The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is an advocacy group representing the interests of tribal governments. It was founded in 1944 to connect individual American Indian and Native Alaskan tribes, in order to oppose federal legislation that would limit tribal sovereignty or terminate tribal governments. NCAI began with 80 representatives from 50 tribes[1] and currently represents all 573 federally recognized tribes. [2]
The National Congress of American Indians Fund is a separate 501(c)(3) organization that acts as the education and grant-making arm of NCAI. [3]
Background
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was founded to connect individual American Indian and Native Alaskan tribes together as an advocacy organization to oppose federal legislation that would limit the sovereignty of or terminate tribal governments. Created in 1944, the NCAI began with 80 representatives from 50 tribes,[4] and currently represents all 573 federally recognized tribes. [5]
The organization’s policy issues and initiatives are created and voted on by delegates chosen by the tribes and are meant to be the unified voice of tribal nations. [6]
Funding
The NCAI is partly funded by its membership, which is open to recognized tribes and individuals both with and without American Indian ancestry. Only members of a recognized Indian tribe are eligible to submit and vote on resolutions, and to vote for the organization’s Executive Committee. Membership dues are currently $40 per year, or $1,000 for a lifetime membership. [7]
The NCAI receives support from the federal government including the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Justice. [8] The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) partners with NCAI in the Environmental Information Exchange Network, an online network that shares environmental data with tribes, states, and territories. [9]
The NCAI receives grants from left-wing foundations like the Ford Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), and George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF). [10] CNAI has received over $26 million in funding from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. [11]
Issue Advocacy
While National Congress of American Indians is one of the main advocates of issues specific to Indian governance, it has taken strong positions on other key political issues. [12]
NCAI issued a 2017 resolution in support of the Paris Climate Agreement, has after the Trump administration announced plans to withdraw the U.S. from the accord. [13]
NCAI supported former President Barack Obama’s proposed American Jobs Act, which on the surface proposed to create jobs by offering tax cuts to small businesses, and an extension of the payroll tax cut. [14] In actuality, the proposal would have increased infrastructure spending, and taxes on the middle class. The bill was not supported by moderate Democrats, and did not pass. [15]
In a 2018 Resolution, NCAI affirmed its position to restrict commercial activity in the Pacific Ocean, especially as it relates to offshore drilling. [16]
People
Kevin Allis is the Chief Executive Officer of NCAI. He is previously the Executive Director of the Native American Contractors Association, Board Chairman of the Potawatomi Business Development Corporation, and founder of Thunderbird Strategies, a government relations firm. [17]
Jefferson Keel, the Lieutenant Governor of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, is president of NCAI. He has served on the Board of the Center for Native American Youth and on the Tribal Law and Order Commission. Keel has previously served on multiple committees within the federal government, including the Tribal Budget, and Self-Governance Advisory Committees of the Interior Department, the Tribal Consultation Advisory Committee of the Centers for Disease Control, the Tribal Advisory Group of the Department of Justice, and the Secretary’s Tribal, and Indian Health Service Policy Advisory Committees of the Department of Health and Human Services. [18]
Aaron Payment, the Chairman of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is the 1st Vice President of NCAI and previously served on the National Advisory Council on Indian Education, part of the Department of Education. He was part of the Negotiated Rule Making Team for the Every Student Succeeds Act, which passed in 2015. [19] Payment also serves on the Department of Health and Human Services Tribal Advisory Council. [20]
Juana Majel‐Dixon serves as the NCAI Secretary and is the chair of the NCAI Task Force on Violence Against Women, which lobbied for the re‐authorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2005. [21] She has served on the Department of the Interior Task Force of Trust Reform during the administrations of both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. She is the California representative to the Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA), and Co-chair of the Department of Justice Tribal Justice Advisory Group. [22]
In 2019, the longtime executive director of NCAI, Jaqueline Pata, resigned. Pata had been suspended in 2018 amid a review of the organization’s handling of staff misconduct complaints;[23] while she returned to her position, she stepped aside in 2019 after the selection of Allis as chief executive. [24]
Coalition Memberships
- Funders Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP) (non-profit)
- Census Counts 2020 (other group)
- Nonprofit VOTE (non-profit)
Donor Organizations
- Aetna Life Insurance Company (for profit)
- The Agua Fund (non-profit)
- Annie E. Casey Foundation (non-profit)
- AT&T (for profit)
- Bank of America Foundation (non-profit)
- Bank of America Merrill Lynch (for profit)
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (non-profit)
- Bush Foundation (non-profit)
- Department of Agriculture (government agency)
- Department of Defense (government agency)
- Department of Health and Human Services (government agency)
- Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) (government agency)
- Department of the Interior (government agency)
- Department of Justice (government agency)
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (government agency)
- Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund (non-profit)
- Ford Foundation (non-profit)
- Google (for profit)
- Key Bank (for profit)
- Nathan Cummings Foundation (non-profit)
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) (government agency)
- National Science Foundation (NSF) (government agency)
- NEO Philanthropy (Non-profit)
- Northwest Area Foundation (non-profit)
- Open Society Foundations (OSF) (non-profit)
- Pew Charitable Trusts (non-profit)
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) (non-profit)
- Small Business Administration (government agency)
- Strategies 360 (for profit)
- U.S. Peace Corps (government agency)
- Walmart Foundation (non-profit)
- Walton Family Foundation (non-profit)
- Washington University, St. Louis (non-profit)
- Wells Fargo (for profit)
- K. Kellogg Foundation (non-profit)
Affiliated Organizations
- EPA Environmental Information Exchange Network
- Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR) (non-profit)
- Native American Rights Fund (non-profit)
- Native Financial Education Coalition (NFEC)