Partnerships

In order to maximize resources on behalf of native communities, ANA partners with related programs in the Administration for Children and Families and the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as with other Federal agencies and nonprofit organizations.

• Intra-Departmental Council for Native American Affairs: The Commissioner of ANA is the Chair of the Intra-Departmental Council on Native American Affairs (ICNAA) and advises the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary on Native American issues. The Council is composed of 25 of the heads of HHS's major agencies. Serving as the departmental focal point for all initiatives affecting Native people, the ICNAA coordinates all federal agencies' resources for Native Americans. It also develops and implements a meaningful policy on Native American affairs for the entire department. The ICNAA ensures policy consistency throughout the department and, where possible, throughout the federal government.  As the ICNAA chair, the ANA Commissioner also sits on the Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee (STAC), which is composed of tribal representatives from 12 area offices and DHHS OPDIV heads.

• ACF Native Affairs Work Group: ANA chairs the group, which coordinates all collaborative projects, reports, and meetings involving ACF tribal programs.

• Interagency Working Group on Indian Affairs: ANA is a member of the Interagency Working Group on Indian Affairs (IWGIA), a government-wide group of federal agency representatives who work with tribal governments.  The purpose of the IWGIA is to foster interagency collaboration and coordination and to improve federal-tribal consultation and the delivery of services to Indian tribes.  Some IWGIA accomplishments include the promotion and co-sponsorship of activities and events, development and deployment of an online learning module for working with tribal governments, and a soon-to-be-released learning module on Tribal Consultation.

• Tribal Law and Order Act Interagency Working Group: ANA has been participating in the Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA) interagency working group to assist in the implementation of the recently amended Tribal Law and Order Act.  HHS’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency will be hosting an Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse website, and ANA will serve as the ACF point of contact for tribes looking for information on programs and services within ACF that can be used to strengthen and enhance their efforts under TLOA.  A single point of contact assists tribes by navigating the various federal programs more efficiently.  With ANA’s broad funding authority, tribal governments would be able to apply to ANA to meet some of the requirements of the TLOA.