Dear Tribal Leaders Letters (Subscribe)

Dear Tribal Leader & Urban Indian Organization Leader:

On behalf of Martin O'Malley, Commissioner of Social Security, I am pleased to announce an upcoming training opportunity and the development of the Dear Tribal Leader Letter (DTLL) webpage. Pursuant to the Presidential Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships, SSA is announcing our upcoming free virtual Survivor's Benefits Training and our published DTLL webpage.

Survivors' benefits are paid to the surviving spouse and dependents of a deceased worker. Beneficiaries include widows, widowers (and divorced widows and widowers, if they were married at least 10 years), and children who qualify. A surviving spouse, surviving divorced spouse, or an unmarried child may be eligible for monthly survivor benefits based on the deceased worker's earnings. The earliest a widow or widower can start receiving Social Security Survivors benefits is based on age and family status.

The policies and processes are complicated and vary depending on the situation. This is why you will want a member of your team (Benefits Specialist or Social Worker) to join us for a free informative training session on Survivors Benefits. We offer two training options.

• Register for Option 1 - Tuesday, June 25th (7:00 am Pacific / 8:00 am Mountain / 9:00 am Central / 10:00 am Eastern)
• Register for Option 2 - Wednesday, June 26th (10:30 am Pacific / 11:30 am Mountain / 12:30 pm Central / 1:30 pm Eastern)

These trainings provide information to assist Tribal Benefit Coordinators, Navigators, Social Workers, and other stakeholders who provide support to tribal members. Additionally, each month you will find up-to-date training information on our Training on SSA programs page.

We established a Dear Tribal Leader Letter webpage to keep Tribal Leaders informed as well as those invested (subscribers) in receiving up-to-date information for Tribal members. On this webpage, you will find previous letters archived per fiscal year. We encourage you subscribe to receive notifications of new communications.

We will continue to provide updates to our policies and upcoming training that affect Indian Country. We look forward to meeting you throughout our travel activities to Tribal communities to continue building trust and understanding your unique needs.

Sincerely,

Reneé Ferguson, Director
Office of Native American Partnerships
Office of the Commissioner
Social Security Administration
www.SSA.gov/people/aian