OKMULGEE, Oklahoma– Muscogee (Creek) Nation approved the Coronavirus CARES Act funds that will be disbursed to eligible citizens which are now being processed.
“There are so many applications being received every day from 100 to 200,” Acting Secretary of Community and Human Services, Shawn Partridge said. “We have different locations for applications to be dropped off at such as Social Services office, Chief’s office, online and mail.”
With questions of when the money will be disbursed, after the applications are processed it will take up to 30-days. During their first week of processing applications, the department ran into some difficulties but are hoping the processing time will decrease.
There are two types of income support program the first one is the MCN Coronavirus Citizen Income Support Program. The second program is the MCN Coronavirus Hardship Program.
The Citizen Income Support Program is eligible for 18 years and older, has experienced a job loss or a reduction of income and receives their primary monthly income under the Social Security Act or receives Veterans Administration disability. The applicant must not have been awarded the Hardship program. Through this program the approved applicants receive $1,500.
The Hardship Program is eligible if the citizen household income is less than 400% of the 2020 Federal Poverty Level Guidelines. The applicant must not have received the payment from the Income Support Program. The Social Services Office will notify the applicant via mail and initiate a payment of $500 for each eligible household members.
“When we started looking at developing relief effort, we encountered a lot of challenges,” Partridge said. “As many people have stated, all of us have been impacted in some way or another but we looked at prioritizing some groups within our population.”
The deadline to apply for the Coronavirus CARES Act is set for December 15.
“The tribe has until December 30 to obligate funds, which means it has to be in the process of payments,” Partridge said. “This does not mean checks need to be cashed by then, we just needed that little time before the 30th to have all applications processed and obligated.”
For more information email covidsupport@mcn-nsn.gov or call (918) 549-2440.
Want to check on application for Anita and Mike Leybas
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Wanted to know if my application was received.