Tribal Programs

Current as of:

ACF Programs that Fund Tribes and Native American Organizations

Administration for Native Americans (ANA)

ANA provides funding to federally and state recognized tribes and Native nonprofits in the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa through the following programs:

Find out more about by reading   ANA Fact Sheet (PDF) .

Children’s Bureau (CB)

Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal consortia are eligible for federal funding to administer programs authorized under titles IV-B and IV-E of the Social Security Act. Tribes are also eligible to apply for discretionary grants. Learn more by reading   the CB's Tribal Fact Sheet (PDF)

Early Childhood Development

The Office of Early Childhood Development (ECD) oversees early care and education programs in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). ECD provides leadership to support a national agenda focused on young children, their families, and the early care and education workforce. Find out more about ECD's current initiatives:

  • The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program facilitates collaboration and partnership at the federal, state, and community levels to improve the health of at-risk children through evidence-based home visiting programs. The home visiting programs reach pregnant women, expectant fathers, and parents and caregivers of children under the age of 5. The Tribal MIECHV Program provides grants to tribal organizations to develop, implement, and evaluate  home visiting programs and is funded by a three percent set-aside from the larger MIECHV program. Tribal Home Visiting grants are awarded to Indian tribes, consortia of tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations. Early Childhood Development's Fact Sheet can be accessed here (DOCX).
  • Tribal Early Learning Initiative (TELI) TELI is a partnership between ACF and American Indian tribes with Head Start/Early Head Start, Child Care Development Fund, and TMIECHV programs. TELI support tribes to coordinate tribal early learning and development programs; create and support seamless, high-quality early-childhood systems; raise the quality of services to children and families across the pregnancy-to-kindergarten entry continuum; and identify and break down barriers to collaboration and systems improvement.

Family and Youth Services Bureau

Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) Program

The FVPSA Program serves as the primary federal funding stream for emergency shelter and related assistance for victims of domestic violence and their children. Information on FVPSA’s formula and discretionary grants is below and FVPSA’s State and Tribal Domestic Violence Services Fact Sheet may be accessed here.

  • Formula grants to Native American tribes and tribal organizations funded through a 10% set aside in the FVPSA appropriation.
  • Discretionary grants to improve prevention and intervention of domestic violence, dating violence, and family violence; enhance available support and resources for victims and their children; ensure accessibility to services; foster domestic violence practice changes; support research and data collection; enhance public awareness; enhance services for children exposed to domestic violence; and, expand leadership opportunities for people from underrepresented groups.

 Office of Child Care (OCC)

The Office of Child Care supports low-income working families by improving access to affordable, high-quality early care and afterschool programs. OCC administers the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) —a block grant to state, territory, and tribal governments that provides support for children and their families with paying for child care that will fit their needs and that will prepare children to succeed in school. CCDF is the primary federal funding source for child care subsidies to help eligible low-income working families access child care and to improve the quality of child care for all children.

View the OCC CCDF Final Rule Tribal Fact Sheet.

Office of Child Support Services (OCSS)

Sixty-three tribes currently operate child support programs, providing services to Native American families consistent with tribal values and cultures. Tribal child support programs locate custodial and noncustodial parents, establish legal fatherhood (paternity), establish child support orders, and enforce orders.  View the OCSS Tribal Fact Sheet.

Office of Community Services (OCS)

The Office of Community Services (OCS) partners with states, tribes, territories, and non-profit and community-based organizations to reduce the causes and consequences of poverty, increase opportunity and economic security of individuals and families, and revitalize communities. Our social service and community development programs work in a variety of ways to improve the lives of many. The OCS includes the following divisions that include grant opportunities available to tribes and/or tribal organization: Division of Community Assistance (DCA), Division of Energy Assistance (DEA), and the Division of Community Discretionary and Demonstration Programs (DCDDP). The OCS is committed to supporting our tribal partners through our OCS divisions and the OCS Tribal Services Workgroup which partners with tribes and tribal organizations providing information, opportunities available, and resources available within the Office of Community Services. 

Division of Community Assistance

  • Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) provides funds to states, territories, and tribes to administer and provide support services that alleviate the causes and conditions of poverty in under resourced communities. CSBG directly funds 62 tribes to administer services including housing, nutrition, utility, and transportation assistance; employment, education, and other income and asset building services; crisis and emergency services; and community asset building initiatives. CSBG also provides funding to 13 tribes through P.L. 102-477 which allows tribes to streamline and consolidate various federal grant program related to employment, training and related services into a single, cohesive, plan, budget, and reporting system. See how CSBG works for individuals, families, and communities in this animated video .

