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United States Government Accountability Office: 
GAO: 

Report to Congressional Requesters: 

September 2013: 

Native American Veterans: 

DOL Needs a Clear Plan to Improve Employment and Training Services on 
Tribal Lands: 

GAO-13-664: 

GAO Highlights: 

Highlights of GAO-13-664, a report to congressional requesters. 

Why GAO Did This Study: 

The unemployment rate for all veterans has risen since the beginning 
of the economic downturn, but the unemployment rate for Native
Americans living on tribal land has been higher. In addition, tribal 
land is frequently located in remote areas characterized by limited 
economic development, which can make finding a job challenging. DOL 
administers several grant programs that provide employment assistance 
to all eligible veterans, including Native Americans. In response to a 
statutory mandate, in October 2010, DOL submitted a report to Congress 
recommending that the agency take actions to increase employment and 
training opportunities for Native American veterans living on tribal 
lands. GAO assessed (1) the status of DOL efforts to implement the
report's recommendations and (2) whether and how DOL can improve on
its efforts to implement the report's recommendations. GAO reviewed
federal laws, regulations, and DOL guidance; interviewed DOL, state, and
tribal officials as well as Native American veterans; and conducted site
visits to tribal lands in four U.S. regions. 

What GAO Found: 

The Department of Labor (DOL) is in the early stages of implementing 
several of the 2010 report’s recommendations, but implementation of 
the remaining recommendations has not occurred. The agency has begun 
to take steps to respond to three of the report’s six recommendations: 
improve interagency collaboration, create an advisory subcommittee for 
Native American veterans, and conduct a needs assessment. To increase 
collaboration, DOL has conducted several listening sessions with 
tribal leadership and begun collaborating with agencies that serve 
veterans, including the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the 
Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, to learn more 
about how to better serve Native American veterans. With regard to an 
advisory subcommittee, DOL is developing a proposal to establish a
subgroup for Native American veterans on its existing veterans’ 
employment and training advisory committee, and is considering 
appointing a representative from the Native American veterans’ 
community to serve on that committee. To assess need, DOL has 
identified a potential source for data within DOD that provides
race and ethnicity and address information for returning veterans that 
could help better target visits to tribal land, but its plans to 
acquire these data are still being negotiated and could take time to 
finalize. However, DOL has taken little to no action on 
recommendations to increase outreach, pursue program flexibility, and
boost economic development. DOL officials told us that leadership 
transitions and budget challenges have contributed to their limited 
response to date. In addition, since delivering the report in 2010, 
DOL has not developed a strategy that specifically establishes roles 
and responsibilities, goals, costs, and time frames for implementation 
of the report’s recommendations. 

Figure: Recommendations from 2010 DOL Report, Employment Needs of 
Native American Veterans Living on Tribal Lands: 

[Refer to PDF for image: illustration] 

Improve agency collaboration; 
Create advisory subcommittee; 
Assess needs; 
Conduct outreach; 
Allow flexibility; 
Boost economic development. 

Source: GAO analysis of Employment Needs of Native American Veterans 
Living on Tribal Land, U.S. Department of Labor,Washington, D.C., 
2010. 

[End of figure] 

DOL could build on its efforts to implement the report’s 
recommendations, even in a constrained budget environment. For 
example, DOL could expand the collaboration it has begun with other 
agencies that serve Native American veterans on tribal land, such as 
the Department of Education (Education). GAO site visits indicated 
that some Native American veterans received employment services from a 
vocational rehabilitation program administered by Education. DOL can 
consider partnering with this program. DOL could also identify and
disseminate lessons learned from states that have collaborated with 
other agencies and tribal governments. For example, a DOL program in 
Montana has leveraged other agency resources, such as collaborating 
with the VA Vet Center to provide both health and employment services 
to Native American veterans in remote tribal areas using mobile units, 
an approach that may be applicable in other states. To boost economic 
development, DOL could review information from its existing grants and 
guidance on economic development to disseminate to DOL grantees that 
serve Native American veterans. 

What GAO Recommends: 

GAO recommends that DOL develop a written strategy to implement the 2010
recommendations that incorporates roles and responsibilities, goals, 
costs, and time frames. DOL should also expand collaboration with other
agencies to leverage resources and identify and disseminate lessons
learned from prior relevant efforts. DOL agreed with GAO’s 
recommendations. 

View [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-664]. For more 
information, contact Andrew Sherrill at (202) 512-7215 or 
sherrilla@gao.gov. 

[End of section] 

Contents: 

Letter: 

Background: 

DOL Has Made Limited Progress in Implementing Recommendations: 

Expanded Efforts Could Improve Implementation of the 2010 
Recommendations: 

Conclusions: 

Recommendations for Executive Action: 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation: 

Appendix I: Groups Interviewed: 

Appendix II: Status of Recommendations from DOL's 2010 Report and 
Steps to Improve upon Efforts: 

Appendix III: Selected Recent DOL Grants to Native American 
Communities That Address Workforce or Economic Development Needs: 

Appendix IV: Comments from the Department of Labor: 

Appendix V: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments: 

Related GAO Products: 

Figures: 

Figure 1: Locations of Site Visits and Telephone Contacts for GAO 
Study: 

Figure 2: Selected Federal Agencies' Employment and Training-Related 
Programs That Can Serve Native American Veterans: 

Abbreviations: 

ACVETEO: Advisory Committee on Veterans' Employment, Training and 
Employer Outreach: 

BIA: Bureau of Indian Affairs: 

DINAP: Division of Indian and Native American Programs: 

DMDC: Defense Manpower Data Center: 

DOD: Department of Defense: 

DOI: Department of the Interior: 

DOL: Department of Labor: 

DVET: Director for Veterans' Employment and Training: 

DVOP: Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program: 

ETA: Employment and Training Administration: 

HHS: Department of Health and Human Services: 

JVSG: Jobs for Veterans State Grants: 

LVER: Local Veterans' Employment Representative: 

SBA: Small Business Administration: 

TAACCCT: Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career 
Training: 

TANF: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: 

TAP: Transition Assistance Program: 

VA: Department of Veterans Affairs: 

VETS: Veterans' Employment and Training Service: 

WIA: Workforce Investment Act of 1998: 

[End of section] 

GAO:
United States Government Accountability Office: 
441 G St. N.W. 
Washington, DC 20548: 

September 26, 2013: 

Congressional Requesters: 

Native Americans historically have shown a higher rate of military 
service than other ethnic groups. There are currently more than 
150,000 Native American veterans--some of whom reside on tribal land. 
[Footnote 1] Tribal land is frequently located in remote, rural areas 
characterized by limited economic development, which can make finding 
a job especially challenging. The unemployment rate for all veterans 
has risen since the beginning of the economic downturn--from 3.8 
percent in 2007 to 8.7 percent in 2010--and based on the limited data, 
the unemployment rate for Native Americans living on tribal land has 
been higher.[Footnote 2] 

A range of federal programs provide employment assistance that can 
serve veterans of any race or ethnicity; in addition, other federal 
programs offer similar services to Native Americans (veterans and non-
veterans alike). The Department of Labor's (DOL) Veterans' Employment 
and Training Service administers several grant programs to support 
eligible veterans through the Jobs for Veterans State Grants Program. 

The Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 2008 required DOL to assess 
and report on the employment needs of Native American veterans living 
on tribal lands, including Indian reservations, Alaska Native 
villages, and Hawaiian Home Lands.[Footnote 3] In October 2010, DOL 
submitted to Congress its final report committing to address six 
recommendations (which we describe further in appendix II) to: 

1. collaborate with federal and state agencies and tribal governments; 

2. conduct outreach to Native American veterans living on tribal lands; 

3. complete an assessment of Native American veterans' employment 
needs; 

4. create flexibility among existing employment programs to better 
meet the needs of Native American veterans; 

5. create an advisory committee subgroup on Native American veteran 
employment issues; and: 

6. boost economic development on tribal lands. 

To address your interest in DOL's actions on each of these 
recommendations since the agency delivered its report to Congress, we 
examined the following: 1) the status of DOL efforts to implement 
recommendations in its 2010 report on employment services and training 
opportunities for Native American veterans on tribal lands; and 2) 
whether and how DOL can improve on its efforts to implement the 
report's recommendations. 

To determine the implementation status of all the report's 
recommendations, we reviewed the 2010 report and conducted semi-
structured interviews with officials from the DOL. We also conducted 
interviews with officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) 
Office of Tribal Government Relations, and the Department of the 
Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). To identify opportunities 
for improvement, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 
officials from DOL and VA; and in selected states, federal Jobs for 
Veterans State Grants Program directors, state workforce officials, 
Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program specialists and Local Veterans' 
Employment Representatives, tribal workforce and veterans officials, 
as well as tribal volunteers who educate veterans about available 
benefits. We also conducted discussion groups with Native American 
veterans, tribal program administrators, and federal agency officials 
at the National Congress of American Indians Annual Convention in 
October 2012 and the VA Eastern Region Training Summit in May 2013. To 
better understand the current status of DOL's programs with regard to 
Native American veterans on tribal land, we visited four areas, 
meeting with multiple groups in each location: (1) Arizona and New 
Mexico (Navajo Nation and the Hopi and Zuni Tribes); (2) North 
Carolina (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians); (3) Alaska; and (4) 
Hawaii. We also conducted phone interviews with officials of tribes in 
Montana (the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead 
Reservation) and North Dakota (the Spirit Lake Tribe). See figure 1. 
We selected Native American communities to represent a range of 
geographic dispersion, estimated Native American population and 
unemployment rate, and presence of DOL programs in a given community. 

Figure 1: Locations of Site Visits and Telephone Contacts for GAO 
Study: 

[Refer to PDF for image: illustrated U.S. map] 

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead 
Reservation[A]: Montana. 

Spirit Lake Tribe[A]: North Dakota. 

Navajo Nation; Hopi Tribe; Zuni Tribe: Northern Arizona, Southern 
Utah, Western New Mexico. 

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians: North Carolina. 

Cook Inlet Tribal Council; Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, Knik 
Tribe: Alaska. 

Honolulu, Kamuela, Hawaii. 

Source: GAO analysis of site selection criteria; National Atlas of the 
United States. 

[A] We conducted phone interviews with tribal program administrators 
with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead 
Reservation in Montana and the Spirit Lake Tribe in North Dakota. We 
did not visit these locations. 

