaccination process has begun, experts warn that vaccinations will not provide a silver bullet. Genetic variations, the length of the vaccine effectiveness, and the reluctance of people to be vaccinated all pose risks that the virus could continue to cause problems. Until some of these issues can be resolved, the virus will remain an economic issue.

Congress apparently believes the economy will also remain exceptionally weak, providing the justification for almost two trillion dollars of additional government spending. The Fed’s extremely easy monetary policy also supports that view. Certainly, employment numbers underscore those concerns. Nonfarm payrolls tell us the economy still employs roughly 10 million fewer people than at the peak last year. Following the2008 recession, it took almost five years to recover the 8.7 million jobs that were lost. A repeat of that experience would be painful.

And yet overall economic conditions may be better than may think.

Read more in the Spring 2021 NAFOA Navigator (page 97-100)