Hot off of the presses recently is the news that the company Google donated a generous 1.25 million dollars to the National Congress of American Indians.
Founded in 1944, this civil rights organization has made it a mission to represent the broad interests of Native American and Alaskan Native tribes, including tribal governance, land and natural resources, health and human services, education, community and culture, and economic development and commerce.
The NCAI for decades has protected the rights of tribal nations - including the tribes' rights to sovereignty which are crucial to keeping tribal lending legal for the lenders and available for the customers. Not only is the NCAI a long standing, established organization it is also the largest and oldest organization dedicated to this specific mission.
This is hugely important because it is well known that Native American communities tend to be underserved and underprivileged. A great example of this is the recent COVID-19 pandemic, in which Native American communities have been affected tremendously and disproportionately.
Research indicates that more Native American people are getting sick, hospitalized, and dying at a higher rate than any other racial group in the United States. Fortunately, data from the US Centers for Disease Control also indicates that Native Americans in the United States also have the highest vaccination rates in the country. This is attributed to the facts that the US government has allowed Native American community leaders to control their own vaccine distributions, and how and when vaccines and relevant information has been made available to members of these communities.
Since the trusted leaders of the communities have been in charge, there has been less vaccine misinformation and anti-vaccine pushback than in other areas in the United States. It is because of the NCAI that Native American communities can exercise their right of self-governing. Since the National Congress of American Indians is a non-profit organization, monetary gifts and grants are not only welcome, but immensely helpful. With the assistance from Google's 1.25 million grant, the NCAI has established the Small Business Stabilization Grant program.
Funds from this program will specifically be awarded to Native American-owned small businesses who have been negatively impacted by COVID-19. As we all are aware, many small businesses across the United States were or about to be shuttered due to the myriad of issues caused by the pandemic the past two years. With Google's generous grant, the NCAI will be able to give direct funding to Native American-owned businesses that need help the most.
These funds can be used to pay employees, pay obligations owed to vendors/repayment of small business loans, and purchase tools, materials, supplies, and equipment to enhance or grow the existing business. In addition to the grant, Google has also committed to provide Grow With Google training to several thousand Native American business owners at zero cost. This free training and support is meant to help these business owners enhance and grow their businesses, which are vital to Native American communities across the country.
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