[End of figure] 

During our site visits, we met with tribal leaders and officials and 
held discussion groups with 59 American Indian, Alaska Native, and 
Native Hawaiian veterans. In addition, we conducted semi-structured 
telephone interviews with federal Jobs for Veterans State Grants 
Program (JVSG) directors in Arizona, Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, 
Montana, North Dakota, and Washington state, as well as JVSG staff, 
state officials in these states and officials of tribes in Montana 
(the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead 
Reservation) and North Dakota (the Spirit Lake Tribe).[Footnote 4] 

We reviewed relevant federal laws, regulations, DOL guidance, and 
supporting documentation for selected existing DOL grants to Native 
American entities. In addition, we conducted semi-structured 
interviews with relevant associations, experts, and other 
stakeholders, including the National Association of State Workforce 
Agencies, and National American Indian Veterans. Appendix I provides a 
more detailed list of groups we interviewed. We conducted our review 
from September 2012 to September 2013 in accordance with generally 
accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that 
we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate 
evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and 
conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the 
evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 
conclusions based on our audit objectives. 

Background: 

Native American Veteran Population and Tribal Lands: 

In 2011, there were an estimated 150,000 Native American veterans, 
representing less than 1 percent of the entire veteran population, 
according to the U.S. Census Bureau.[Footnote 5] Additionally, 
according to a VA report that analyzed Census Bureau data, American 
Indian and Alaska Native veterans were significantly more likely to be 
unemployed, as compared to all other veterans.[Footnote 6] The states 
with the largest numbers of American Indian and Alaska Native veterans 
were, in descending order, California, Oklahoma, Arizona, and New 
Mexico; Alaska had the highest proportion of Native Americans among 
its veteran population. 

Tribal lands vary dramatically in type, size, and demographics. 
[Footnote 7] For the purposes of this report, we define tribal lands 
to include Indian reservations, Alaska Native villages, and Hawaiian 
Home Lands.[Footnote 8] They range in size from the Navajo Nation, 
with a population of over 176,000 American Indian residents spread out 
over an area of about 24,000 square miles, to some tribal lands with 
fewer than 50 Indian residents or an area of less than 1 square mile. 
In addition, most tribal lands are rural or remote, although some are 
near metropolitan areas. Communities located on tribal land also often 
lack basic infrastructure, such as water and sewer systems, and 
sufficient technology infrastructure, such as telecommunications lines 
that are commonly found in other American communities. Additionally, 
in 2008, the Census Bureau reported that American Indians and Alaska 
Natives had almost twice as high a percentage living in poverty 
compared with other Americans--27 percent compared with 15 percent. 
While Native Americans reside in every state, the Census Bureau 
estimated in 2012 that about 20 percent of American Indians and Alaska 
Natives live on tribal lands[Footnote 9] and that 16 percent of Native 
Hawaiians live on Hawaiian Home Lands.[Footnote 10] 

The federal government has recognized many American Indian tribes and 
Alaska Native populations as distinct, independent political 
communities with inherent governmental powers of limited sovereignty. 
The United States has a trust responsibility to recognized tribes and 
maintains a government-to-government relationship with those 
tribes.[Footnote 11] Since 1979, BIA has regularly published a list of 
federally recognized Indian tribes in the Federal Register. 

As of May 2013, there were 566 federally recognized tribes, including 
225 in Alaska.[Footnote 12] By contrast, Native Hawaiians do not have 
federal recognition or a government-to-government relationship with 
the United States. However, some federal grant programs target Native 
Hawaiians as a group, in some cases along with other populations. 
[Footnote 13] 

Federal Programs Serving Native American Veterans, Among Other Groups: 

Native American veterans can be served by a range of employment-and 
training-related federal programs that are administered by DOL and 
other agencies (see figure 2 for selected examples). Within DOL, two 
organizations administer programs that serve Native American veterans: 
the Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS), and the Division 
of Indian and Native American Programs (DINAP). VETS has 
responsibility for a number of programs that serve veterans. Among 
these is the Jobs for Veterans State Grants program (JVSG).[Footnote 
14] Services funded through the JVSG program are available to all 
eligible veterans, including those with disabilities and other 
barriers to employment. JVSG grants provide funding to states to 
support two types of staff positions, Disabled Veterans' Outreach 
Program specialists (DVOPs) and Local Veterans' Employment 
Representatives (LVERs), who are generally employees of state 
workforce agencies.[Footnote 15] DVOPs and LVERs provide services 
including skills assessment, job search assistance, and outreach to 
employers on behalf of veteran jobseekers, among other services. JVSG 
grants are awarded to states, and although Native American tribes are 
not eligible grantees under the program,[Footnote 16] Native American 
veterans who are otherwise eligible can be served by DVOPs and LVERs. 
In general, in order to provide services on tribal land, DVOPs and 
LVERs schedule their visits to tribal land on a case-by-case basis. 
JVSG funding is allocated to each state in proportion to the number of 
veterans seeking employment within the state. Additionally, the JVSG 
program is a mandatory partner in the Workforce Investment Act system 
of American Job Centers, or one-stops, where services are provided by 
a range of employment and training programs in a single location. 
[Footnote 17] In 2012, there were 2,600 American Job Centers 
nationwide, and according to DOL, 12 are located on or affiliated with 
tribal land. 

Figure 2: Selected Federal Agencies' Employment and Training-Related 
Programs That Can Serve Native American Veterans: 

[Refer to PDF for image: illustration] 

Native American veterans: 

Employment and training programs: 
Agency: Department of Labor; 
Programs: 
* Workforce Investment Act Section 166 Program[C]; 
* Jobs for Veterans State Grants; 
Agency: Bureau of Indian Affairs (Department of the Interior); 
Program: 
* Indian Job Placement and Training[B]; 
Agency: Department of Health and Human Services; 
Programs: 
* Native Employment Works[B]; 
* Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families[C]; 
Agency: Department of Defense and other agencies; 
Programs: 
* Transition Assistance Program[A]; 
Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs; 
Programs: 
* Veterans' education benefits (e.g., GI Bill); 
* Vocational and Educational Counseling. 

Vocational rehabilitation: 
Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs; 
Program: 
* Vocational Rehabilitation for Disabled Veterans; 
Agency: Department of Education; 
Program: 
* Vocational Rehabilitation Services for American Indians with 
Disabilities[B]. 

Self-employment and Entrepreneurship: 
Agency: Small Business Administration; 
Programs: 
* Veterans Business Development; 
* Native American Outreach[C]; 
* Small Business Development Centers; 
* 8(a) Business Development Program[C]; 
* Microloan Program. 

Source: GAO analysis of the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. 

Note: Whether an individual Native American veteran is eligible to 
receive services depends on the program eligibility requirements, 
which vary across programs. It was beyond the scope of this review to 
identify the specific eligibility criteria for each program. This list 
of programs is not intended to be exhaustive, and there may be other 
federal programs that serve Native American veterans but are not 
listed here. 

[A] The Departments of Defense, Labor, and Veterans Affairs, in 
partnership with other federal agencies, administer the Transition 
Assistance Program for servicemembers who are transitioning to 
civilian life. 

[B] These programs may serve eligible American Indians and Alaska 
Natives, as defined by each program. 

[C] These programs may serve eligible American Indians, Alaska 
Natives, and Native Hawaiians, as defined by each program. With regard 
to Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), although 
Native Hawaiians are not eligible for tribal grants under this 
program, the state of Hawaii is eligible for TANF grants, and eligible 
Native Hawaiians can be served by this program. 

[End of figure] 

DINAP, within DOL's Employment and Training Administration, serves 
Native American veterans under Section 166 of the Workforce Investment 
Act (WIA) of 1998. This program serves all eligible Native Americans--
veterans and non-veterans alike--including American Indians, Alaska 
Natives, and Native Hawaiians.[Footnote 18] Under the program, in 
2012, DINAP administered grants to Native American entities in all 50 
states, including Alaska and Hawaii. These grants support 
comprehensive workforce investment activities for Native Americans, 
including employment and training services for jobseekers. The Jobs 
for Veterans Act established a priority of service requirement for 
veterans in qualified DOL job training programs, including WIA 
programs.[Footnote 19] WIA Section 166 grantees must therefore give 
priority to veterans over others seeking employment and training 
services. 

Other federal agencies also administer employment and training-related 
programs that serve Native American veterans, among other groups. 
These programs include the Department of the Interior's Bureau of 
Indian Affairs' Indian Job Placement and Training program; Department 
of Veterans Affairs programs including Vocational Rehabilitation for 
Disabled Veterans; and the Department of Education's Vocational 
Rehabilitation Services for American Indians with Disabilities, among 
other federal programs. In addition, the Department of Defense (DOD), 
in partnership with VA, DOL, and other agencies, administers the 
Transition Assistance Program, which provides mandatory, multiple-day 
transition briefings at military bases to facilitate servicemembers' 
transition to civilian life, including a focus on preparation for 
employment. Additionally, the Small Business Administration (SBA) 
administers programs to facilitate self-employment for veterans and 
Native Americans, including American Indians, Alaska Natives, and 
Native Hawaiians. 

2010 DOL Report on Native American Veterans on Tribal Land: 

DOL's 2010 report was prepared in response to a provision in the 
Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 2008. This provision required 
DOL, in consultation with VA and DOI, to submit a report assessing the 
employment needs of Native American veterans living on tribal lands to 
the House and Senate Committees on Veterans' Affairs. The Act further 
required that the report include recommendations for improving 
employment and job training opportunities for such veterans, and a 
review of current and prior government-to-government relationships 
between VETS and tribal organizations. DOL contracted with a 
consulting firm, which issued a report to DOL in March 2010, and 
relied on interviews and surveys of federal and state officials, 
tribal organizations, surveys of Native American veterans, and focus 
groups. The contractor's report focused on VETS and the JVSG program, 
but also considered WIA Section 166 and other relevant programs. The 
contractor found little or no attention by the JVSG program to the 
needs of Native American veterans, and although it noted some progress 
in relationships between DOL and tribal governments, it found little 
awareness of VETS programs among tribal organizations. Based upon the 
contractor's report, DOL issued its final report, including six 
recommendations, to Congress in October 2010.[Footnote 20] DOL's 
report included recommendations for short-and long-term actions DOL 
could take in key areas, but did not include a specific timetable for 
implementation. 

