Action Alert: Tell Congress to Reauthorize the Special Diabetes Program for Indians

Contact Congress to Ensure the Special Diabetes Program for Indians is Reauthorized Before December 31, 2024.

We need your help contacting Congress today!

Representative DeGette (D-CO-01) and Representative Bilirakis (R-FL-12) are leading a letter to House leadership in support of reauthorizing the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) prior to its expiration at the end of December.

Why is SDPI important?

• SDPI supports research-based interventions for diabetes prevention and cardiovascular disease risk reduction in American Indian and Alaska Native community-based programs and healthcare settings.
• SDPI serves 780,000 American Indian and Alaska Native people across 302 programs in 35 states.
• Currently, 31 urban Indian organizations (UIOs) receive SDPI funding that enables UIOs to provide necessary services that reduce the incidence of diabetes-related illness among urban Indian communities.
• SDPI’s integrated approach to diabetes healthcare and prevention programs in Indian Country has become a resounding success and is one of the most successful public health programs ever implemented.

Why is this urgent? 

• Funding for SDPI expires on December 31, 2024.
• As Congress heads into the end of the 118^th Congress, the top priority is finalizing and passing an omnibus funding bill for Fiscal Year 2025. This is the best opportunity for reauthorizing SDPI before it expires at the end of December 2024.

To ensure that SDPI receives as much support as possible, we encourage you to contact your member of congress to support reauthorization of SDPI. Please find a template email below with instructions. Thank you for your leadership. Your outreach on this is invaluable to providing greater health equity for American Indian and Alaska Native people.

Sincerely,
The National Council of Urban Indian Health

Ways to Advocate

Contact Congress!

Step 1: Copy the email below.
Step 2: Find your Representative here.
Step 3: Go to their website and click contact.
Step 4: Paste the email into the form and send. Please contact Meredith Raimondi (policy@ncuih.org) with questions.

Email to Your Representative!

Dear Representative [NAME],

As an urban Indian health advocate, I respectfully request you sign on to the DeGette-Bilirakis letter to House Leadership in support of reauthorizing the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) prior to its expiration on December 31, 2024.

SDPI supports research-based interventions for diabetes prevention and cardiovascular disease risk reduction in American Indian and Alaska Native community-based programs and healthcare settings, including 31 Urban Indian Organizations. SDPI’s integrated approach to diabetes healthcare and prevention programs in Indian Country has become a resounding success and is one of the most successful public health programs ever implemented.

As Congress works on final appropriations for Fiscal Year 2025, this is a critical moment to take a significant step towards fulfilling the trust responsibility to ensure healthcare access for American Indian and Alaska Native people. The highly successful, bipartisan program is a proven success, and reauthorization should be a top priority for Congress.  Your support in signing this letter will be instrumental in achieving this goal.

NCUIH respects and supports Tribal sovereignty and the unique government-to-government relationship between our Tribal Nations and the United States. NCUIH works to support those federal laws, policies, and procedures that respect and uplift Tribal sovereignty and the government-to-government relationship. NCUIH does not support any federal law, policy, or procedure that infringes upon, or in any way diminishes, Tribal sovereignty or the government-to-government relationship.

NCUIH Contact:Meredith Raimondi, Vice President of Policy and Communications, mraimondi@ncuih.org