Grants help MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians secure future in southwest Alabama

MOUNT VERNON, Alabama — In a Tribal and Housing Authority Office in Mount Vernon, Alabama, Project Director Maggie Rivers can be found writing grants that will impact her community for years to come.

Rivers is a proud member of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians, a state-recognized tribe that is made up of Choctaw Indians of Mobile and Washington counties along the banks of the Mobile and Tombigbee rivers. She considers all grants, big or small, to be important in rural communities where resources are limited.

Since Rivers began her job two-and-a-half years ago, she has secured over $4 million in grant funds for the tribe. She said grant funds touch all facets of her community, providing everything from help with utility bills to backpacks for kids in and around the small southwestern Alabama communities of McIntosh, Mount Vernon, and Citronelle.

One of those grants will pay the mortgage and utilities for qualifying families for up to a year. “Another grant we received provides a $600 voucher for food and $300 toward tribal members’ power bills.”

The grants, she said, have been a tremendous help particularly for families who faced job losses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Beyond necessities, grant funds also help preserve tribal culture and history. The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians’ Museum in Mount Vernon, for example, is being remodeled after Hurricane Zeta damaged it in 2020. As the three-year grant comes to a close, Rivers was overjoyed to share that the museum would be finished in the fall, allowing bus-loads of children to visit and learn about local Native American culture.

Rivers is perhaps most proud of grants that help remove barriers and, with help from community partners, also give tribal members the opportunity to go to college and have their tuition, books and supplies covered. “One grant will even provide a $1,500 stipend to assist with child care, fuel, and other necessities," she said.

One recipient of this education grant money, Kaylin Johnston, said the money was especially helpful in covering some housing expenses. “I am tremendously thankful for the funding assistance given to me by the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians," Johnston said. "Ultimately, my degree completion would not have been possible without the generosity of this financial aid.”

The tribe was also awarded a grant for school-aged children to choose brand-named backpacks at the beginning of the 2022-'23 school year. “It was so heartwarming to see the students choosing their backpacks,” Rivers said.

Rivers is working on an Energy Efficiency Grant, which would replace central air units in nearly 30-year-old homes on the reservation with more energy efficient units. "The grant will also allow us to put up street lights as well as several other security features in and around the reservation,” she said.

While the grants are life-changing for the tribe, Rivers said there are struggles that come with grant writing. The MOWA band of Choctaw Indians is a state-recognized tribe, but does not yet have federal recognition. This makes it more difficult to identify eligible grants for the community.

Another challenge is the time it takes to write and administer grants. When Rivers finds a grant to apply for, it could take weeks to complete the application.

There are usually only one or two people writing these grants, so it can be challenging to gather the necessary information while the application is open.

Rivers said she and her colleague, Lillie Steiner, lean on each other when the grant-writing becomes tedious and time-consuming.

“I have been known to begin work around 6 a.m., work all through the night, and finally stop around 3 p.m. the next day to finish up on a grant," she said. “It’s necessary to work while the momentum is flowing.”

Even though the days are long, Rivers said she feels that the most rewarding part of her job is “the joy of seeing people receiving the assistance that you know they need."

Jessica Criswell, a Living Democracy student at Auburn University, is living and learning this summer in her hometown of Chatom, Alabama, as a Jean O'Connor Snyder Intern with the David Mathews Center for Civic Life.  The nonprofit program, coordinated by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts, prepares undergraduate college students for civic life through living-learning experiences in the summer.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Grants help MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians secure future in SW Alabama