Pandemic leaves tribes without US recognition at higher risk

Rachel Lynne Cushman is used to getting calls from Chinook Nation members worried about losing housing or having their power shut off. Since COVID-19 hit, they come in daily.

Cushman is secretary-treasurer for the group of tribes whose rural, ancestral lands are based in one of Washington state's poorest counties. While they mostly have been spared from the health effects of the coronavirus, the pandemic has taken a significant economic toll.

“We’re doing the best we can,” Cushman said. “But the reality is we don’t have the resources to help.”

Unlike federally recognized tribes, the Chinook Nation doesn't have a political relationship with the United States, which would make it eligible for federal coronavirus relief funding for state, local and tribal governments. Hundreds of tribes lack the designation, which they say leaves them struggling to help their members and less equipped to combat a pandemic that's disproportionately affected Native Americans and other people of color.

The 574 federally recognized tribes shared in $8 billion from a massive coronavirus relief package approved last March. They have used the money to provide meals, personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, COVID-19 testing, business support, housing relief and more. Another bill that passed in December gives those tribes another year to spend the money and includes funding for vaccines, testing and housing assistance for federally recognized tribes.

The Chinook Nation — consisting of the Lower Chinook, Clatsop, Willapa, Wahkiakum and Kathlamet tribes — received some federal funding through a local nonprofit for small tribes to distribute food to elders and help with electricity bills, tribal council chairman Tony A. (Naschio) Johnson said. But even paired with grants, he said it's a drop in the bucket.

“It’s...