State and Tribes Building New Traditions Series: Welfare Reform on Tribal Lands

State-Tribal Relations

States and Tribes Building New Traditions Series

This publication is a product of the State-Tribal Relations Project, a partnership between the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Congress of American Indians. The NCSL State-Tribal Relations Project policy series is designed to help legislators and tribal leaders gain a greater understanding of the issues affecting each constituency and to identify methods for cooperative policymaking in an issue-specific context.

Welfare Reform on Tribal Lands
Examples of State-Tribal Collaboration

By Andrea Wilkins
February 2004

American Indian and Alaskan Native tribes face enormous challenges as they struggle to develop their economies, create jobs for their citizens and provide services to the families in their communities. Unemployment rates on many reservations hover between 40 percent and 50 percent, reaching as high as 70 percent or 80 percent in some cases. Jobs are scarce or often nonexistent, and rural locations or lack of transportation and infrastructure of many reservations make it difficult for individuals to get to jobs located in more populated areas. This situation leaves many tribal families with no choice but to rely on government assistance for income support, food and medical care.

Welfare dependency reached an all-time high in the United States in 1994, causing many to question the structure of the social safety net in this country. Policymakers nationwide began to rethink the way public assistance is provided and to develop new ways of helping needy families without contributing to the growing problem of generational welfare dependency. Tribal communities also began to think about how they could provide more culturally relevant services to their citizens and create programs that are better equipped to meet the unique circumstance faced by Native families. This movement paved the way for welfare reform legislation passed in 1996 that allowed states and tribes to develop programs that fit the particular needs of their communities and to ultimately enable their citizens to end their dependence on welfare and become self-sufficient. 2004, 11 pages.

Adobe PDF Download PDF Version

To view PDF files, you must install Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Back arrow, return to previous page State-Tribal Publications