A Native American farm fund has been established to distribute some $266 million in funds to address a 2010 civil rights settlement with the U.S. government for past discrimination.
The class action lawsuit was settled originally for $680 million but fewer people than expected were able to make successful claims against it, leaving $266 million to distribute through the newly created Native American Agriculture Fund, The Washington Post reported Monday.
The fund is still the largest U.S. philanthropy serving Native American farmers and ranches ever. It actually was approved two years ago but has been on hold through the appeals process.
The farm fund's board of directors held its first meeting in July after a federal court gave its final approval.
The original lawsuit charged that the U.S. Department of Agriculture Department had discriminated against Native Americans in loan programs from 1981 to 1999.
"This is a monumental day for Native American communities nationwide," said Joseph M. Sellers, lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the case, the Post reported. "Today we bring a landmark legal case, and hopefully with it, a regrettable part of our nation's history to a close."
In March, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the request by two objectors to review an appeal court's affirmation of the district court's decision approving the plan for distribution of the remaining money in the settlement fund, according to IndianFarmClass.com, a website dedicated to the lawsuit.
Attorney for the lawsuit's lead plaintiff Marilyn Keepseagle, a North Dakota Sioux rancher, said in an April statement that they were pleased with the decision.
"Faced with limited realistic choices, we believe it was the best option available to favorably resolve this suit and provide additional direct relief to the class members," attorneys Plaintiffs Marshall L. Matz and John G. Dillard said in the statement, according to Philanthropy News Digest.
They said the funds will be distributed to "Native American leaders who understand the unique challenges of Indian agriculture."
The Post wrote that the funds can be used for business assistance, education, and technical support, and recipients may include new nonprofits as well as certain agencies of tribal governments.
"All of us having served on foundation boards understand how to go about developing a strategy," Trust Chairwoman Elsie Meeks, a rancher with the Oglala Sioux tribe in South Dakota, told the Post.
"We have a long way to go, but this is a national fund. ... With some 560 Native American tribes, this could be a drop in a bucket — which is why we have to be really smart about how we use this money," Meeks added.
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