DOL Has Made Limited Progress in Implementing Recommendations: 

DOL is in the early stages of implementing several of the report's 
recommendations, but implementation of the remaining recommendations 
has not occurred. The agency has begun to take initial steps to 
respond to three of the report's six recommendations: improve 
interagency collaboration, create an advisory committee subgroup for 
Native American veterans, and conduct a needs assessment. DOL has 
taken little to no action on the remaining three recommendations: 
increase outreach, pursue program flexibility, and boost economic 
development. DOL officials told us that leadership transitions and 
budget challenges have significantly contributed to their current 
position and limited endorsement of these recommendations. For 
detailed information on the status of each of these three 
recommendations from DOL's 2010 report, see appendix II. 

Collaboration. To respond to the recommendations to increase 
collaboration with federal and state agencies and outreach to tribal 
governments, DOL has begun collaborating with agencies that serve 
veterans, including VA and BIA, to learn more about how to better 
serve Native American veterans and has conducted several listening 
sessions with tribal leadership. 

Advisory subcommittee. The 2010 report also recommended that DOL 
create an advisory committee subgroup on Native American veterans' 
employment issues to the DOL Advisory Committee on Veterans' 
Employment, Training and Employer Outreach (ACVETEO).[Footnote 21] DOL 
officials told us that although VETS may offer proposals to the 
committee, the ACVETEO members decide--because the ACVETEO operates 
independently--whether to establish a new subgroup. DOL is currently 
developing a proposal, to be presented to ACVETEO, to establish a 
subgroup for Native American veterans, and is also considering 
appointing a representative from the Native American veterans' 
community to join ACVETEO. 

Needs assessment. DOL officials told us that they have no plans to 
conduct a needs assessment to develop better data on Native American 
veterans living on tribal land, citing potentially prohibitive costs 
to conducting a comprehensive assessment. However, DOL has identified 
a potential source for data within DOD that provides race and 
ethnicity as well as address information for returning veterans. This 
information could help DVOPs and LVERs target their visits to tribal 
land, but DOL's plans to acquire these data are still being negotiated 
and could take time to finalize. In the interim, DOL has identified VA 
data that, while not comprehensive, in the short term, might provide 
an estimate of the number of Native American veterans on tribal land. 

Outreach. The 2010 report recommended that DOL launch a communications 
program focused on outreach to Native American veterans on tribal land 
by establishing a public information campaign to share information 
about VETS programs through the use of the web, direct mail, 
newspapers, and social media. However, DOL officials told us that they 
have not initiated such a campaign due to limited funding. 

Program flexibility. A DOL official said that the agency has not 
pursued the recommendation to provide additional program flexibility, 
explaining that under the JVSG program, states already have some 
flexibility under current law to permit them to build solutions to fit 
their needs. The report recommends that DOL identify, on a program-by-
program basis, available flexibilities to meet the needs of Native 
American veterans living on tribal lands. While DOL has indicated that 
it is open to identifying any such opportunities that exist under 
current law, to date it has taken little action in this area. 

Economic development. With regard to economic development, the 2010 
report noted that programs to support economic development--such as 
financing and support for new businesses--lie outside VETS's 
authority. However, the report also noted that economic development 
should be a major focus across federal programs addressing employment 
concerns for Native American veterans. To date, DOL officials told us 
they had taken no action on this issue and emphasized that, with 
regard to economic development, DOL's focus is on the role that skills 
can play. 

Since delivering the report in 2010, DOL has not developed a strategy 
that specifically establishes roles and responsibilities, goals, and 
time frames for implementation of the report's recommendations. Our 
past work identified key practices for implementing organizational 
change efforts to improve an agency's programs, including establishing 
a coherent mission and integrated strategic goals to guide the effort; 
setting a timeline to build momentum and show progress from day one; 
and dedicating a team to manage the implementation process.[Footnote 
22] Although there is no established set of requirements for 
developing a plan to implement a new effort, components of sound 
planning are important because they define what organizations seek to 
accomplish and identify specific activities to obtain desired results. 
According to senior DOL officials, DOL has prepared a draft internal 
memorandum that describes some of the findings from listening sessions 
conducted with tribal leaders and contained a few recommended action 
items that address some of the 2010 report recommendations. However, 
according to DOL officials, the memorandum does not address each of 
the six 2010 report recommendations. It also does not identify costs, 
roles and responsibilities, or project time frames. 

Expanded Efforts Could Improve Implementation of the 2010 
Recommendations: 

DOL could expand on its efforts to implement the 2010 report's 
recommendations to improve employment service delivery to Native 
American veterans on tribal land, even within its constrained budget 
environment. For detailed information on opportunities for DOL to 
better implement the 2010 report recommendations, see appendix II. 

Collaboration. DOL could expand its collaboration efforts to include 
other federal agencies that administer programs that serve Native 
American veterans, such as the SBA, and the Departments of Education 
and Health and Human Services (HHS). For example, working with SBA 
could provide DOL access to information that might aid Native American 
veterans in remote areas with limited employment opportunities by 
providing access to training and support for veterans interested in 
self-employment. An official from SBA agreed that additional 
collaboration would improve self-employment training opportunities for 
Native American veterans. In addition, DOL can leverage state level 
collaborations with other agencies and tribal governments. For 
example, during our site visits we learned that some DVOPs and LVERs 
have leveraged other federal and state agencies' resources to help 
serve Native American veterans. For instance, in one state, a DVOP 
that serves Native American veterans in remote communities joined VA's 
mobile units to provide both health and employment services to Native 
American veterans to reduce travel time and reach additional veterans. 
However, to date, DOL has not identified promising practices for 
possible dissemination to other JVSG grantees. 

Advisory subcommittee. We have stated in past work that federal 
agencies have used a variety of mechanisms to implement interagency 
collaborative efforts, including supporting the establishment of 
interagency work groups.[Footnote 23] In addition to including Native 
American veterans on the Advisory Committee on Veterans' Employment, 
Training and Employer Outreach (ACVETEO), DOL could appoint qualified 
individuals from other agencies that serve Native American veterans, 
such as BIA and HHS. Both BIA and HHS administer programs that may be 
used to provide employment training to Native American veterans on 
tribal land. Including BIA and HHS on the ACTEVEO could provide 
additional opportunities to leverage resources and share knowledge 
that could result in improved access to employment and training 
services for veterans on tribal land. 

Needs assessment. Options may exist for DOL to develop or obtain 
better data to assess the needs of Native American veterans returning 
to tribal land. Currently, no mechanism that we could identify exists 
to share data with tribes on the number and timing of Native American 
veterans returning to tribal communities. In the absence of timely 
data on the population of Native American veterans who need employment 
and training services, state agencies and JVSG staff must try to gauge 
and meet needs in other ways. DOL could develop or obtain better data 
on Native American veterans returning to tribal land by coordinating 
with DOD and VA or other agencies that maintain contact information on 
recently separated veterans. Specifically, according to a DOD 
official, DOD data on separating servicemembers are shared with VA, 
which modifies the data for its own purposes and then shares the data 
with state veterans' agencies. According to this official, the data 
include fields for ethnicity, including Native American ethnicities. 
As a result, the data that state veterans agencies receive from VA may 
be helpful to DOL in identifying recently separated Native American 
veterans. 

Outreach. DOL can leverage the outreach activities conducted by state 
and local entities. For example, JVSG staff in several states have 
conducted training sessions in tribal communities focused on veterans' 
transition to civilian life, while other JVSG staff have built on a VA 
initiative that trains volunteers in tribal communities to educate 
veterans about employment and training services available to them. In 
addition, some tribal officials and Native American veterans told us 
that some veterans prefer in-person outreach. To this end, veterans 
outreach staff in some states have been leveraging libraries and 
tribal colleges to conduct outreach to tribal veterans. 

Program flexibility. Although few tribal officials and Native American 
veterans we spoke with identified opportunities for additional program 
flexibility in the JVSG program, DOL could consider ways to use 
existing program flexibility to better serve veterans and enhance 
service delivery. Specifically, DOL is considering plans to ask states 
to explicitly describe their efforts to serve Native American veterans 
in their required JVSG 5-year grant operating plans, which could help 
ensure that states consider the needs of Native American veterans when 
preparing their plans. However, to date, DOL has not established a 
time frame for completion. Encouraging grantees to describe their 
plans to address the needs of Native American veterans in their state 
could increase the likelihood that grantees might design a service 
delivery strategy that takes into account the unique needs of the 
various tribal communities they serve. 

Economic development. DOL has the potential to better understand and 
support economic development by reviewing its existing grants and 
guidance on this topic and identifying lessons learned to disseminate 
to JVSG state and WIA Section 166 grantees.[Footnote 24] In the past, 
DOL, through its Employment and Training Administration (ETA), has 
awarded grants that have aligned employment and training grants with 
economic development needs. Recent grantees have included tribal 
entities. For example, ETA awarded a grant to a tribal college to 
train workers, foster business development and promote 
entrepreneurship on tribal land. DOL has an opportunity to review such 
grants to disseminate lessons learned on the extent to which Native 
American veterans participated in and benefited from grant-funded 
activities, as well as opportunities to incorporate economic 
development principles into existing grants. For example, DINAP 
recently visited an Arizona tribe to identify lessons learned on its 
progress in implementing a grant that aims to increase job 
opportunities for veterans and others in occupations that reflect 
employers' need for skills, according to ETA officials. However, 
DINAP's grant review activities to date have not involved VETS, nor 
has there been any technical assistance developed in connection with 
these activities, according to a DINAP official. 

Conclusions: 

The 2010 DOL report provides the foundation upon which to develop a 
strategy for achieving the recommendations' goals. However, DOL has 
not yet developed a strategy to implement all of its recommendations 
to improve employment and training services for Native American 
veterans living on tribal land. Until DOL develops an overall strategy 
that establishes the roles and responsibilities, costs, and time 
frames for implementation, it will be difficult to determine whether 
DOL is on track for effectively implementing the recommendations. 

Under current budget limitations, DOL must approach the needs of 
Native American veterans in tribal communities with a response that is 
both proportionate to the needs of this community and cost-effective. 
It is essential for DOL to properly target its efforts to ensure that 
those most in need of services receive assistance. Without current 
information on the number of Native American veterans living on tribal 
land and a fuller understanding of their needs, DOL will be unable to 
appropriately identify and target those services. DOL has taken some 
initial steps to conduct outreach to tribal communities and has begun 
collaboration with other agencies. However, without conducting 
additional outreach and collaboration with other organizations within 
DOL and other federal, state, and tribal agencies that serve Native 
American veterans, DOL may miss the opportunity to leverage the 
knowledge and resources of those agencies that are already serving 
veterans in tribal communities. 