Division of Energy Assistance

  • Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) helps keep families safe and healthy through initiatives that assist families with energy costs. LIHEAP provides federally funded assistance to reduce the costs associated with home energy bills, energy crises, weatherization, and minor energy-related home repairs.
     LIHEAP can help you stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer through programs that reduce the risk of health and safety problems that arise from unsafe heating and cooling situations and practices.

Division of Community Discretionary and Demonstration Programs 

  • Community Economic Development (CED) program expands employment for individuals with low income in communities facing persistent poverty and high unemployment by investing in community development corporations (CDCs) that create and expand businesses and job opportunities. Jobs created with CED funds provide living wages, paid leave, fringe benefits, and opportunities for career growth. In addition, employees are also connected to critical support services to remove barriers to long-term employment and economic mobility. And 75% of all of the jobs created with CED funds are filled by individuals with low income. CED provides funding to private, non-profit CDCs, including faith-based organizations and Tribal and Alaskan Native organizations.

Community Economic Development Planning (CED-P) grant program helps recipients develop comprehensive and viable plans to spur economic development; builds administrative capacity to design a sustainable business project; and provides the time and resources that community development corporations (CDCs) need to develop a successful traditional CED job creation grant application. 

Rural Community Development (RCD) program works with regional and tribal organizations to manage safe water systems in rural communities. RCD funds are used to provide training and technical assistance to help community members identify and address water and wastewater related issues, including infrastructure and accessibility needs, increase access for families with low incomes to water supply and waste disposal services, preserve affordable water and waste disposal services in rural communities with low incomes, train water operators to ensure water systems comply with federal regulations, increase local capacity and expertise to establish and maintain needed water facilities, increase economic opportunities for  rural communities with low incomes by ensuring they have basic water and sanitation, utilize technical assistance to leverage additional public and private resources, promote improved coordination of federal, state, and local agencies and financing programs to benefit communities with low incomes and help communities establish financial stability and financial reserves to maintain water delivery and wastewater disposal systems. 

Diaper Distribution Demonstration & Research Pilot (DDDRP) provides funding to expand existing diaper distribution services through a robust network of community partners that provide anti-poverty services. In addition to providing diapers, grant award winners and their partners, including Community Action Agencies, social service agencies, and diaper banks will connect families to economic mobility and family support services such as job training, educational support, Early Head Start, housing services, and more.

Affordable Housing and Supportive Services Demonstration (AHSSD) program provides federal funding to Community Action Agencies (CAAs) and tribes that received Community Services Block Grant funding in FY23 and own their own affordable housing units. Award recipients are using funds to strengthen, expand, and enhance wraparound supportive services available to affordable housing residents to increase stability, economic mobility, and well-being. These services may include educational opportunities for youths and adults; afterschool or summer programs for children and teens; early child care, Head Start, Early Head Start, or other early childhood education programs and opportunities for young children ages 0 to 5; older adult care services; mental health, alcohol, and addiction services; services for individuals with disabilities; self-sufficiency resources; resources on future homeownership; financial literacy training; transportation services for residents; referrals and connections to resources to help meet concrete needs; and health care services.

Medical-legal Partnerships Plus (MLP+) program improves individual and family well-being by addressing the social determinants of health through wraparound legal and social services in healthcare settings. MLP+ provides federal funding to long-standing medical-legal partnerships to expand and strengthen the legal capacities of the partnerships by introducing social service navigators, increasing collaboration with other social service organizations, and contributing to knowledge around medical-legal partnership best practices, ultimately serving as crucial links to families as they navigate these systems during emergencies.

Office of Family Assistance (OFA)

OFA’s programs give federally federally-recognized Indian tribes flexibility to design welfare, jobs, and child welfare programs that promote work and responsibility and strengthen families. The OFA tribal programs include Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TTANF), Native Employment Works (NEW), and Tribal TANF-Child Welfare Grant Program. 

Office of Head Start (OHS)

OHS administers grant funding and oversight to tribes that provide Head Start services and provides federal policy direction and training and technical assistance to assist in the delivery of comprehensive services. Nearly 41,000 American Indian and Alaska Native children receive services in both tribal and non-tribal programs. View the OHS Fact Sheet.

Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP)

OTIP works to combat human trafficking by supporting and leading systems that prevent trafficking through public awareness. The Office also protects victims through identification and assistance, helping them rebuild their lives and become self-sufficient.  The OTIP Fact Sheet is accessible here. You can also find additional OTIP resources on combatting Human Trafficking in Native communities.