This agreement provides funding to support the local first arizona foundation (provider/recipient) to provide technical assistance and related support to rural and tribal communities in arizona

This Cooperative Agreement award from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Environmental Finance Center (EFC) Grant Program (CFDA 66.203) provides $469,684 in funding to the Local First Arizona Foundation. The purpose is to support the delivery of technical assistance, training, and related services to rural and tribal communities in Arizona. The key activities include:

• Providing data fluency training, education, and technical assistance to help underserved communities develop data reporting, evaluation, and management capabilities. This will enable them to better fulfill the reporting and performance requirements associated with EPA grants they have received.

• Engaging sub-recipients such as WaterNow Alliance, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association to provide specialized technical assistance in areas like data analysis, community outreach, water efficient landscaping, emissions tracking, and renewable energy.

The anticipated outcomes include improved data reporting and dissemination for EPA and state grant recipients in rural/tribal Arizona, increased data fluency and evaluation capacity in underserved communities, and stronger evidence-building capabilities. The award period is from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2027.

The provider will deliver data fluency related training, education, and technical assistance to help underserved communities develop data fluency, evaluation capability, and reporting capacity within their organizations. The provider's services are critical to solidifying the post award reporting accuracy for communities who have received an EPA grant but may lack the necessary data related fluency or evaluation capacity to fulfill the reporting and evaluation requirements. This increased performance relating to data fluency and reporting will enable rural and tribal communities to better communicate how awarded EPA grants improved the outcomes related to environmental health. Activities:the activities include outreach to identify community/organizational needs, individual consultation/technical assistance, data management training, aiding the development of quality assurance project plans/quality management plans, assisting beneficiaries with identifying and using existing data sources, site visits, and developing data systems, checklists, evaluation plans, and other tools to ensure beneficiary reporting accuracy/compliance.subrecipient:subrecipients include waternow alliance, arizona state university, northern arizona university, and the arizona solar energy industries association. The subrecipient activities include providing technical assistance related to data analysis, community outreach, qualified water efficient landscaper (qwel) training, developing data products and tools that support emissions tracking and climate action throughout the supply chain, greenhouse gas accounting workshops, and consultation regarding available data and research in the renewable energies and complementary technologies sector. The intended beneficiaries include cbos and local governments in rural and tribal communities in arizona. Outcomes:the anticipated deliverables include community engagement with rural communities and tribal governments in arizona, the design of objective-based/project-specific evaluation and reporting frameworks, several workshops, and numerous 1 on 1 technical assistance sessions. The expected outcomes include improved data reporting and dissemination for EPA grant or state revolving fund recipients located in rural and tribal communities in arizona, increased data fluency and evaluation capacity in historically underserved communities, and stronger capacity for rural and tribal communities in arizona to build and use evidence. The intended beneficiaries include cbos and local governments in rural and tribal communities in arizona.