PEMBROKE — Members of the Lumbee Tribe soon will be receiving shares of a total of $500,000 in direct cash payments as part of an effort to help American Indians hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Decolonizing Wealth Project, in partnership with Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition, recently announced the cash distribution, which is part of $1 million to be distributed to provide mutual aid to American Indian tribes affected by the pandemic. About 2,000 American Indian families will be eligible for $500 one-time payments, with recipients identified through a partnership with local American Indian-led organizations and tribes.

Hopi Tribe artists are to receive $250,000 of the money. The artists’ share will be distributed through the Hopi Foundation in Arizona. The remaining $250,000 will go to American Indian communities in Alaska, South Dakota and Oklahoma.

“We are excited to work with this agency,” a Lumbee tribe statement reads in part.

The money will be used to serve tribal members currently wait-listed for program services and those who have reached out for COVID-19 relief, according to the tribe.

“We are still in the process of finalizing distribution,” the statement reads in part.

The Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition will administer the funds. The Coalition is a nonprofit asset building coalition that works with tribes and partners interested in establishing asset-building initiatives and programs in American Indian communities “for the purpose of creating greater opportunities for economic self-sufficiency of tribal citizens,” the Coalition’s website reads in part.

The Decolonizing Wealth Project is the brainchild of Edgar Villanueva, an author, philanthropy activist and member of the Lumbee Tribe. It’s purpose is to bring awareness to the “broad context of disinvestment in Indigenous communities.”

The project launched the direct cash distribution program “amid the failure of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and the Trump administration to distribute millions in funds that were promised to Native tribes as part of the CARES Act,” a Wealth Project news release reads in part.

“The direct cash model puts trust in the hands of recipients to determine what their needs are, providing a cushion of financial support that government programs have failed to provide,” the release reads in part.

“The federal government has totally failed to address the grave situation in Native communities, directly resulting in the suffering and loss of life we’re seeing across the country,” Villanueva said in statement. “While corporations got a $500 billion bailout fund, Native communities were promised little and received even less. That’s why we are stepping in to care for our own communities and get cash in the hands of the people who need it. We cannot begin to heal from this devastation until we have the resources to protect homes and livelihoods.”

According to Decolonizing Wealth, “The Lumbee tribe numbers are dangerously misrepresented in North Carolina; because the Lumbee Tribe is recognized only on the state level, not federal, it does not qualify for some federal benefits received by other tribes, such as Indian Health Services, despite being the largest tribe on the East Coast.”

The Lumbee Tribe has received more than $5 million through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. Of that total, $4.5 million was an Indian Housing Block Grant, $453,930 was funnelled through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and $362,267 came in the form of a Community Services Block Grant.

Some of the CARES Act money was used by the tribe’s government to buy personal protective equipment, education materials, cleaning supplies, food boxes and COVID-19 testing kits. Part of it was used to assist tribal members with mortgage and rent payments, and utility bills.