Without adequate job opportunities, employment and training services 
alone may simply frustrate Native American veterans seeking 
employment. While economic development is not DOL's primary mission, 
the agency has an opportunity to better understand and support 
economic development on tribal land by reviewing its existing grants 
and guidance on this topic and identifying lessons learned to 
disseminate to its grantees that provide these critical employment and 
training services to Native American veterans on tribal land and 
forming partnerships with other agencies that can support these 
efforts. Without action from DOL to provide improved access to 
employment and training services, many Native American veterans that 
have honorably served their country will remain at risk of being 
underserved and unemployed. 

Recommendations for Executive Action: 

To strengthen DOL's efforts to respond to the 2010 report 
recommendations to improve employment services and training 
opportunities for Native American veterans on tribal land, we 
recommend that the Secretary of Labor undertake the following three 
actions: 

1. Ensure it has a written strategy to position the agency to 
efficiently and effectively respond to the 2010 recommendations, 
including the identification of roles and responsibilities as well as 
the goals, costs, and time frames to complete their implementation. 

2. Identify and disseminate lessons learned and promising practices 
from DOL and other agencies' efforts. To identify such lessons or 
practices, DOL could: 

a. Review efforts by JVSG grantees to improve DVOP and LVER outreach, 
such as the use of mobile units to conduct outreach on tribal lands; 
and: 

b. Review DOL's portfolio of employment and training grants and 
guidance related to economic development for application to JVSG and 
WIA Section 166 grantees. 

3. Expand collaboration with other agencies to leverage agency 
resources. This effort could include working through the ACVETEO and 
other efforts, strengthening relationships with agencies that also 
serve Native American veterans, such as DOD, VA, SBA, and BIA, as well 
as building relationships with other agencies that serve Native 
American veterans, such as Education and HHS. 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation: 

DOL Comments. We provided a draft of this report to DOL for review and 
comment. DOL provided a written response to this report (see app. IV). 
DOL agreed with our recommendations and identified actions it has 
taken to implement the recommendations of the 2010 report. Regarding 
our first recommendation, DOL noted that it is working to develop a 
written strategy to implement the 2010 recommendations. However, DOL 
noted that it must first develop a better understanding of the extent 
of unemployment and training gaps on reservations nationwide, among 
other pieces of information, to establish a more comprehensive plan of 
action, and cited the need for an update to the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs (BIA) report American Indian Population and Labor Force Report-
-last published in 2005--as key to developing its plan. To the extent 
that there are obstacles to implementing the 2010 recommendations, 
such as incomplete data, it is important that DOL proceed with 
developing a written strategy that explicitly identifies such 
obstacles and proposes ways to mitigate them. One mitigation strategy, 
consistent with our findings and recommendations, could be to further 
leverage collaborative relationships with other federal agencies. 

Regarding our recommendation to identify and disseminate lessons 
learned and promising practices from its own and other agencies' 
efforts, DOL agreed to review efforts by the JVSG state grantees and 
their DVOPs and LVERs who serve Native American veterans. DOL noted 
that its Division of Indian and Native American Programs (DINAP), 
located within the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), 
already reviews employment and training grants related to economic 
development for application to DINAP's WIA Section 166 grantees, and 
will continue to do so. DOL added that it held national conferences 
for the WIA Section 166 grantees, which provided a platform for 
sharing best practices. While these actions are useful, in order to 
fully leverage the department's efforts, dissemination of lessons 
learned and promising practices should extend beyond these grantees to 
the JVSG program and the DVOPs and LVERs whose efforts are supported 
by the JVSG grants. For example, information about ETA grants that 
include Native American veterans could help DVOPs and LVERs learn 
about promising practices and inform the Native American veterans they 
serve about additional training opportunities. Finally, another way to 
disseminate lessons learned and promising practices is through 
technical assistance. However, a DINAP official acknowledged, as we 
indicate in this report, that no technical assistance has been 
developed to date in connection with its efforts to review ETA grants 
for lessons learned. 

Regarding our recommendation to expand collaboration with other 
agencies, DOL agreed and noted that collaboration with other agencies 
has been effective in addressing the needs of Native American veterans 
living on tribal land. DOL also noted that it will propose that the 
ACVETEO establish a subcommittee to advise its members on issues and 
services related to Native American veterans on tribal lands. 

VA and BIA Comments. We provided a draft of this report to VA and BIA 
for review and comment. Both provided technical comments, which we 
incorporated, as appropriate. VA generally agreed with our findings. 
VA noted that under the auspices of a Memorandum of Understanding 
between VA and the Department of Health and Human Services' Indian 
Health Service signed on October 1, 2010, there are shared 
opportunities for coordination, collaboration, and resource-sharing 
for workforce development, and cited six action steps reported in FY 
2013.[Footnote 25] BIA stated that it was an outstanding report. 

Tribal Groups. Additionally, we provided selected tribes, with whom we 
met during site visits, with a draft of pertinent excerpts and 
incorporated their technical comments, as appropriate. 

As agreed with your staff, unless you publicly announce its contents 
earlier, we plan no further distribution of this report until 30 days 
from its issue date. At that time, we will send copies of this report 
to interested congressional committees; the Secretary of Labor, the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs; the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs; 
and other interested parties. The report also is available at no 
charge on the GAO website at [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov]. 

Please contact me on (202) 512-7215 or at sherrilla@gao.gov if you or 
your staff have any questions about this report. Contact points for 
our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found 
on the last page of this report. Key contributors to this report are 
listed in appendix V. 

Signed by: 

Andrew Sherrill: 
Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues: 

List of Requesters: 

The Honorable Patty Murray: 
Chairman: 
Committee on the Budget: 
United States Senate: 

The Honorable Bernie Sanders: 
Chairman: 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: 
United States Senate: 

The Honorable Mark Begich: 
United States Senate: 

The Honorable Mazie K. Hirono: 
United States Senate: 

The Honorable Jon Tester: 
United States Senate: 

[End of section] 

Appendix I: Groups Interviewed: 

Federal agency officials: 
Department of Labor (DOL), Veterans' Employment and Training Service, 
including senior agency officials, and State Directors for Veterans' 
Employment and Training (DVETs) from Arizona, New Mexico, North 
Carolina, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, North Dakota, and Montana: 
Department of Labor (DOL), Division of Indian and Native American 
Programs (DINAP); 
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Tribal Government 
Relations; 
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA); 
Small Business Administration (SBA); 
Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC). 

State officials; 
State veterans coordinators from Arizona, New Mexico, North Carolina, 
Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota, and Montana; 
Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program specialists (DVOPs) and Local 
Veterans' Employment Representatives (LVERs) from Arizona, New Mexico, 
North Carolina, Alaska, Hawaii, and Montana. 

Tribal leaders, program administrators, and veterans: 
Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico; 
Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah; 
Hopi Tribe of Arizona; 
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; 
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation; 
Spirit Lake Tribe, North Dakota; 
White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota. 

Native Hawaiian program administrators and veterans: 
Veterans to Farmers Initiative; 
Big Island Workplace Connection; 
Papa Alo Lokahi (Uncles and Aunties initiative); 
State of Hawaii, Office of Hawaiian Affairs; 
State of Hawaii, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; 
Alu Like. 

Alaska Native program administrators and veterans: 
Cook Inlet Tribal Council; 
Alaska Tribal Veterans Representatives; 
Knik Tribal Council; 
Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association. 

Associations and Other Groups: 
Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development; 
National Association of State Workforce Agencies; 
National Congress of American Indians; 
Salish Kootenai College; 
National American Indian Veterans; 
19 Tribal Nations Workforce Investment Board, Arizona; 
National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development; 
United Tribes Technical College; 
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Native American Enterprise Initiative; 
Alaska Native Village CEO Association. 

Source: GAO interviews. 

[End of table] 

[End of section] 

Appendix II: Status of Recommendations from DOL's 2010 Report and 
Steps to Improve upon Efforts: 

Improve Agency Collaboration: 

DOL Has Taken Initial Steps to Increase Collaboration, but Efforts Can 
Be Expanded: 

Recommendation Summary 

The 2010 report found that there was a need for increased 
collaboration across federal and state agencies with tribal 
governments in improving employment for Native American veterans. The 
report suggested that agencies that address the employment needs of 
Native American veterans, such as DOI and VA, could work with DOL to 
help address barriers that Native American veterans often face in 
accessing and maintaining meaningful employment. Closer collaboration 
between these agencies could boost focus on the veterans’ needs and 
help to leverage agency resources to provide more coordinated service 
delivery. 

The report also proposed that offering services in true partnership 
with tribal governments brings local knowledge, local relationships, 
and cultural understanding. To better serve Native American veterans, 
the report recommended the following specific actions: 

* leverage agencies’ resources; and; 

* partner with tribal governments. 

DOL Recommendation Status: 

DOL is in the early stages of implementing the report’s recommendations 
related to improving collaboration with federal and state agencies and 
tribal governments. In October and November of 2012, a DOL official 
conducted several listening sessions with tribal leaders in Arizona and 
with a tribal workforce administrator in California to learn more 
about the needs of Native American veterans. 

In preparation for conducting its listening sessions, DOL Veterans’ 
Employment and Training Service (VETS) staff met with officials from 
other organizations within DOL and other agencies that serve Native 
American veterans. VETS staff received guidance from DOL’s Division of 
Indian and Native American Programs, VA’s Office of Tribal Government 
Relations, and the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Indian 
Affairs (BIA) to identify potential sites and to inform how DOL should 
structure its listening sessions. One DOL official told us of 
preliminary plans to meet quarterly with both VA and BIA to discuss 
issues related to employing Native American veterans. 

