Lucy Simpson traveled to D.C. earlier this month to speak to members of the U.S. Congress about layoffs within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“Sudden changes in leadership, staffing and structure, especially without Tribal consultation, can disrupt the continuity of services, erode trust and delay funding for these lifesaving programs,” she told members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on May 14.
A Citizen of the Navajo Nation, Simpson is based in Lame Deer and the executive director of the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center, a nonprofit for victims of domestic violence and abuse. Simpson’s group is one of five different organizations senators invited to testify.
In late March, HHS announced thousands of layoffs within the department as part of an effort to increase efficiency and cut down on bureaucracy. Simpson said Tribal programs are operating through unknowns with little guidance about what restructuring means for Indigenous services and their communities.
“There was a significant gap of communication, silence between program officers and the Tribal programs in terms of what this was going to mean for ongoing funding,” said Simpson. “There’s a lot of uncertainty from grantees because none of the new solicitations have gone out. The continuation applications that normally are released in March haven’t been released yet.”
According to a 2016 National Institute of Justice analysis, despite more than 84 percent of Indigenous women experiencing violence in their lifetime, that same population is twice as likely as white women to lack access to medical assistance and other needed services.
