Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community Of The Trinidad Rancheria

Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community Of The Trinidad Rancheria, doing business as Trinidad Rancheria, is a federally recognized Native American tribe and tribal government based in Trinidad, California that receives federal grants as a prime recipient across infrastructure, housing, environmental, cultural, and justice-system programs. The tribe is self-certified as a small disadvantaged business and competes exclusively in set-asides or direct federal assistance channels available to federally recognized tribes; it does not pursue open competition or commercial contracting vehicles.

The tribe's federal footprint is almost entirely grant-funded (117 of 118 awards are prime grants or sub-grants), with a single non-personal services contract awarded by the Morris K. Udall Foundation in August 2024 for $92,168.45 to develop protocols and produce comprehensive reports for a West Coast Tribal Cultural Landscape Assessment supporting the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The grant portfolio spans 24 federal agencies and emphasizes community development, infrastructure, and tribal self-determination. Top customers by award count include the Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration (20 awards, primarily Tribal Transportation Program formula grants), the Department of Housing and Urban Development Public and Indian Housing Office (11 awards, including a $2.68 million Indian Housing Block Grant in September 2024 and a $300 thousand Rural Housing Preservation Grant in October 2024), the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (11 awards), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (9 awards supporting library operations and renovation), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (9 awards including a $1.72 million Tribal Homeland Security Grant in September 2024 and a $2.46 million Homeland Security Grant Formula award in September 2022).

The tribe's grant work centers on transportation infrastructure development, affordable housing construction and rehabilitation, library and cultural services, environmental program capacity and water quality management, tribal court expansion and cultural integration, victim services, emergency preparedness, and historic preservation. Representative recent work includes a $383,241.67 Tribal Transportation Program award from FHWA for fiscal year 2026 (November 2025), a $274,358 EPA Performance Partnership Grant for water quality monitoring and non-point source pollution reduction (October 2025), a $950,680 Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) Cooperative Agreement from EPA Region 9 for construction and operation of a zero-waste facility (July 2024), a $1.72 million FEMA Tribal Homeland Security Grant (September 2024), a $700 thousand Bureau of Justice Assistance Treatment Court Discretionary Grant for a Tribal Healing to Wellness Court program (October 2022), and multiple Native American Library Services Basics Grants from IMLS supporting library operations and staff training. The tribe also receives annual Tribal Historic Preservation Office formula grants from the National Park Service under the Historic Preservation Fund and victim-services grants from the Office for Victims of Crime Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside program.

Activity peaked at 15 awards in 2024, declining to 5 in 2025 and 2 in the first half of 2026. Within the next twenty-four months, 13 awards reach ultimate completion and face potential recompete or renewal. Combined obligated dollars across all awards total $44.4 million, substantially exceeding the reported potential-value ceiling ($92 thousand), indicating that the source's potential-value field does not reflect actual award magnitudes—the actual grant-funded portfolio carries multimillion-dollar recent obligation. The tribe acts as prime recipient on nearly all work and subcontracts minimally (one sub-grant award visible, a planning-activity subaward under National Main Street Center Inc. in July 2024 for federal-grant management capacity building). Trinidad Rancheria competes within tribal set-asides and direct-assistance channels only; it does not maintain seats on federal contract vehicles, GWACs, or BPAs and does not function as a federal contractor prime in the traditional procurement sense.