Possible Expansion of DOL Efforts: 

There may be additional opportunities for DOL to expand its proposed 
approach to improving collaboration with other agencies and tribal 
governments. At the federal level, DOL has reached out to initiate 
collaboration with VA and BIA, but it currently has no plans to 
initiate collaboration with other agencies that offer employment and 
training and other support services to Native American veterans, such 
as Education, HHS, SBA, or DOD. For example, our site visits indicated 
that some Native Americans veterans received employment services from 
Education’s Vocational Rehabilitation Services for American Indians 
with Disabilities program. DOL can consider partnering with this 
program to jointly serve Native American veterans. At the tribal 
level, DOL’s efforts to reach out to selected tribes has focused on 
tribal leadership to date, but has not included tribal veterans 
agencies. 

In addition to efforts at the federal level, at the state level, there 
have been efforts to collaborate with other agencies and tribal 
governments. However, to date, DOL has not made efforts to identify 
promising practices to improve service delivery and disseminate them 
to other state grantees. For example, during our site visits we 
learned that some DVOPs and LVERs had made their own efforts to 
leverage agency resources and partner with leaders in tribal 
communities: 

* In North Carolina, a LVER established relationships with the Eastern 
Band of Cherokee Indians’ veterans’ service organization to begin to 
bring services to veterans in the community. 

* In Montana, a DVOP established a partnership with the mobile VA Vet 
Center to provide both health and employment services to Native 
American veterans in remote areas (see figure). 

Figure: JVSG staff in Montana visit the Crow Agency using a VA Vet 
Center mobile unit, May 7, 2013. 

[Refer to PDF for image: photograph] 

Source: Montana Department of Labor and Industry. 

[End of figure] 

During our site visits, we also brought together tribal workforce and 
veterans’ agencies, and these meetings often served to initiate 
discussions for future collaboration between them in specific areas, 
such as the use of incentives for employers to hire veterans and 
assistance in preparing resumes that explain veterans’ military 
backgrounds and skills. However, DOL has issued no guidance or 
technical assistance to its Native American WIA Section 166 grantees 
to encourage collaboration within tribal governments or to help them 
develop their own outreach plans. DOL officials told us they expect to 
provide additional guidance in this area beginning in 2014. 

Alaska, New Mexico, and North Dakota offer cultural competency training 
to staff serving veterans, which some JVSG staff said was beneficial in 
their efforts to serve Native American veterans. In addition, some 
Native American veterans emphasized the importance to them of 
culturally-sensitive services. 

[End of section] 

Create Advisory Subcommittee: 

DOL Is Developing a Proposal to Establish an Advisory Committee 
Subgroup: 

Recommendation Summary: 

The 2010 report found no coordinated federal response to the issues 
facing Native American veterans. While DOL, DOI, and VA all have 
employment assistance programs that serve Native American veterans, 
there is currently no platform that allows for the coordination of 
various agency efforts on behalf of Native American veterans, 
according to the report. To increase the coordination of agency 
efforts and focus on the specific issues impacting Native American 
Veterans, the report recommended that DOL: 

* create a subgroup focused on Native American veterans’ employment 
issues under the DOL Advisory Committee on Veterans’ Employment, 
Training, and Employer Outreach (ACVETEO), which would be comprised of 
agency representatives, Native American Veterans, and others engaged 
in providing employment and training opportunities; and 

* that the subgroup meet periodically and include representatives from 
the VA, DOD, DOL, DOI, and other departments, as appropriate. 

DOL Recommendation Status: 

The 2010 report recommended that DOL create an advisory committee 
subgroup on Native American veterans’ employment issues.DOL officials 
told us that although VETS may offer proposals to the committee, the 
ACVETEO members decide—-because the ACVETEO operates independently-—
whether to establish a new subgroup. 

According to agency officials, DOL is currently in the process of 
developing such a proposal to present to the ACVETEO to establish an 
advisory committee subgroup on Native American veterans. In addition, 
DOL is considering appointing a representative from the Native American 
veterans’ community to participate on the DOL ACVETEO. However, DOL 
has not specifically identified who they might appoint for this 
position. Currently, the ACVETEO has members from VA, DOL, DOD, and 
SBA, but does not have members from other agencies that provide 
employment services to Native American veterans, like BIA and HHS. 

Possible Expansion of DOL Efforts: 

Our past work has stated that federal agencies have used a variety of 
mechanisms to implement interagency collaborative efforts, including 
establishing interagency work groups. In addition to including Native 
American veterans on the ACVETEO, DOL has the opportunity to appoint 
qualified individuals from other agencies that serve Native American 
veterans, such as BIA, HHS, and Education. Members from other 
agencies that also support employment and training services on tribal 
land could provide the opportunity for DOL to coordinate efforts, share 
knowledge, and leverage agency resources to provide services to Native 
American veterans living on tribal land. 

As DOL develops its proposal to create an ACVETEO subgroup, it has the 
opportunity to encourage the committee to form the group in a way that 
enhances and sustains its collaborative efforts. Our past work suggests 
that to establish effective work groups or other mechanisms for 
collaboration, agencies should: 

* define and articulate a common outcome; 
* establish mutually reinforcing or joint strategies; 
* identify and address needs by leveraging resources; 
* agree on roles and responsibilities; 
* establish compatible policies, procedures, and other means to operate 
across agency boundaries; 
* develop mechanisms to monitor, evaluate, and report on results; 
* reinforce agency accountability for collaborative efforts through 
agency plans and reports; and; 
* reinforce individual accountability for collaborative efforts through 
performance management systems. 

[End of section] 

Assess Needs: 

DOL Could Pursue Opportunities to Develop Better Data on Veterans 
Returning to Tribal Land: 

Recommendation Summary: 

The 2010 report recommended conducting a needs assessment by reviewing 
existing federal and state programs and services available to Native 
American veterans, in order to identify unmet needs and eliminate 
inefficiencies with the aim of improving service delivery. 

The report recommended the following key actions: 

* obtain a reliable estimate of the number of veterans living on 
tribal land in need of employment services by working with VA and BIA; 
and add outcome measures for all programs to track Native American 
veterans; and; 

* assist veterans with the transition to civilian life by providing 
them with a job placement and training plan and with a list of 
available resources. 

DOL Recommendation Status: 

DOL has no plans to conduct a formal needs assessment of the 
employment and training needs of Native American veterans. The cost 
and complexity of such a project would likely be prohibitive, 
according to a DOL official. However, regarding the recommendation to 
estimate the number of Native American veterans on tribal land, a DOL 
official told us that the agency is in the early stages of identifying 
potential data sources. Specifically, DOL has identified a potential 
source for data within DOD that provides race and ethnicity as well as 
address information for returning veterans that could help DVOPs and 
LVERs target their visits to tribal land, but its plans to acquire 
these data are still being negotiated and could take time to finalize. 
In the interim, DOL has identified data from VA that, while not 
comprehensive, might in the short term, provide an estimate of the 
number of Native American veterans on tribal land. Regarding outcome 
data, DOL does not collect data on veterans served by the JVSG program 
by race or ethnicity. However, according to a VETS official, DOL is 
planning a comprehensive review of its approach to tracking veterans’ 
data. Although DOL does collect data on Native American veterans 
served by its WIA programs, it does not track those served on tribal 
land. 

With regard to the recommendation on job placement and training plans, 
currently, all servicemembers develop such Individual Transition Plans 
through mandatory participation in the Transition Assistance Program 
(TAP), which is currently being revised. However, although DOL provides 
information through TAP that could help veterans returning to their 
communities, such as how to access DVOPs and LVERs at American Job 
Centers, as of July 2013, due to changes in agency priorities, DOL had 
no plans to include contact information for WIA Section166 grantees, 
which could help Native American veterans returning to tribal land. 
According to a DOL official, providing this level of information 
during TAP sessions, which are applicable to all veterans, would be 
impractical. Additionally, as of July 2013, a DOL official 
acknowledged that there are no specific changes to TAP that focus on 
Native American veterans. However, DOL told us that there will be 
overarching changes to the TAP program that will aid all transitioning 
servicemembers. 

Regarding service delivery, DOL requested and received information in 
November 2012 about DVOPs’ and LVERs’ services to Native American 
veterans, but to date, has not fully reviewed this information to 
identify promising practices that could improve services for these 
veterans. 

Possible Expansion of DOL Efforts: 

Currently, no mechanism that we could identify exists to share data 
with tribes or JVSG staff on the number and timing of veterans 
returning to tribal communities. During our site visits, most DVETS 
and state officials said they do not know when veterans return to 
their communities, and most tribal administrators we spoke to said 
they receive no notice of their return—-at a point when these veterans 
would most likely need employment and training services. Furthermore, 
both tribal administrators and officials at the state level identified 
various data sources that they used to estimate the number of veterans 
living on tribal land, including 2002 Census data, and tribal veterans 
and health agencies’ data. Such data, however, may not reflect the 
need for employment and training services. For example, tribal health 
agency data are likely to reflect Native American veterans’ needs for 
medical care, not necessarily for employment and training services, 
and not necessarily the needs of recently separated veterans. 

In the absence of timely data on the population of Native American 
veterans who need employment and training services, state agencies and 
JVSG staff must try to gauge and meet needs in other ways. For example, 
in North Dakota, the state workforce agency provides pamphlets on JVSG 
services to the state veterans’ agency for inclusion in welcome 
packets for returning veterans. In another state, a LVER who has 
recently begun working with one tribe told us that he plans to gauge 
demand for his services based on attendance when he visits the tribe. 

DOL has an opportunity to develop or obtain better data on Native 
American veterans returning to tribal land by working with other 
federal agencies. Specifically, according to a DOD official, DOD data 
on separating servicemembers are shared with VA, which modifies the 
data for its own purposes and then shares the data with state veterans’ 
agencies. According to this official, the data include fields for 
ethnicity, including Native American ethnicities. As a result, the 
data that state veterans agencies receive from VA may be helpful in 
identifying recently separated Native American veterans. However, 
until DOL reaches a data-sharing agreement with either DOD or the VA, 
better data will not be available to state workforce agencies or the 
DVOPs and LVERs they employ. Recognizing the potential benefits, the 
DVET for Montana said he is seeking access to these data from the state’
s veterans’ agency, through a proposed Memorandum of Understanding. 

DOL also has an opportunity to identify and disseminate lessons learned 
about states’ efforts to provide short transition briefings tailored 
to the needs of Native American veterans. DVOPs and LVERs have 
identified opportunities to deliver such customized transition 
briefings for Native American veterans in at least two states. In New 
Mexico and North Dakota, DVOPs and LVERs have provided abbreviated 
transition briefings to tribal communities. In our site visits, when 
we asked about the potential value of such customized transition 
briefings, some Native American veterans expressed interest in such an 
approach. Additionally, in one state, DVOPs and LVERs try to reach 
Native American veterans through welcoming ceremonies, according to 
that state’s DVET. 

