On July 17, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the Chilkoot Indian Association (CIA) had received $900,000 through a CARES Act-funded Indian Community Development Block Grant to cover the cost of housing improvements related to COVID-19. The block grant brings CIA’s CARES Act funding total to more than $2 million from three distinct sources—HUD, the U.S. Treasury Department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

The HUD funding was awarded on a first-come, first-served basis from $100 million in CARES Act dollars set aside for the block grants.

Tribal administrator Harriet Brouillette said CIA submitted its application within the first minute HUD began accepting them. Within four minutes, the department closed the application period due to the high volume of applicants.

CIA was eligible for a grant of up to $900,000 through HUD.

“The D.C. office made the decision to fund us at one-hundred percent, which was a surprise to me,” Brouillette said. “It means they went through our application budget line items one by one and made the decision that every one of the requests we made was legitimate.”

The HUD grant will fund sanitation improvements in homes ranging from the purchase of cleaning supplies to the installation of running water and septic systems. It will also help fund food storage purchases and the renovation of an apartment people can use for quarantining.

“We would like people to be able to hunker down safely and have everything that they need to stay safe and sanitary during that time,” Brouillette said.

The Treasury Department funding comes from $8 billion set aside in the CARES Act for payments to tribal governments. Sixty percent of the funding was distributed in May using a population-based formula, and the remaining 40% was distributed in June—30% based on tribal employment information and 10% based on expenditures during the 2019 fiscal year. Amounts calculated for Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act regional and village corporations have been withheld, pending litigation relating to eligibility.

Brouillette said CIA has asked members not to talk about the amount received from the Treasury Department as it could change, depending on the outcome of the litigation. If Alaska Native corporations are found ineligible, CIA and other tribal governments will receive additional funds.

A policy brief from Harvard University and the University of Arizona about CARES Act funding for tribal governments states that CIA received $1.2 million through the treasury’s population-based formula. The Treasury Department did not respond to requests for comment by press time about the funding CIA received in June based on employment and expenditure data.

“Right now, (the treasury funds) are being used to address our current needs,” Brouillette said. This includes helping tribal members pay for rent, mortgages and utilities; offering grocery cards for food purchases; and beefing up the tribe’s subsistence gathering program, including construction of a commercial kitchen to use for fish processing.

The CARES Act-funded programs are open to all Haines-based tribal members. CIA has 568 members. Of these, 170 live in Haines, not counting children. Brouillette said she is seeking guidance on how to make CARES Act assistance available to members living outside the Haines Borough.

Brouillette said she sent applications to all locally-based tribal members whose contact information she had. Members can complete the applications to receive rent assistance and grocery cards. Priority will be given to those who express a need, but all are eligible.

“It’s nice to be able to count on the tribe during difficult times,” member Mike Binkie said. He’s received CARES Act-funded assistance including the grocery cards, rent and utility assistance, and help replacing a broken hot water tank.

Binkie said he’s grateful for the help and recommends tribal members with questions about whether something qualifies for CARES Act assistance call CIA. “They’re very, very responsive,” he said.

Brouillette said she’s been reaching out to community members to solicit feedback and many have contacted her. CIA is contemplating other uses for CARES Act funds including building greenhouses and assisting with child care, but it’s hard to anticipate what the community’s needs will be in the coming months as the pandemic runs its course.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs funding, roughly $220,000 for CIA, comes from $453 million in direct CARES Act funding for the bureau.

Brouillette said the BIA funding is available for spending until fall 2021, so CIA plans to keep the money as a reserve.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen or how COVID-19 is going to affect us in the long run,” Brouillette said. She said the priority will be to help vulnerable populations and those struggling economically due to loss of employment.

The Chilkat Indian Village (CIV) of Klukwan did not respond to requests for comment about CARES Act funding. CIV has received at least $440,000 in CARES Act dollars between the population-based portion of Treasury Department funding and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.