The institute for tribal environmental professionals at northern arizona university will work in collaboration with U.S.EPA to provide tribal environmental professionals with outstanding air quality…

The Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Air and Radiation awarded Northern Arizona University's Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) a $1.6 million Project Grant under the Internships, Training and Workshops for the Office of Air and Radiation program (CFDA 66.037) effective October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2030. The award supports ITEP's collaborative efforts with EPA to build capacity and advance air quality management expertise within tribal communities and among American Indian environmental professionals. Primary deliverables include annual air quality workshops (15 or more per year, with at least 10 in-person), which combine traditional classroom instruction with online and specialty courses tailored to regional tribal professional development needs.

Additionally, the award funds the operation and expansion of ITEP's Tribal Air Monitoring Support (TAMS) Center, which provides comprehensive technical assistance and outreach services to tribal governments. TAMS Center activities include a resource clearinghouse offering sample documents, technical manuals, and reference materials; responsive customer service through email, phone, and inquiry tracking; and maintenance of a professional listserv for network communication. The award also supports the Environmental Education Internship Program, which creates career pathway opportunities for American Indian students pursuing environmental careers in air quality. These integrated services advance the Clean Air Act's objectives by developing qualified environmental protection professionals while simultaneously equipping tribal organizations with technical resources and expertise for effective air quality management.

The institute for tribal environmental professionals at northern arizona university will work in collaboration with U.S.EPA to provide tribal environmental professionals with outstanding air quality workshops and technical support, and outreach programs for tribal governments and american indian students pursuing environmental careers in the field of air quality.activities:1. Aiaqtp workshops, 2. Tams center, 3. Professional assistance, 4. Tribal environmental education, outreach and support program, 5. Environmental education internship program 1. Aiaqtp workshops - itep proposes to offer 15 or more workshops in each year of this project. Ten workshops will be in-person (with 8 located at the tams center). Workshops will be a combination of in-person workshops, on-line workshops, and specialty courses depending on availability of funds. Specialty courses enable itep to respond to professional development requests by multiple tribes in a specific geographic region. Like other special requests for assistance, itep will utilize established protocols to document and approve each request, based on the availability of staff time, technical collaborators, and financial resources. 2. Tams center - itep's tams center staff will provide robust outreach to tribes to help promote the services offered by the tams center. Outreach will include but not limited to the following: - receiving and responding to requests: tams center staff will respond to email, phone calls and other forms of inquiry submitted by tribes in a timely and professional manner. Inquiries are logged and tracked in itep's inquiry tracking database and reported to EPA in quarterly reports. - tams center clearinghouse: itep will maintain and update a library of resources (detailed in task 3) that is available online to aid tribes with sample documents, technical manuals, and other useful resources. -tams listserv: itep has developed and will continue to support a tams listserv. This listserv of tribal professionals that have attended tams trainings and is populated with over 250 contacts. Itep will conduct two in-person tams steering committee meetings annually. One meeting will take place in first quarter of the project, and one will take place in the second quarter annually. Meetings will be located at the tams center facilities, to reduce travel expenses for tams center and EPA on-site staff. Funding is budgeted to cover travel expenses for the seven (7) elected members of the tams steering committee. Itep staff will work closely with EPA staff and steering committee representatives to plan each meeting and its agenda. Planning of the agenda for the in-person meetings will occur during BI-monthly calls with the tams steering committee and with tams senior managers. Following the steering committee meetings, a summary of meeting outcomes and action items is provided to the committee. BI-monthly virtual meetings are also convened with committee members to ensure adequate progress on action items is made, as well as to address new or emerging issues identified by tribes and EPA. 3. Professional assistance - itep's existing website (http://WWW7.NAU.EDU/itep/main/air/) is designed to support all aiaqtp activities and tasks under this agreement. This robust and dynamic website provides easy access to information on air quality training, including: schedules, course descriptions, pre-requisites, and application materials. Online registration is currently offered for itep workshops and the ntfaq conference. This website is also a portal to the tams center website (http://WWW7.NAU.EDU/itep/main/tams) where a library of technical resources, videos, tutorials and documents are housed to support tribal air quality programs. Recorded webinars and presentations are maintained on itep's mediaspace channel: https://mediaspace.NAU.EDU/category/itep/68880892. Website content is updated on a quarterl