- Details
- By Native News Online Staff
The National Congress of American Indians is offering a $140,000 grant program aimed at shoring up Native-owned small businesses adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Washington, D.C.-based NCAI is seeking applications for 28 business stabilization grants worth $5,000 apiece. Successful applicants must be able to demonstrate how their businesses have been curtailed because of the pandemic.
The funding can be used for a range of activities to address urgent needs in the business, such as paying existing small business loans, keeping people employed and paying vendors.
As well, NCAI said the funding can be used to improve the resilience of the business, such as purchasing equipment or software that will allow the owners to transition their companies to take advantage of e-commerce channels, which have become increasingly important given various state-level restrictions on in-person contact to address the spread of COVID-19.
“Native-owned small businesses serve as the lifeblood of many tribal communities across the country, providing critical jobs and income to tribal citizens and their families while at the same time enriching the quality of community life by providing goods and services to local residents and the public at-large,” according to the NCAI request for applications for the grant.
The organization credited financial support from Google.org for making the grants possible.
NCAI will accept applications on a rolling basis until all funds are exhausted.
Applicants must offer proof of tribal enrollment, business financial information and detail how the funding will be used to stabilize or strengthen the operations.
More information on the Native American small business grant program is available on the NCAI website.
More Stories Like This
A Prayer Answered: SpaceX to Expand Internet Coverage in Rural Alaska With FCC Approval‘Ever Sick Dangles’: Indigenous Apparel Brand Celebrates First Nations Hockey
Tribal Broadband as a Cyber Superhighway to Sovereignty
TikTok Sensation Nathan “Doggface” Apodaca's Star Continues to Rise with Partnerships
Cherokee Nation Closes 10 Casinos to Prevent Electricity Shortages As Cold Snap Hits Oklahoma
10 years of Native News...
We launched Native News Online back in February 2011 with the belief that everyone in Indian Country deserves equal access to news and commentary pertaining to them, their relatives and their communities. That's why the story you’ve just finished was free — and we want to keep it that way, for all readers. We hope it inspires you to celebrate our first decade with a gift of $10 or more to Native News Online so that we can continue publishing more stories that make a difference to Native people, whether they live on or off the reservation. Your donation will help us keep producing quality journalism and elevating Indigenous voices. Any contribution of any amount — big or small — gives us a better, stronger future and allows us to remain a force for change. Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous journalism. Thank you.
