U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Social and Economic Development Strategies (SEDS)

The Social and Economic Development Strategies (SEDS) program aims to promote economic and social self-sufficiency for American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native American Pacific Islanders from American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The SEDS program supports the principle that social and economic development are inter-related and essential for the development of thriving Native communities. The Administration for Native Americans (ANA) will support community-driven projects designed to grow local economies, increase the capacity of tribal governments, strengthen families, preserve Native cultures, and increase self-sufficiency and community well-being. Funded SEDS projects will reflect specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound outcomes and include specific strategies for reducing or eliminating community problems and achieving long-range community goals.

Program areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

Social Development: Projects that develop and implement culturally appropriate strategies to meet the social service needs of Native Americans. Examples include:

• Community Living: Developing and coordinating services to assist people with disabilities by helping them reach their maximum potential through increased independence, productivity, and integration within the community.
• Early Childhood Development: Supporting stable and high-quality, culturally appropriate childhood education programs; creating early childhood education jobs; and improving community-wide planning and coordination of early childhood programs.
• Youth Development: Improving the well-being of youth through life-skills training, workforce development training, mentoring programs, substance abuse programs, and preventing pregnancies, suicides, and juvenile crime.
• Community Health: Promoting improved access to care and quality of care through coordinated local and regional approaches, expanding access to healthy foods, and supporting environmental health.
• Arts and Culture: Developing or enhancing activities that promote, preserve, or restore Native culture and arts.
• Safety and Security: Developing or enhancing community-based initiatives to protect the community from external threats and reduce insecurity, violence, and crime.
• Organizational Development: Increasing organizational capacity to successfully implement mission and goals.
  Nutrition and Fitness: Promoting increased knowledge and participation in activities that promote healthy foods, active lifestyles, the reduction of obesity, and other healthy-living habits.
• Strengthening Families and Responsible Parenting: Incorporating culturally relevant strategies to strengthen families and promote family preservation, healthy relationship skills, responsible parenting (including responsible fatherhood), marriage preservation and counseling; and fostering the well-being of children.
• Addressing Mental Health: Promoting safety, resilience, and protective factors necessary to foster mental health, reduce incidences of suicide and suicidal ideation, and respond to the effects of historical trauma.
• Human Trafficking: Working to identify, report, and prevent human trafficking, and providing outreach and services for victims.

Economic Development: Projects that promote the creation of a sustainable local economy. Examples include:

• Agriculture: Creating, developing, or enhancing agricultural enterprise and sustainable farming projects with a focus on distribution at local and commercial markets.
• Asset Building: Increasing availability of effective financial education and other asset-building strategies for individuals and families.
• Commercial Trade: Strengthening local economies by increasing the availability of, or demand for, locally produced goods and services.
• Economic Competitiveness: Creating, expanding, and retaining businesses to reflect distinct economies operating in rural and urban areas, in both mature and emergent sectors.
• Economic Infrastructure: Addressing economic infrastructure needs that will strengthen business development and job creation in native communities.
• Entrepreneurship and Microbusiness: Promoting entrepreneurial development through business incubators and other activities that support businesses and market the availability of local products or services.
• Local Sourcing and Technology: Using new technologies to enhance distribution channels for locally produced goods and services.
• Place-based Strategies: Using a tribe or community’s local or regional assets and resources and collaborating with multiple stakeholders to address economic development barriers.
• Preparation for Work: Developing activities that promote short- and long-term job creation by supporting targeted training of individuals to develop new technical skills, secure new credentials, and gain experience that will lead to jobs created and increased earned income.
• Economic Stability: Conducting the necessary planning and/or research to support achievement of long-range economic development goals. Examples may include establishing a separate division to administer economic development programs or performing gap or value-added analyses to identify strengths and weaknesses in the local economy. Strengthening an organization’s capacity to deliver programs that promote economic development and security.
• Subsistence: Enhancing subsistence and agricultural activities to retain or revitalize traditional native food sources and practices.
• Tourism: Planning or developing resources, services, and businesses that promote travel, recreation, and tourism, or branding to tell the story of Native Americans as the First Peoples of the United States. Projects may utilize the arts or other cultural resources to help revitalize Native communities, promote economic development, increase livability, and present the uniqueness of the Native communities to visitors in a way that celebrates the diversity of the United States.

Governance: Governance is defined as increasing the ability of tribal and Alaska Native village governments to exercise local control and decision-making, and to develop and enforce laws, regulations, codes, and policies that reflect and promote the interests of community members. Examples include:

• Federal Recognition: Offering one-time support to tribes during any stage in the process of seeking federal recognition.
• Emergency Preparedness: Planning and coordinating emergency response services within the community and with state and local governments to protect against the acts of nature and other catastrophic events such as floods and hazardous material exposure.
• Integration: Promoting program coordination among human and social service programs for native communities to strengthen the programs they provide to their children, youth, and families.
• Comprehensive Strategies: Developing comprehensive intergovernmental strategies involving tribal, state, and federal governments to meet the needs of community members.
• Self-Governance Infrastructure and Planning: Building the capacity and infrastructure to enter into self-governance compacts and other arrangements with funding agencies to take advantage of administrative flexibilities to more effectively operate programs.
• Leadership Skills: Enriching and strengthening the management and organizational capacities of tribal governments, governing boards, tribally owned enterprises, and community leaders.
• Technology Infrastructure: Establishing and implementing information management systems for effective and efficient administration of tribal governments and governing boards.
• Governmental Administration: Developing or amending tribal constitutions, by-laws and codes, and council or executive branch policies and procedures to improve the regulatory, judicial, and administrative infrastructure of tribal and village governments; support and enforce business and investment transactions, contracts, and property rights; rights and procedures addressing family and child welfare issues; and enhance intergovernmental relations, including clarifying tribal jurisdiction.
• ACF Program Support: Strengthening infrastructure and increased capacity for tribal governments and governing boards to operate various ACF programs.

Amount: A total of $7,145,565 is available to make up to 18 awards. Awards will range from $100,000-$400,000 per year with the average award being $280,000. Awards will be made for up to three years. There is a 20% cash or in-kind match requirement.

Eligibility:

• Federally recognized Indian tribes, as recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs
• Incorporated non-federally recognized tribes
• Incorporated state-recognized Indian tribes
• Consortia of Indian tribes
• Incorporated non-profit multi-purpose community-based Indian organizations
• Urban Indian Centers
• Alaska Native villages as defined in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANSCA) and/or non-profit village consortia
• Nonprofit native organizations in Alaska with village-specific projects
• Incorporated non-profit Alaska Native multi-purpose, community-based organizations
• Nonprofit Alaska Native Regional Corporations/Associations in Alaska with village-specific projects
• Nonprofit Alaska Native community entities or tribal governing bodies (Indian Reorganization Act or Traditional Councils) as recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs
• Public and non-profit private agencies serving Native Hawaiians
• National or regional incorporated non-profit Native American organizations with Native American community-specific objectives
• Public and non-profit private agencies serving native peoples from Guam, American Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
• Tribal Colleges and Universities, and colleges and universities located in Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands that serve Native American Pacific Islanders

Link: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=298007

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