Summary

This paper examines the Social Safety Administration’s (SSA) ongoing efforts to strengthen its relationship with tribal communities throughout the U.S.  We carried out a descriptive examine of service supply to tribal communities utilizing data from a complete literature evaluation, an evaluation of individual- and household-level knowledge from the American Group Survey (ACS), SSA workplace location knowledge, and semi-structured interviews with consultants, SSA and different federal authorities workers, state and native authorities workers, neighborhood advocates, and tribal neighborhood members.

The paper discovered that:

• SSA is doing loads proper in its work with and on behalf of American Indian and Alaska Native individuals.  The company is collaborating with tribal governments and different teams, consulting and listening to native and regional governments and tribal members, and using third-party case employees to supply companies. 
• SSA’s reliance on on-line service supply could also be leaving out many candidates and beneficiaries, significantly these dwelling in rural areas.  Transferring promoting and repair supply to a web-based mannequin—which was spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic—leaves out many individuals who wouldn’t have fundamental web entry, to not point out broadband entry.  Driving to an SSA area workplace takes about 16 minutes longer in Census tracts that embody tribal areas than in these that don’t.

The coverage implications of the findings are:

• SSA or different organizations would possibly take into account a wide range of areas for future analysis, together with piloting demonstration tasks to check sure efforts; creating generalizable however adaptable service supply fashions; partaking stakeholders and neighborhood members with lived expertise; and enhancing knowledge and knowledge methods regarding American Indian and Alaska Native individuals and communities.