Blended Funding Supports Streamlined Service Delivery for Native Nations: A Look at Public Law 102-477

Federal budget siloes and fragmentation pose obstacles to cross-system coordination, making it difficult for state and local agencies to align programming and provide coherent services. For young adults, this often means that education, training, and social services are disconnected and hard to navigate. But for Native American Tribes, an innovative federal law provides opportunity for better alignment.

First passed in 1992, the ‘’Indian Employment, Training and Related Services Demonstration Act” (Public Law 102-477, referred to as “477”) allows federally recognized Tribes and Alaskan Native entities to combine federal grants that support education, training, and related social services into a single plan with a single budget and reporting system. This blended funding approach allows Tribal leaders to develop and execute a shared vision for how the resources can be applied most effectively based on their geographic and labor market contexts. This is an important way to recognize Tribal sovereignty, the right of American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes to govern themselves. It is also a valuable example of how public systems can be aligned and services streamlined when budget barriers are reduced.

Background

Plans developed under 477 allow Tribes to combine funding from 12 departments: the Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Labor (DOL), Department of Education (ED), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Commerce (DOC), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), and the Department of Justice (DOJ). The agencies coordinate funding through the DOI’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) (see Figure 1).

The law allows Tribal nations to choose programs “implemented for the purpose of job training; welfare to work and tribal work experience; creating or enhancing employment opportunities; skill development; assisting Indian youth and adults to succeed in the workforce; encouraging self-sufficiency; familiarizing individual participants with the world of work; facilitating the creation of job opportunities; economic development; or any services related to the activities described.”

Importantly, 477 plans can only combine dollars from programs that come directly from the federal level, in what is referred to as a “nation to nation” relationship. For example, if a Tribe gets Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding but it comes from or passes through a state, it cannot be incorporated into the 477 plan and would need to be run as a separate program (side-by-side 477).

A Tribe’s governing body must formally approve the decision to participate in 477, what programs will be included in the Tribe’s 477 plan, and what the 477 plan proposes to do before it is submitted to the federal government. This process can be a heavy lift. Often, Tribal agency leaders (usually workforce, education, or supportive services) learn about the 477 program and bring it to Tribal leadership. Working together, these Tribal agencies and leaders align priorities and select programs at different federal agencies that advance those as a community, rather than individual entities.

After a Tribe’s plan is approved, leaders work to build the integrated system and develop associated policies and procedures or reconcile those that are duplicative or contradictory between programs and their systems. This includes training program and finance staff on 477 and helping them unlearn siloed approaches.

Currently, participation in 477 is at an all-time high, with 98 federally recognized Tribes with 78 plans spanning 38 individual federal programs. As of fiscal year 2023, BIA’s Division of Workforce Development has facilitated the transfer of $316 million to 477 program Tribes and Tribal organizations. The largest share of funding comes from the Administration of Children and Families (ACF) at the Department of Health and Human Services, which administers the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), Community Service Block Grants (CSBG), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families three programs Tribes commonly incorporate in their 477 plans.

Origins & Controversy

By allowing Tribes to design their own 477 plans and implement them with fewer administrative burdens, 477 promotes both Tribal sovereignty and self-determination, since Tribes, rather than the federal government, decide funding priorities and manage Tribal resources.

After an expansion of the 477 program with Public Law 115-93 in 2017, federal agencies were given one year to design and ratify an intergovernmental memorandum of agreement (MOA) on how they would work together to administer the law. This created controversy in 2018, since federal agencies did not meaningfully engage Tribes in the establishment of the guiding document, which reduced flexibility and introduced new barriers to plan approval by giving individual agencies authority instead of BIA. The National Congress of American Indians said: “The legislation is crystal clear: it is up to Tribal nations and Native organizations—and not any single federal agency—to determine which federal programs should be included in 477 plans presuming they meet the statutory criteria. That is what Tribal self-determination means, and that is what the law requires.” The 2018 MOA had a chilling effect on Tribal nations’ use of 477 and the expansions provided in Public Law 115-93.

With the Biden administration came a government-wide mandate for Tribal consultation and an announcement that the administration would renegotiate the 477 interagency agreement “to support [T]ribal sovereignty.” In 2021, after nearly four years of advocacy with Tribal leaders, the 12 federal agencies announced ratification of an updated agreement that restored approval of 477 plans to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior. It also introduced several changes to implementation, including

● clarifying and streamlining 477 plan approval procedures and timelines;

● establishing a forum to identify and resolve systemic conflicts among federal agencies or between those agencies and Tribal nations regarding administration of the 477 law; and

● prohibiting federal agencies from communicating with Tribal nations about submitted 477 plans without the involvement of the BIA.

Implementation of the new MOA has been supported by two workgroups staffed by federal and Tribal officials: the Federal/Tribal Workforce Development (477) Administrative Workgroup and a Workforce Development (477) Tribal Workgroup. As a result of the revised MOA and these resources to support its implementation, the number of submitted plans has increased.

