Health officials and nonprofit representatives from tribes in Arizona met at the White House Summit on COVID-19 Equity this week to look at ways of more fairly lending assistance across the country.
The grassroots organization Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund joined the summit to point out that inequities that hampered COVID-19 relief efforts for those tribes stemmed from a long history of inadequate resources. The pandemic only exacerbated the lack of access to running water, for example, or electricity.
Ethel Branch is the organization’s executive director.
"Indian country’s not starting at the same place as other communities. We don’t have the same infrastructure as other communities," she said.
The Navajo Nation received nearly $2 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funding. But she said the tribe needs $20 billion in infrastructure to catch up to the rest of the country.
