June 18, 2012
The National Congress of American Indians’ (NCAI) Human Resources Committee’s Elders Subcommittee today approved a resolution showing elders’ support for Social Security. The resolution was then forwarded to the NCAI Human Resources full committee for a vote tomorrow.
NCAI is comprised of elected leaders representing most of the nation’s 565 federally-recognized tribes. At its mid-year conference held June 17-20, delegates representing tribes, tribal organizations, and individual members attend Committee and sub-committee meetings to discuss and process formal resolutions. The organization adopts, rejects, or modifies these resolutions.
The resolution was developed through a grassroots initiative demonstrated by IA2 under a grant award from the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) for an IA<sup>2</sup> project entitled, “Leverage Model for Indian Elder Advocacy: Giving Elders a Voice on the National Stage.” The “Leverage Model” was designed to inform the national policymaking process by bringing the voices of elders at the grassroots level to the national stage.