Past, Present, and Future of ANA

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History of ANA Image

We’ve Come a Long Way…

ANA turns 50 this year! Throughout the year, we will celebrate our history of community-driven investments that help Native families flourish and reservation economies thrive. 

ANA’s genesis actually was ten years earlier when President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the War on Poverty in January 1964. At that time, the national poverty rate was around nineteen percent and President Johnson gave a full throttle call to action: “Our aim is not only to relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it.” Eight months later, the Economic Opportunity Act was signed into law, creating the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) and launching several programs aimed at eliminating poverty by improving living conditions for residents of low-income neighborhoods and by helping the poor access economic opportunities long denied from them.

Missing from this collective action, however, was a program solely focused on Native communities. Throughout the 1960s, American Indians were the nation’s poorest population group and suffered the worst disparities on every socioeconomic measure. In 1970, the unemployment rate for Native people was 10 times the national average, and 40 percent of the Native population lived below the poverty line.

In 1974, through the strong advocacy of tribal leaders and Native American activists, Indian Country and Native communities finally came to the forefront of Congress’s attention. 

The Native American Programs Act of 1974 (NAPA) embraced the ideals of President Johnson’s War on Poverty and recognized the values of tribal self-determination. The NAPA established the Administration of Native Americans (ANA) to promote social wellbeing and economic development throughout Native communities, including Native American and Alaska Native tribes, Native Hawaiians, and indigenous Pacific Islanders.

ANA fulfills this mission by investing in community-defined and community-driven projects that build governing capacity, preserve culture and language, and enhance environmental resources. These investments are delivered through 5 main grant programs.

Collectively, through our Community Partners, ANA’s investments have empowered Native governments, revitalized Native cultures, taught our youngest learners, restored Native foods, protected natural resources, and catalyzed tribal workforces across the country. 

ANA is ready for another 50 years -- and we are looking forward to expanding our partnerships and strengthening the impacts of their work in Native communities across the country. 
 

Our work is with the community and for the community.


History of Native Americans Programs Act (NAPA) of 1974 (PDF)

Fifty years ago, the Native Americans Programs Act (NAPA) of 1974 was signed — creating the Administration for Native Americans (ANA). Since NAPA’s inception, legislators proposed and passed several amendments allowing ANA to offer hundreds of competitive grants aimed at social and economic development, environmental protection, and language preservation. The NAPA Legislative Timeline (PDF link) outlines those key moments in history.

Roots to Branches

Branching Out

An image of a tree with its roots exposed on the ground.

The roots of self-determination continue to empower Native communities. After fifty years of strategic investments, ANA will continue to branch out through:

  • Social and Economic Development Strategies
  • Environmental Regulatory Enhancement
  • Native Languages - Preservation and Maintenance
  • Native Languages - Esther Martinez Immersion
  • Social and Economic Development Strategies for Growing Organizations
  • Social and Economic Development Strategies for Alaska

Embracing the Challenge

ACF Tribal Advisory Committee and ACF partners at Tolowa Dee-ni Nation.

ANA provides funding to positively impact Native communities through social and economic investments. We strongly believe that community members are at the heart of lasting, positive change. 

ANA’s investment goals include:

  • Fostering the development of stable diversified local economies and economic activities to provide jobs, promote community and economic well-being, encourage community partnerships, and reduce dependency on public funds and social services.
  • Supporting local access to, control of and coordination of services and programs that safeguard the health and well-being of native children and families.
  • Increasing the number of projects involving youth and intergenerational activities in Native American communities.

The Great Society

A photo of President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 into law in front of the White House, press, and others.

Johnson’s poverty reduction goals were part of the Great Society, which set out to eradicate both poverty and racial injustice. These policies advanced Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal objectives of community empowerment. ANA’s roots can be traced to these pragmatic aspirations. Indeed, socioeconomic advancement is at the core of healthy communities. It also leads to critical collateral benefits like improved physical and mental health, jobs with purpose, and collective capacity to integrate dynamic economic development, natural resource protection, and climate change mitigation. Great societies rely on such opportunities for advancing upward socioeconomic mobility.

Economic Opportunity Act (EOA)

A black and white photo of President Lyndon B. Johnson giving a speech after signing the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968.

In January 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the War on Poverty, a collection of democratic ideals that ultimately laid the foundation for the Administration for Native Americans (ANA). President Johnson’s declaration served as a call to action, asking communities to prepare “long-range plans for the attack on poverty.” Eight months later, the Economic Opportunity Act was signed into law and the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) began awarding grants shortly thereafter.

The War on Poverty was the genesis for ANA. Established in 1974 through the Native American Programs Act (NAPA), ANA embraced the goal of Native American self-determination, first endorsed by President Johnson in 1968 and later by President Richard Nixon.

A Final Look at the Impact of ANA

Table 1 shows the number of grants and total funding provided from 2004 to 2023. The average number of grantees ANA funded each year during this period was 195. The average total award per year was $43.5 million. ANA’s funding peaked in 2021 with over $67 million dollars delivered through the American Rescue Plan in response to the economic and social challenges of COVID-19.  (PDF)

ANA’s Origin 

For 50 years, ANA’s mission has focused on supporting the social and economic development needs of Native communities through its capacity building, language, and environment enhancement grants, all to enhance tribal self-determination and self-governance.

ANA | Our Journey

ANA’s origin story begins with historic legislation sparked by the War on Poverty in 1964, including the Indian Civil Rights Act of Rights of 1968, the Native Americans Program Act of 1974, and the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975. 

Our journey over these 50 years also serves as a reminder that Tribal self-determination remains the driving force of our mission. As the principle of the seventh generation tells us, the decisions we make today should have an enduring impact seven generations into the future.

By the numbers

For five decades, ANA has invested in Native communities across the country through targeted community investments. Here is a twenty-year illustration of the scale of ANA's investments (PDF) .