Aha Abenaki Helping Abenaki Inc.

Aha Abenaki Helping Abenaki Inc., a tribally owned organization based in Shelburne, Vermont, operates as a federal grant recipient, not a federal contractor, delivering cultural preservation, historical documentation, and community services programs funded through grants from civilian agencies. The organization holds American Indian Owned designation and operates as a tribal government entity rather than a for-profit corporation; it has not received federal contract prime awards or contract vehicle seats.

Aha Abenaki's federal footprint is grant-focused and modest in scale. Total awards across all federal sources stand at six, with combined dollars obligated of $456 thousand. Two-thirds of awards are prime grants (4 of 6); one-third are sub-award positions (2 of 6). The organization's customer base spans four federal agencies: the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (3 awards), the Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service (1 award), the Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (1 award), and the National Archives and Records Administration (1 award). Activity is sparse and episodic — one award in 2016, one in 2017, one in 2018, two in 2022, and one in 2025 — with no clear growth trajectory.

Representative prime grant work includes a $350 thousand project grant from the National Archives and Records Administration under the National Historical Publications and Records Grants program (CFDA 89.003) running from October 2022 through September 2024 to preserve and publish historical records related to United States history. As a sub-award recipient, Aha Abenaki appears on a University of Vermont Sea Grant award (Lake Champlain Sea Grant 2024–2027, dated August 2025) and on a Vermont Agency of Agriculture sub-award (September 2022) for food distribution. The organization does not appear on federal contract vehicles, IDIQs, GWACs, BPAs, or agency-wide IDVs; it operates exclusively in the federal grant space, primarily supporting tribal cultural preservation and community development initiatives.