[End of section] 

Conduct Outreach: 

Budget Challenges Limit DOL’s Outreach Campaign, but There Are 
Opportunities to Build on Existing Efforts: 

Recommendation Summary" 

The 2010 report found that awareness of employment services available 
to Native American veterans was relatively low on tribal lands, even 
among those who were eligible. In addition, focus groups in the DOL 
study mentioned the need for more information, communication, or 
outreach to veterans. The report also suggested that any 
communications program take into account the generally limited 
communications infrastructure on tribal lands and employ multiple 
modes of communication (e.g., tribal newspapers, Internet, direct 
mail, social media, and tribal gatherings) to reach veterans on tribal 
lands. According to the report, DOL’s outreach efforts should raise 
awareness of DOL programs and facilitate the sharing of data among 
tribal leaders and those engaging in workforce development on tribal 
land Specifically, the report recommended that DOL: 

* create a public information program to reach as many Native American 
veterans as possible; and; 

* facilitate the sharing of information and data on available 
resources among tribal leadership and other government entities engaged 
in workforce development programs on tribal lands throughout the 
country. 

DOL Recommendation Status: 

The 2010 report recommended that DOL launch a communications 
program focused on outreach to Native American veterans on tribal land 
by establishing a public information campaign to share information 
about VETS programs through the use of the web, direct mail, 
newspapers, and social media. However, DOL officials told us that they 
have not initiated such a campaign due to budget constraints, but are 
currently exploring low cost options for conducting outreach. 

Although DOL officials report participating in tribal conferences and 
tribal events at the state level, many of the tribal veterans and 
workforce program officials and veterans we spoke with were unaware or 
had limited awareness of services offered by the JVSG program. 

Possible Expansion of DOL Efforts: 

There may be additional opportunities for DOL to expand its proposed 
approach to outreach without the use of a large scale public 
information campaign. DOL has an opportunity to take a more 
comprehensive strategy and expand outreach efforts that leverage 
existing state and local level efforts. Expanded efforts could help to 
raise awareness of VETS programs for Native American veterans on 
tribal land while minimizing additional costs. 

DOL may have an opportunity to learn from the activities of DVOPs and 
LVERs in certain states who have conducted targeted outreach. For 
example, in one state, a LVER shared information about services 
available to veterans through an article in a local newspaper. Several 
states we visited make employment and other resources available to 
veterans and employers accessible through a website. For example, 
according to state officials, New Mexico provides access for 
jobseekers, including those living in remote areas, by creating a 
virtual one-stop that offers certain services online. 

Some tribal officials and Native Americans veterans told us that some 
veterans prefer in-person outreach. To this end, veterans outreach 
staff in some states have been leveraging libraries and tribal 
colleges to conduct outreach to tribal veterans. Conversely, other 
Native American veterans we spoke with suggested that in order to 
reach younger veterans, DOL should consider employing social media to 
raise awareness of employment and training services among veterans on 
tribal land. 

DOL has an opportunity to encourage states to leverage VA’s Tribal 
Veterans Representatives (TVRs), who are volunteers based on tribal 
land trained by VA to provide veterans with information about available 
benefits, to enhance the outreach efforts of DVOPs and LVERs. For 
example, Alaska state officials said that DVOPs and LVERs coordinated 
with TVRs to schedule outreach visits. As a result, officials reported 
improved participation in outreach events and better relations with 
Alaska Native communities. A similar volunteer-based initiative exists 
in Hawaii. 

[End of section] 

Allow Flexibility: 

DOL Can Use Current Flexibility to Support State Efforts to Serve 
Native American Veterans on Tribal Lands: 

Recommendation Summary: 

The 2010 report found a wide variance of tribal governance, geographic 
dispersion, technical and communications infrastructure, and economic 
development challenges that indicate that one-size-fits-all programs 
may not meet program objectives for many tribes and veterans. The 
report suggested that to the extent practicable, and legally 
authorized, programs must deliver flexible and adaptable offerings so 
that tribal agencies and veterans can build a solution to fit their 
needs. In particular, the report found that there were no DVOPs or 
LVERs assigned to live and work in Native American communities, 
although it did note that DVOPs and LVERs in some states concentrated 
their efforts on tribal lands. In response, the report recommended 
that DOL allow for greater flexibility in existing employment programs 
to better meet the needs of Native American veterans. In order to help 
tribal agencies and veterans develop solutions to fit their own needs, 
the report recommended the following specific actions: 

* explore the possibility of assigning DVOPs and LVERs to live and 
work on tribal land; and; 

* identify available flexibilities to meet the needs of Native 
American veterans living on tribal lands, including any additional 
flexibilities identified through consultation with Native American 
organizations and tribal councils. 

DOL Recommendation Status: 

DOL has not pursued the report’s proposal to explore the possibility of 
DVOPs and LVERs living and working on tribal land, citing the 
flexibility of the JVSG program that states already have under current 
law. Specifically, states now employ DVOPs and LVERs as they deem 
appropriate and efficient, subject to DOL’s approval. Further, DOL 
guidance emphasizes that states have flexibility to assign and place 
DVOPs and LVERs to best address each state’s unique needs. 

The 2010 report suggested that DVOPs and LVERs live and work on tribal 
land and included the proposal that they focus their work on the tribal 
level, rather than the state level. However, JVSG grant amounts appear 
unlikely to support a full-time focus on tribal land, even for the 
largest tribes, and such an approach appears impractical for smaller 
communities. For example, in Alaska, JVSG funds support 4.5 DVOP and 
LVER staff, who are collectively responsible for outreach to 225 
Alaska Native communities (an average of 50 each). In Alaska, each 
DVOP and LVER is assigned a region of the state, and they told us that 
they try to visit their assigned region at least twice a year. As in 
all other states, they also must balance these efforts with their 
efforts to serve other veterans because under current law, the JVSG 
grants flow to states to support activities on behalf of all eligible 
veterans in each state. A DOL official described the challenge as 
making optimum use of limited resources. 

Nevertheless, with regard to flexibility in general, a DOL official 
emphasized the importance of recognizing the substantial diversity 
among Native American communities. With regard to additional 
flexibilities that could help meet the needs of Native American 
veterans living on tribal lands, DOL has indicated that it is open to 
identifying any such opportunities that exist under current law, 
although to date it has taken little action in this area. 

Possible Expansion of DOL Efforts: 

During our site visits, regarding JVSG program flexibility, few state-
level officials and tribal leaders identified opportunities for 
additional flexibility as a primary concern, except for officials and 
veterans from several tribes, who suggested that JVSG grant funds go 
to tribes as well as states, which is not possible under current law. 
Additionally, for example, two tribes favored establishing funding 
that would be specifically reserved for veterans within DOL’s WIA 
Section 166 program, one advocated for broadened eligibility to allow 
more veterans to participate in that program, and two suggested 
streamlining application procedures for DOL’s programs to raise 
participation. Some of these proposed changes might require statutory 
changes. However, a few state-level officials, tribal leaders and 
administrators, and Native American veterans also expressed the view 
that a one-size-fits-all approach would be generally ill-advised, 
given state and tribal differences. 

Nevertheless, DOL has an opportunity to consider ways to use existing 
program flexibility to better serve veterans and encourage better 
outreach and service delivery. Specifically, DOL is considering plans 
to ask states to explicitly describe their efforts to serve Native 
American veterans in their JVSG 5-year grant operating plans, which 
could help ensure that states consider the needs of Native American 
veterans when preparing their plans. However, to date, DOL has not 
established a time frame for completion. 

[End of section] 

Boost Economic Development: 

DOL Can Support Tribal Economic Development by Applying Lessons 
Learned from Existing DOL Grants: 

Report Summary: 

The 2010 report identified the need for economic development on tribal 
land as a major problem, and noted that, in the absence of job 
opportunities, providing employment and training services alone may 
simply frustrate jobseekers. 

While noting that economic development programs are outside VETS’s 
authority, the report noted that economic development should be a 
major focus across federal programs addressing employment concerns for 
Native American veterans. 

Although the report did not recommend specific actions for DOL in this 
area, it did identify activities that federal agencies could take 
related to economic development and job opportunities on tribal land, 
including: 

* document and publish success stories, share best practices, and 
provide benchmark information to other tribes; and; 

* sponsor and fund training and education for business start-ups and 
entrepreneurs on tribal land. 

DOL Status: 

DOL officials told us they had taken no action on this issue and 
emphasized that, with regard to economic development, DOL’s focus is on 
the role that skills can play. 

Possible Expansion of DOL Efforts: 

DOL has an opportunity to better understand and support economic 
development on tribal land by reviewing its existing grants and 
guidance on this topic and identifying lessons learned to disseminate 
to JSVG state and WIA Section 166 grantees. DOL, through ETA, has 
taken steps to boost economic development generally by aligning some 
of its discretionary grants with local demand for skills, and by 
issuing guidance on economic development and entrepreneurship. 

In the past, DOL has awarded grants that have aligned employment and 
training with economic development. ETA has awarded some of its recent 
grants to Native American entities, and some grants included veterans 
(see appendix III). DOL has an opportunity to review such grants for 
lessons learned on how to incorporate economic development principles 
into existing grants for tribal veterans. For example: 

* the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona was awarded a grant to 
develop career pathways, a sequenced training approach that 
supports career progression, including a career pathway for veterans; 
and; 

* United Tribes Technical College in North Dakota was awarded a grant 
to train workers, foster business development, and promote 
entrepreneurship in 19 tribes across 3 states, under a collaborative 
program that also involved the Small Business Administration (SBA) 
and the Department of Commerce. 

Additionally, in 2007, ETA issued guidance to highlight allowable and 
prohibited activities under WIA related to economic development, and in 
2010, it issued guidance on the use of WIA funds to support 
entrepreneurship training. VETS and DINAP officials told us that they 
do not automatically receive notification of ETA grants to Native 
American entities or ETA guidance not addressed to their grantees. 

