Shinnecock Indian Nation gets $1.8M grant from feds to cover COVID-related expenses
The Shinnecock Indian Nation with a message on a billboard seen on Route 27 in Southampton on March 21. Credit: Randee Daddona
The Shinnecock Indian Nation has received $1.8 million in restricted funding through the federal CARES Act to help cover COVID-19-related current and future costs, the Southampton tribe’s council of trustees disclosed to members Friday.
The tribe has seen on-reservation cases of coronavirus rise to three, and two members who lived off the reservation have died of the virus, Newsday has reported. The tribe has about 1,500 members, around half of whom live on the 700-acre reservation.
The nation has been able to acquire an Abbott diagnostic blood-testing machine for COVID-19, and has been operating a food bank for the 700 members who live on the reservation, Newsday has reported.
The $1.8 million funding will go toward COVID-19 expenses and prevention programs, including a new coronavirus emergency response fund that will help tribal members pay utility bills, according to a tribal statement. The nation will develop a plan with a “detailed breakdown of all COVID-19 related revenue, allowable expenditures and ideas on how to utilize the revenue to enhance the nation’s ability to deal with the current and/or future a pandemic,” the notice states. The nation plans to conduct a survey to solicit ideas on how best to spend the funding.
“We have a lot of tribal members reeling from the economic impact of this pandemic, and to receive this funding to help alleviate the full brunt of the drain on resources is a blessing,” tribal chairman Bryan Polite said.
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
