While the impact and loss from the coronavirus pandemic across the country cannot be understated, its toll on Indian Country represented more — a direct threat to the preservation of
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Carrie Chapman-Peters thinks about the person and what they will do in life as she creates a graduation stole for them to mark their Indigenous heritage.
As an artist who is Menominee living on the Menominee Reservation, she follows the tenet of “sewing with good intention” and a lot of thought and love goes into each piece she creates.
“And if you don’t feel good one day, you don’t sew that day because you don’t want those feelings to go into your sewing,” Chapman-Peters said.
The stoles she made for 10 students who graduated from UW-Green Bay this month were so popular that about 20 more were ordered by students that Chapman-Peters is currently making.
ROB CHANEY
This summer, Indian Country will receive the largest infusion of federal money in the history of the United States.
For Montanaâs 13 tribes and seven reservations, that could mean around $500 million to spend recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying economic devastation. The money may also fix problems that burdened reservation communities long before the virus threatened their cultural survival.
All told, the American Rescue Plan Act signed by President Joe Biden will allocate about $36 billion to federally recognized tribes this year. Thatâs on top of the $8 billion provided by the CARES Act signed by President Donald Trump in 2020. About $200 million of that 2020 tranche went to Montanaâs tribes.
Little Shell Tribal Health
The Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa put much of its CARES Act aid toward a new tribal health clinic in Great Falls, Montana.
Many tribal leaders are used to stretching every dollar that comes their way. Last year, they were faced with a different problem: millions in badly needed aid money, and not enough time to spend it. The money came at us quick, and it was a flurry, said Karen Snyder, who coordinates pandemic response for the Eastern Shoshone Tribe in Wyoming. We had to act fast in order to get it out the door.