During our site visits, many officials and veterans alike, as well as 
others, identified economic development as a need, and some agreed that 
entrepreneurship could be a viable option for some Native American 
veterans. For example: 

* In Montana, the Salish Kootenai College offers an entrepreneurship 
program; 

* In North Carolina, Cherokee entrepreneurs can seek funding and 
coaching from the Sequoyah Fund, a Community Development Financial 
Institution; 

Figure: Native Hawaiian veterans and their families built greenhouses 
to grow crops for supplemental income. 

[Refer to PDF for image: photograph] 

Source: Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. 

[End of figure] 

* In Hawaii, the Vets to Farmers initiative, partly funded by a DOL 
grant, trained some Native Hawaiian veterans in sustainable 
agriculture, provided marketing assistance, and continues to help them 
sell their produce to coastal resorts (see figure); in addition, 
initiative leaders told us that participants could use VA education 
benefits to cover their training costs; and 

* In Alaska, the Cook Inlet Tribal Council refers those interested in 
entrepreneurship to the SBA and other resources. 

[End of Appendix II] 

Appendix III: Selected Recent DOL Grants to Native American 
Communities That Address Workforce or Economic Development Needs[A]: 

Year Grant Awarded: 2012; 
Name of Grant Program: Workforce Innovation Fund; 
Grantee, State: Gila River Indian Community, Arizona[C, D]; 
Purpose of Grant Project: To increase opportunities for advancement 
and employment, create partnerships, engage employers, and develop 
career pathways, in hospitality, construction, health care, and other 
occupations. 

Year Grant Awarded: 2011; 
Name of Grant Program: Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge[B]; 
Grantee, State: United Tribes Technical College, North Dakota, serving 
19 tribes in 3 states; 
Purpose of Grant Project: To meet the region's need for qualified 
environmental technicians and other professionals, accelerate business 
development opportunities for Native Americans, and reduce 
unemployment in economically distressed areas. 

Year Grant Awarded: 2010; 
Name of Grant Program: Pathways Out of Poverty; 
Grantee, State: White Earth Band of Chippewa, Minnesota; 
Purpose of Grant Project: To provide green industry and energy 
training in construction and sustainable manufacturing, to provide 
support services and to address Native Americans' unique circumstances. 

Year Grant Awarded: 2010; 
Name of Grant Program: Community-Based Job Training; 
Grantee, State: Yuut Elitnaurviat, Alaska, serving 50 Alaska Native 
villages[D]; 
Purpose of Grant Project: To build on training models with proven 
success, address retention issues, and create a career ladder in 
construction, industrial maintenance, and health care. 

Year Grant Awarded: 2010; 
Name of Grant Program: State Energy Sector Partnership; 
Grantee, State: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce 
Development[D,E]; 
Purpose of Grant Project: To increase the supply of workers with 
energy-efficiency skills to support energy-efficient end user 
technology and the geothermal, hydroelectric, wind turbine and biomass 
industries. 

Year Grant Awarded: 2010; 
Name of Grant Program: State Energy Sector Partnership; 
Grantee, State: Arizona Department of Economic Security[D,E]; 
Purpose of Grant Project: To provide targeted training and job 
placement services for green energy industries. 

Year Grant Awarded: 2010; 
Name of Grant Program: State Energy Sector Partnership; 
Grantee, State: Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial 
Relations[D,F]; 
Purpose of Grant To develop green industries, provide training in 
green skills, such as home energy rating, construction, biofuels, and 
sustainable agriculture, and attract private investment in energy. 

Source: GAO analysis of selected DOL grant summaries. 

[A] In addition, not shown here, some of the Trade Adjustment 
Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grants 
awarded in 2012 to support training for certain trade-affected workers 
also included Native Americans or veterans in their target 
populations, or included tribal governments as partners, and some of 
these grants went to tribal colleges. For example, the TAACCCT grant 
project of Mitchell Technical Institute in South Dakota included both 
Native Americans and veterans among its target populations to be 
served. Tribal institutions and governments participating in other 
TAACCCT grant projects included Fort Berthold Community College, 
Sitting Bull College, and Turtle Mountain Community College, North 
Dakota; the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, Washington state; and the 
Mille Lacs Band of Minnesota Chippewa, Minnesota. 

[B] This grant program also involved funding from the U.S. Department 
of Commerce and the Small Business Administration to support economic 
development and promote job creation, in part through entrepreneurship. 

[C] The grantee is developing a career pathway model specifically for 
veterans, according to a Gila River official. 

[D] Veterans were included in the target populations to be served by 
these grant projects. For the other grants shown, veterans were 
eligible to participate, according to grantee officials. 

[E] The grant project summary identified Native American entities as 
partners. 

[F] Grant funds supported an entrepreneurship component in which 
Native Hawaiian veterans are participating. 

[End of table] 

[End of Appendix III] 

Appendix IV: Comments from the Department of Labor: 

U.S. Department of Labor: 
Assistant Secretary for Veterans' Employment and Training: 
Washington, D.C. 20210: 

September 13, 2013: 

U.S. Government Accountability Office: 
441 G. Street, N.W. 
Washington, D.C. 20548: 

Dear Mr. Sherrill: 

On behalf of the U.S. Department of Labor (Department), thank you for 
the opportunity to review and comment on the Government Accountability 
Office's (GAO) draft report entitled, Native American Veterans: 
Department of Labor Needs a Clear Plan to Improve Employment and 
Training Services on Tribal Lands (GAO-i3-664). Your draft report 
offers a thorough review of the challenges that the Workforce System 
and the Department face in providing employment and training services 
to Native American veterans living on tribal lands. 

The GAO repo11 recommends that the Department strengthen its efforts 
to respond to the Department's 2010 report recommendations to improve 
employment and training opportunities for Native American veterans on 
tribal lands, and that the Secretary of Labor should take the 
following three actions: 

1. Ensure it has a written strategy to position the agency to 
efficiently and effectively respond to the 2010 recommendations, 
including the identification of roles and responsibilities as well as 
goals, costs, and timeframes to complete their implementation. 

As the report mentions, the Department has already begun addressing 
the recommendations in the 2010 report regarding Native American 
veterans on tribal lands. However, the Department agrees that 
additional actions should be taken and is working to develop a written 
strategy to address the recommendations that includes information 
about the roles, responsibilities, goals and costs of addressing the 
2010 recommendations. 

In order to develop a successful strategy to improve employment and 
training services for Native American veterans living on tribal lands, 
the Department must first gain a better understanding of the extent of 
unemployment and training gaps on reservations nationwide. This 
information along with demographics and other data are needed to 
establish a more comprehensive plan of action. However the lack of 
current data undermines the Department's ability to determine the
measure and urgency of need for this population nationwide. As 
mentioned in the GAO report, "BIA's American Indian Population and 
Labor Report is the only regularly collected source of poverty and 
unemployment data on all U.S. reservations. The Indian Employment, 
Training and Related Services Demonstration Act oJi992 require the 
Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of 
Labor, to develop, maintain and publish, not less than biennially, a 
report
on the population eligible for services provided by the Secretary to 
Indian people, including information by gender, age, availability to 
work, and employment." The last BIA Report was published in 2005. In 
the development of a strategy to address needs of Native American
veterans on tribal lands, the Department looks forward to the next 
report from the Department of Interior (DOI) as the last report is now 
eight years old. The Department also looks forward to collaborating 
with DOI as they prepare the report. 

Despite the reported lack of jobs, unskilled workforce and high 
unemployment on reservations, many veterans living on tribal lands 
seek employment there. These are difficult challenges, but the 
Department believes that it can do more to address them. 

2. Identify and disseminate lessons learned and promising practices 
from DOL and other agencies' efforts. To identity such lessons or 
practices, DOL could: 

a. Review efforts by Jobs for Veterans State Grant (JVSG) grantees to 
improve Disabled Veteran Outreach Program Specialist (DVOP) and Local 
Veterans Employment Representative (LVER) outreach, such as the use of 
mobile units to conduct outreach on tribal lands and; 

b. Review DOL's portfolio of employment and training grants and 
guidance related to economic development for application to JVSG and 
Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Section 166 grantees. 

The Department agrees with this recommendation. There is evidence that 
DVOPs and LVERs are successfully providing outreach and services to 
Native American veterans on reservations in some states. As mentioned 
in the report, we will review their practices to determine which are
effective and which can be used by staff in other states to facilitate 
more DVOP and LVER services on reservations. It is important to keep 
in mind that some practices that are successfully implemented in one 
state may not be effectively applied in other states due to the 
regulatory and cultural disparity across the states and the tribes 
respectively. 

Successful collaboration and implementation of practices hinges 
largely on the relationships between the tribe and the state. Some 
DVOPs and LVERs have established working relationships with tribes, 
but these are informal and different from place to place. The
Department agrees that it must continuously work to foster the 
government-to-government relationship with tribes so that we can align 
resources to address the needs of this population. 

The Employment and Training Administration's Division of Indian and 
Native American Programs (DINAP) assists in addressing the poverty, 
unemployment, training, and educational needs of American Indians, 
Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians through managing the WIA Section 
166 grant program. As such, ETA already reviews DOL's portfolio of 
employment and training grants and guidance related to economic 
development for application to WIA Section 166 grantees. As mentioned 
in the report, through DINAP's current efforts to improve grantees'
awareness of economic development opportunities, WIA Section 166 
grantees have been successful in competing for grants that align 
employment and training resources with economic development needs, 
such as Career Pathways and the Workforce Innovation Fund. DINAP then
visited those grantees to review lessons learned, and held National 
Conferences for WIA Section 166 grantees which provided a platform 
where best practices could be shared. 

DINAP will continue to review lessons learned through ETA's portfolio 
of economic development related grants and guidance, and how they can 
be applied to WIA Section 166 grantees. DINAP is also committed to 
working with VETS to assess how lessons learned through ETA's 
portfolio can be incorporated into JVSG grants to better serve the 
Native American veteran population. 

3. Expand collaboration with other agencies to leverage agency 
resources. This effort could include working through the Advisory 
Committee for Veterans Employment, Training and Employer Outreach 
(ACVETEO) and other efforts, strengthening relationships with agencies 
that also serve Native American veterans, such as DOD, VA, SBA, and 
BIA as well as building relationships with other agencies that serve 
Native American veterans, such as Education and HHS. 

