Credit KYUK
One day last year, $13 million arrived in the bank account of Bethel’s tribe, Orutsararmiut Native Council.
“I was sitting at my desk and my then-chief accountant came to the door,” recalled ONC Executive Director Mark Springer. “And he had a piece of paper in one hand, and he was clutching his chest in his other.”
The money, which would soon grow to $14 million, was ONC’s distribution from a fund for tribes that Congress passed in the CARES Act.
Amid pandemic anxiety, it was a godsend for remote communities struggling to keep COVID-19 at bay. In Alaska, 225 tribal governments split more than $300 million, with amounts ranging from less than $100,000 to more than $20 million.
A huge amount of money is on its way to Alaska tribes under the American Rescue Plan Act passed by the U.S. Congress in March. Alaska tribes will receive