Santa Ynez Band Of Mission Indians

Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians, a federally recognized Native American tribe headquartered in Santa Ynez, California, operates as a prime recipient of federal grants across cultural resource management, environmental protection, tribal education, and climate resilience programming, with no federal contract primes and no participation in contract vehicles such as GWACs or BPAs.

The tribe's federal footprint is dominated by grant awards rather than contracts. Among 105 total awards (93% prime grants and cooperative agreements, 7% sub-awards), the top five customer agencies account for 56% of award count: the Department of the Interior National Park Service Pacific West Region (17 awards), the Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (16 awards), the Environmental Protection Agency (12 awards), the Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs Central Office (8 awards), and the Department of the Interior National Park Service National Office (6 awards). The Department of the Interior dominates both the nominal award count and potential value.

The tribe's capability portfolio centers on tribal monitoring services at Channel Islands National Park, cultural resource stewardship, archaeological inventory and site assessments, and climate and environmental planning. Representative grant work includes a $19,993,324 Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grant from EPA Region 9 (CFDA 66.616) awarded in March 2025 to restore 214 acres of degraded land on the Gaviota Coast, install 0.5 megawatts of solar capacity, develop a community resilience hub, and deliver workforce training integrating traditional Chumash ecological knowledge; a $116,000 EPA Region 9 Performance Partnership Grant (CFDA 66.605) effective October 2025 for a water quality monitoring program on the Santa Ynez Reservation; and a cooperative agreement from the National Park Service's Pacific West Region to undertake archaeological inventory, site condition assessments, and NAGPRA work at Channel Islands National Park running through June 2027. The tribe also holds cooperative agreements with the Department of Energy (CFDA not provided) for establishing the Santa Ynez Chumash Oceanographic Institute through September 2031, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for West Coast Ocean Alliance engagement, and with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for nominating Morro Rock as a Traditional Cultural Place. On the contract side, the tribe holds small purchase orders from the National Park Service Pacific West Region: a $170,936 emergency stabilization purchase order for the TPINES project (August 2026, completion June 2027), tribal monitoring orders for construction at Channel Islands ranging from $2,111 to $23,500, and a $22,279 tribal cultural landscape assessment from the Morris K. Udall Foundation awarded May 2023.

The tribe also receives recurring Indian Education Formula Grants from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (CFDA not provided in source) spanning multiple fiscal years, and holds project grants for library services enhancement, historic preservation under the Tribal Historic Preservation Office program (CFDA 15.904), Tribal Wildlife Grants for wildlands management planning (CFDA 15.639), Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act work (CFDA 15.922), and community development and housing support through Indian Housing Block Grants and Indian Community Development Block Grants. The tribe also received sub-awards from the Office of Emergency Services for disaster recovery management costs and critical infrastructure protection, and from various grants addressing de-escalation training for tribal law enforcement, environmental remediation at Santa Susana Field Laboratory, and broadband infrastructure planning.

Activity has averaged roughly 10 awards annually over the past three years, with potential value concentrated in large EPA and Department of Energy cooperative agreements; the combined potential value across all 105 awards totals $409 thousand, but obligated dollars reached $59.4 million, indicating substantial multi-year funding commitments embedded in cooperative agreements and formula grants. Eight awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, carrying combined potential value of $171 thousand. The Service Contract Inventory dataset shows minimal SCI-reportable service-contract activity (0.1 FTEs in FY2025 as a named subcontractor on one record), reflecting the tribe's orientation toward grants and cooperative agreements rather than federal service contracting.