The Department agrees with this recommendation. We have found that 
collaboration with other agencies has been an effective approach to 
addressing Native American veterans on tribal lands and we look 
forward to improving these working relationships with the VA, BIA, DOD 
as well as the Native American community. VETS will have an initial 
FY2014 meeting with the VA on October 7, to discuss how to more 
effectively leverage our collaboration with other stakeholders
about serving Native American Veterans on tribal lands. VETS will also 
propose at the first meeting of the ACVETEO in FY 2014, that a 
subcommittee be established to advise them on issues and services to 
Native American veterans on tribal lands In conclusion, the Department 
looks forward to continuing to work with other agencies, state and
local partners, Native American and tribal leaders, as well as others, 
to develop a clear plan to improve employment and training services to 
veterans living on tribal lands. 

Sincerely, 

Signed by: 

Keith Kelly: 

[End of Appendix IV] 

Appendix V: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments: 

GAO Contact: 

Andrew Sherrill, (202) 512-7215 or sherrilla@gao.gov: 

Staff Acknowledgments: 

In addition to the contact named above, Brett Fallavollita (Assistant 
Director), Michelle Bracy, and Christopher Morehouse made key 
contributions to this report. In addition, key support was provided by 
James Bennett, Sarah Cornetto, Holly Dye, Kathy Leslie, and Jean 
McSween. 

[End of section] 

Related GAO Products: 

VA and IHS: Further Action Needed to Collaborate on Providing Health 
Care to Native American Veterans. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-354]. Washington, D.C.: April 26, 
2013. 

Entrepreneurial Assistance: Opportunities Exist to Improve Programs' 
Collaboration, Data-Tracking, and Performance Management. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-452T]. Washington, D.C.: March 20, 
2013. 

Veterans' Employment and Training: Better Targeting, Coordinating, and 
Reporting Needed to Enhance Program Effectiveness. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-29]. Washington, D.C.: December 13, 
2012. 

Regional Alaska Native Corporations: Status 40 Years after 
Establishment, and Future Considerations. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-121]. Washington, D.C.: December 
13, 2012. 

Managing for Results: Key Considerations for Implementing Interagency 
Collaborative Mechanisms. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-1022]. Washington, D. C.: September 
27, 2012. 

Indian Issues: Federal Funding for Non-Federally Recognized Tribes. 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-348]. Washington, D.C.: 
April 12, 2012. 

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: HHS Needs to Improve Guidance 
and Monitoring of Tribal Programs. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-758]. Washington, D.C.: September 
15, 2011. 

Indian Issues: Observations on Some Unique Factors that May Affect 
Economic Activity on Tribal Lands. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-543T]. Washington, D.C.: April 7, 
2011. 

Veterans' Employment and Training Service: Labor Could Improve 
Information on Reemployment Services, Outcomes, and Program Impact. 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-07-594]. Washington, D.C.: 
May 24, 2007. 

Results-Oriented Government: Practices That Can Help Enhance and 
Sustain Collaboration among Federal Agencies. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-06-15]. Washington, D.C.: October 21, 
2005. 

Results-Oriented Cultures: Implementation Steps to Assist Mergers and 
Organizational Transformations. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-03-669]. Washington, D.C.: July 2, 
2003. 

[End of section] 

Footnotes: 

[1] In this report, the term "Native Americans" refers to American 
Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. We use the term "tribal 
land" to refer to Indian reservations, Alaska Native villages, and 
Hawaiian Home Lands. More specifically, for the purposes of this 
report, we define (1) an Indian reservation as land established by 
treaty, statute, executive order, or administrative procedure for the 
use of a designated tribe or tribes, (2) an Alaska Native village as a 
village that (a) was deemed eligible as a Native village under the 
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (Pub. L. No. 92-203, 85 Stat. 688 
(1971)) and (b) has a corresponding Alaska Native entity that is 
recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and (3) Hawaiian Home 
Lands as land areas that were originally established under the 
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920 (Pub. L. No. 67-34, 42 Stat. 108 
(1921)) and are now held in trust by the state of Hawaii for the 
benefit of Native Hawaiians. Hawaiian Home Lands are owned by the 
state of Hawaii and there is no separate Native Hawaiian entity 
governing the land. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2011 
approximately 150,000 individuals identified themselves as Native 
American veterans. This includes only individuals who identified as 
American Indian or Alaska Native alone and not in combination with 
another racial group. Therefore, it likely underestimates the number 
of Native American veterans. 

[2] U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs 
(BIA),Office of Indian Services, 2005 American Indian Population and 
Labor Force Report. BIA's American Indian Population and Labor Force 
Report is the only regularly collected source of poverty and 
unemployment data on all U.S. reservations. The Indian Employment, 
Training and Related Services Demonstration Act of 1992 requires the 
Secretary of the Interior to develop, maintain, and publish not less 
than biennially, a report on the population eligible for services 
provided by the Secretary to Indian people, including information by 
gender, age, availability for work, and employment. Pub. L. No. 102-
477, § 17(a), 106 Stat. 2302, 2305 (codified at 25 U.S.C. § 3416(a)). 
However, the 2005 report is the most recent year these data were 
collected. See Preparation of the 2013 American Indian Population and 
Labor Force Report, 77 Fed. Reg. 61,780 (Oct. 11, 2012). 

[3] Pub. L. No. 110-389, § 314, 122 Stat. 4145, 4167. Under section 
314 of the Act, the term "Native American" includes American Indian, 
Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander. However, in this 
report we use the term "Native American" to refer to only American 
Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. 

[4] We selected the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the 
Flathead Reservation in Montana using the same criteria that was used 
to select the site visits. The Spirit Lake Tribe in North Dakota was 
selected to learn more about outreach activities conducted by a North 
Dakota Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program specialist for Native 
American veterans identified by DOL. 

[5] U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 American Community Survey 1-year 
estimates. These data represent only those veterans who reported a 
single race of American Indian or Alaska Native, and do not include 
American Indian or Alaska Native in combination with any other race, 
nor do they include Native Hawaiian veterans. Therefore, this estimate 
likely underestimates the number of Native American veterans. 

[6] U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, American Indian and Alaska 
Native Servicemembers and Veterans (September 2012). This study 
analyzed data from the 2010 American Community Survey. 

[7] See GAO, Indian Issues: Observations on Some Unique Factors that 
May Affect Economic Activity on Tribal Land, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-543T], (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 7, 
2011). 

[8] Both DOL's 2010 report and the law that required it defined tribal 
lands to include: Indian reservations, Alaska Native villages, and 
Hawaiian Home Lands. 

[9] For this estimate, the Census Bureau defined tribal land as 
including federal reservation and off-reservation trust land and other 
federal-or state-designated Indian statistical areas. 

[10] These estimates were based on data from the 2010 census. 

[11] The federal Indian trust responsibility is a legal obligation 
under which the United States "has charged itself with moral 
obligations of the highest responsibility and trust" toward Indian 
tribes. Seminole Nation v. United States, 316 U.S. 286, 297 (1942). 
The federal government has a trust relationship to the tribe and its 
members and specific obligations to provide benefits and services to 
the tribe and its members. 

[12] Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From 
the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, 78 Fed. Reg. 26,384 (May 
6, 2013). 

[13] Federal programs may have different definitions of American 
Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian for purposes of determining 
eligibility. 

[14] 38 U.S.C. §§ 4103a, 4104. In addition to the JVSG program, VETS 
also administers programs to enforce veterans' re-employment rights 
under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 
1994; to provide services to meet the workforce investment needs of 
certain veterans, through the Veterans' Workforce Investment Program; 
and to expedite the reintegration of homeless veterans into the labor 
force, through the Homeless Veterans' Reintegration program. 

[15] For more information on the JVSG program, see GAO, Veterans' 
Employment and Training: Better Targeting, Coordinating, and Reporting 
Needed to Enhance Program Effectiveness, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-29] (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 13, 
2012). 

[16] Under the authorizing statute, a "state" includes any state, the 
District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and may 
include certain other territories. 38 U.S.C. §§ 4102a(b)(5), 4101(6). 

[17] The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 created a comprehensive 
workforce investment system that brought together multiple federally 
funded employment and training programs into a single system, called 
the one-stop system. Pub. L. No. 105-220, 112 Stat. 936 (codified as 
amended at 29 U.S.C. § 2801 et seq.). In 2012, DOL issued guidance 
encouraging the use of American Job Centers as a uniform name for one-
stops. DOL Training and Employment Guidance Letter 36-11, Announcement 
of American Job Center Network (June 14, 2012). 

[18] 29 U.S.C. § 2911. For definitions of these terms for purposes of 
eligibility for services under WIA Section 166, see 29 U.S.C. § 
2911(b). Section 166 authorizes DOL to make grants to Indian tribes, 
tribal organizations, Alaska Native entities, Indian-controlled 
organizations serving Indians, or Native Hawaiian organizations. 29 
U.S.C. § 2911(c)(1). 

[19] Pub. L. No. 107-288, § 2(a), 116 Stat. 2033, 2033-34 (2002) 
(codified as amended at 38 U.S.C. § 4215). See also 20 C.F.R. pt. 1010. 

[20] DOL did not release its report to the public. 

[21] 38 U.S.C. § 4110. 

[22] GAO, Results-Oriented Cultures: Implementation Steps to Assist 
Mergers and Organizational Transformations, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-03-669] (Washington, D.C.: July 2, 
2003). 

[23] GAO, Managing for Results: Key Considerations for Implementing 
Interagency Collaborative Mechanisms, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-1022] (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 27, 
2012). 

[24] For examples of past DOL guidance related to economic 
development, see DOL Training and Employment Guidance Letter 12-10, 
Supporting Entrepreneurial and Self-Employment Training through the 
Workforce Investment System (Nov. 15, 2010); DOL Training and 
Employment Notice 25-09, Think Entrepreneurs: A Call to Action -
Integrating Entrepreneurship into the Public Workforce System 
Throughout America (Jan. 22, 2010); and DOL Training and Employment 
Guidance Letter 13-07, Use of Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Funds for 
Workforce Development Activities in Support of Economic Development 
(Dec. 11, 2007). 

[25] See GAO, VA and IHS: Further Action Needed to Collaborate on 
Providing Health Care to Native American Veterans, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-354] (Washington, D.C.: Apr 26, 
2013). 

[End of section] 

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Washington, DC 20548. 

Public Affairs: 

Chuck Young, Managing Director, youngc1@gao.gov: 
(202) 512-4800: 
U.S. Government Accountability Office: 
441 G Street NW, Room 7149: 
Washington, DC 20548. 

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