Benefits

At the most basic level, 477 allows Tribes to reduce the burden of administering individual federal grants. By blending multiple funding sources and streams into one budget with a single set of reporting requirements, Tribes can spend less time and resources on record maintenance, planning and grant submissions, and financial and participant reporting. They can also use staff more efficiently, rather than dividing and tracking their time across multiple federally funded programs.

Most importantly, participating Tribes have been able to enhance service delivery using 477 plans. Allocating fewer resources to administrative tasks enables a greater focus on client services, a critical aspect for the smaller grantees with 477 plans, whose resources often fall short of meeting the needs of their communities. One program has, as one Tribal member explained in a quote on the ACF website, “very limited administrative cost allowed under that program. And by being under 477, we are able to integrate it within our services more effectively so that we could provide services to participants faster and easier because they were already receiving 477 services.” As a result of these improvements, Tribal governments have substantially increased the number of individuals benefiting from the same allocation of resources.

According to the Department of Interior, key metrics like job placements, successful program completions for clients, and support for Tribal economic development have also improved notably under 477 plans. For example, according to Spike Bighorn, then-Acting Deputy Bureau Director, Office of Indian Services, BIA in testimony before the US Senate Committee for Indian Affairs, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington State saw an increase in the number of clients seeking employment training between 2016 and 2018, under their 477 plan. But they also increased the percentage of adult clients exiting the program achieving positive employment outcomes from 26 percent to 32 percent during this time. Additionally, the percentage of clients utilizing cash assistance who exited the program with positive employment outcomes increased from 11 percent to 15 percent during the same time period.

Tribal members have reported that the 477 model allows them to be more responsive, especially in disasters. As one official explained in a quote on the ACF website, “We can step in at any time with 477 without having to maneuver multiple applications in a time of crisis. We can have one application and meet…all the needs of the family,” which “can be crucial at times of emergency.”

Additionally, the process of developing a 477 plan allows Tribes to integrate employment, training, and related services, eliminate redundancies, and work toward goals together. As one 477 participant explained to ACF, “We can support tribally driven goals and needs. We can help support living language and revitalizing our culture.”

Challenges

In practice, implementation of the 477 program is not without challenges, elevated recently in a March 2024 House Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs oversight hearing. Titled “Advancing Tribal Self-Determination: Examining the Opportunities and Challenges of the 477 Program,” witnesses included Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Chief Billy Friend of the Wyandotte Nation, Co-Chair of the Northern Arapaho Tribe Business Council Lee Spoonhunter, and P.L. 102-477 Tribal Work Group Co-Chair Margaret Zientek. Their expert testimony explained that it is hard to add programs to an existing 477 plan, which hinders Tribes’ ability to respond to local needs in a timely manner. Witnesses also identified specific requirements that have not been collapsed or waived through 477 but which should have been, based on the letter or the spirit of the law. For example, HHS ACF programs like TANF and Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) still require separate reporting. DOJ imposes a restrictive interpretation of funding used for wraparound services, which can impede delivery. And ED still requires approval for some hiring decisions.

Tribes have also noted that different disbursement timelines prevent Tribes from taking full advantage of the flexible potential of 477. For example, while most agencies fund programs at the beginning of the fiscal year, ACF does not provide TANF funding on the same timeline, which hinders service delivery.

Lessons

Allowing Tribes to make their own plans, get the resources they know they need, and use them in the most meaningful ways for their people has had great results for individuals and for their communities. The efficiency that comes with cutting down on paperwork and other administrative burdens is attractive and instructive. It has allowed Tribes to center people and their needs in their approach to improving training and workforce outcomes, rather than prioritizing the administration of distinct programs. The results from this shift have been noteworthy.

The 477 law offers lessons for other communities and service providers. For blending of resources to work for providers, coordination at the federal level matters. Federal agencies must have a strategy for working together (which was learned the hard way with the 2018 MOA) and for details like timelines for disbursing money. Clarity about decision-making and conflict resolution is critical (for both Tribes and federal partners), as is ongoing support around implementation. In the case of 477, the workgroups provide a forum to raise problems with the federal government and get them addressed.

Developing the plans takes a lot of work. Tribes often employ consultants for assistance in this process, and that kind of help can come with issues of timing, availability, and cost. Resources and technical assistance to support plan development and change management to assist with plan implementation might lower barriers to participation, making 477 plans more accessible and increasing equitable participation in 477. Policy experiments that seek to replicate aspects of the 477 plan model should factor this kind of support into design.

A major key to the success of 477 in the Tribal context is that the plans are designed by Tribal leaders for members. Those tasked with the creation of a plan are doing so for a community they are a part of: they know the needs of their people. This makes 477 a model of trusting practitioners’ expertise, which makes for better policy, whether in service of support in job training, housing, transportation, childcare, or other contexts.