WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury hosted a Tribal youth delegation from the Center for Native American Youth (CNAY), a national education and advocacy organization that works alongside Native youth to improve their health, safety, and overall well-being. During the event, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, Treasurer of the U.S. Chief Lynn Malerba, and Chief Recovery Officer Jacob Leibenluft spoke with youth leaders about the economic issues impacting Tribal and Native youth and encouraged the delegation to continue sharing their perspective with Treasury and other federal government agencies.
“Amongst you are future leaders, policy makers, and business owners, and your insights and lived experiences are meaningful and important to the work we do,” Deputy Secretary Adeyemo said.
Adeyemo and Malerba also discussed the $20 billion in American Rescue Plan funding that has been specifically allocated to Tribal governments through the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, the largest single infusion of federal funding into Indian Country. To date, Tribal governments have planned or begun implementing over 3,000 projects and services with these resources to help Tribes respond to and recover from the pandemic, impacting over 2.6 million Tribal citizens. Many of the programs are designed to support Native youth, such as:
- A summer youth employment program created by the Crow Tribe of Indians.
- A treatment facility to address the effect of prescription drug abuse on Native youth, being built by the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
- A college scholarship program created by the White Mountain Apache Tribe.