{"id":706211,"date":"2026-07-20T10:54:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=706211"},"modified":"2026-07-21T18:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T23:03:13","slug":"nafoa-5-things-you-need-to-know-this-week-july-20-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2026\/07\/20\/nafoa-5-things-you-need-to-know-this-week-july-20-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"NAFOA: 5 Things You Need to Know This Week (July 20, 2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Raylen<\/a>
NAFOA welcomes Raylen Bark, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and is from Cherokee, North Carolina. She currently serves as NAFOA\u2019s Policy Specialist. Prior to her role with NAFOA, she worked with the Ray Kinsland Leadership Institute as their Grants & Fundraising Specialist. She graduated from Dartmouth College with a B.A in Native American and Indigenous Studies and minored in Linguistics. Raylen is passionate about protecting and empowering indigenous sovereignty and looks forward to working with Tribal Nations. Photo courtesy NAFOA<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
5 Things You Need to Know This Week (July 20, 2026)<\/div>\r\n
8(a) Delays, Tribal AI Leadership, Clean Energy & Native Finance this Week<\/div>\r\n
Monday, July 20, 2026<\/div>\r\n
Source: NAFOA<\/div>\r\n
nafoa.org<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

1. ADVOCACY<\/em><\/div>\r\n
NACA Applauds Chair Cole for Spotlighting 8(a) Application Delays<\/div>\r\nFederal contracting delays remain a major hurdle for small businesses. Our colleagues at the Native American Contractors Association (NACA) recently applauded congressional efforts to hold the SBA accountable:\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cWe thank Administrator Loeffler for recognizing the important role Tribal entities play in the 8(a) Business Development Program,\u201d Jon Panamaroff, Co-Chair of NACA’s Board of Directors said. \u201cNative participation in the program is grounded in longstanding federal law and supports economic opportunity, self-determination, and critical services in Tribal communities across the country.\u201d \r\n

<\/p>\r\nFor many Tribal communities, revenues generated through federal contracting help fund essential services including healthcare, education, infrastructure, public safety, and workforce development. The timely processing of 8(a) applications is critical to ensuring those opportunities remain available to Native-owned businesses seeking to grow and serve both their communities and federal agency partners. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nSource: Native American Contractors Association\r\nContinue Reading<\/a>\r\n\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

2. WEBINAR<\/em><\/div>\r\n
Tech Sovereignty: A Tribal Leader’s Guide to the AI Era<\/div>\r\nDate: Wednesday, July 22, 2026, 1:00\u20132:30 p.m. ET\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAs artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, Tribal Nations face critical decisions about how to protect their natural resources, safeguard Tribal data sovereignty, and ensure emerging technologies align with Tribal values. By exercising governance over AI, Tribal Nations can also harness these tools to preserve and revitalize Indigenous languages, strengthen self-determination, and create high-quality economic and workforce opportunities for Native people.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nFeatured Speakers:\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe Risks: Land & Water \u2014 Cora Tso, Arizona State University\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe Risks: Data & DNA \u2014 Dr. Krystal Tsosie & Joe Yracheta, Native BioData Consortium\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe Opportunity: Workforce \u2014 Danielle Forward, Natives Rising\r\n

<\/p>\r\nInnovation: Language \u2014 Michael Running Wolf, FLAIR\r\n

<\/p>\r\nSource: National Congress of American Indians\r\nRegister to Join on July 22<\/a>\r\n\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

3. GRANTS<\/em><\/div>\r\n
Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy Office Hours<\/div>\r\nDate: Thursday, July 23rd at 1:00 p.m. MT\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe Department of Energy’s Unleashing Tribal Energy Development grant, with an overall funding pool of $50M, is due at \ud835\udff1 \ud835\uddfd.\ud835\uddfa. \ud835\uddd8\ud835\udde7 \ud835\udddd\ud835\ude02\ud835\uddf9\ud835\ude06 \ud835\udfee\ud835\udff0, \ud835\udfee\ud835\udfec\ud835\udfee\ud835\udff2. Individual Tribes pursuing energy planning and deployment projects are eligible for grants up to $7.5M, depending on the project topic.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nIf you’re finalizing your application, the Alliance Grants team is holding drop-in office hours to help you get it across the finish line \u2014 ask questions, troubleshoot budget or technical issues, and get direct feedback on your draft.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nSource: Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy\r\nJoin the Google Meet on July 23<\/a>\r\n\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

4. MUST READ<\/em><\/div>\r\n
Native CDFI Secures $2M Loan for Billings Health Clinic<\/div>\r\nThe Native American Development Corp. has secured a $2 million low-interest loan from the Montana Facility Finance Authority to help finance a new $23 million health clinic in Billings, according to reporting from Tribal Business News. The clinic will be built at the former Shrine Auditorium site and is expected to increase patient capacity, modernize services and expand access to culturally responsive care.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nSource: The Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance-Buffalo\u2019s Fire\r\nContinue Reading<\/a>\r\n\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

5. JOB<\/em><\/div>\r\n
Chief Financial Officer, Bois Forte Tribal Government<\/div>\r\nThe Chief Financial Officer is responsible for the overall fiscal management of the Bois Forte Tribal Government. Must understand Federal, State, Local and Private funding requirements, Position also supports the sovereignty of the Tribal Government and its long-term goals.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nLearn More & Apply at nafoa.org\/jobs<\/a>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Addressing the 8(a) program, a webinar for tech sovereignty and more from NAFOA.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":706212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,1,14,22],"tags":[482,7612,1579,1856,71,121,284,454,175,381,249,1154,36,6880,280,220,297],"class_list":["post-706211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-national","category-politics","category-technology","tag-8a","tag-atce","tag-bois-forte","tag-doe","tag-economic-development","tag-employment","tag-energy","tag-grants","tag-languages","tag-minnesota","tag-montana","tag-naca","tag-nafoa","tag-native-cdfi","tag-sba","tag-sovereignty","tag-tom-cole","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-2XIv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/21\/RaylenBark.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706211"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":706382,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706211\/revisions\/706382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}