January 31, 2024

The Honorable Brian Schatz Chairman

Committee on Indian Affairs United States Senate Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Lisa Murkowski Vice Chairwoman

Committee on Indian Affairs United States Senate Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Schatz and Vice Chairwoman Murkowski,

In 2020 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared an HIV Outbreak in Minnesota. While the Minneapolis and Saint Paul metropolitan area has been living with the cascading effects of that current public health crisis, we are not alone. Communities across Indian Country, urban and rural, have been living with the crushing weight of the opioid crisis, housing insecurity, and dismal COVID related deaths and chronic health challenges.

That declaration from CDC laid bare the deepening crisis our community, like so many others across Indian Country is facing: the convergence of multiple health and social crises, namely the Opioid related deaths, insecure and unaffordable housing, COVID-19, and increased new HIV transmissions. In Minneapolis alone 24% of those newly diagnosed as living with HIV in Minneapolis are Native Americans, an alarming reality, since Native Americans are only 1.2% of the city population. At its height, the outbreak identified more than 300 new people living with HIV, 83% of whom live in encampments scattered across our community.

We believe that ending the HIV epidemic in Indian Country requires bold, collective, comprehensive solutions that work across the intersections of social determinant challenges Native Americans across our community face. Any effective solution needs the active engagement of local, state, federal and tribal stakeholders.

MUID promotes the well-being, growth and mutual interests of metropolitan American Indian organizations. https://muidmn.org

Your committees are actively at work to bring light, voice, and stakeholders together to target federal attention and resources to solve these and many other challenges. It is for that reason the MUID (Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors) are requesting a public field hearing be held here in Minneapolis on these issues. We are eager to partner with you and your colleagues, and we are prepared to assist in identifying suitable witnesses for the hearing.

Indigenously,

Ryan Salmon

White Earth Band of Ojibwe Chair of MUID

Cc:

The Honorable Amy Klobuchar

The Honorable Tina Smith

The Honorable Ilhan Omar

The Honorable Sharice Davids, Co-Chair Native American Caucus The Honorable Tom Cole, Co-Chair, Native American Caucus