NATIONAL EJ TCTAC AWARD Recipient: National Indian Health Board Applicant Type: Not for Profit Award Amount: $10,000,000 Title: National Indian Health Board Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center Location: Tribal Communities Nationwide Partners: As the voice for Tribal health at the national level, NIHB expects to continue and deepen its partnerships throughout this project serving the 574 federally recognized Tribes. NIHB works closely with each of the eleven AIHBs across the country, the Tribal Epidemiology Centers (TECs), and Tribal governments.
NIHB has partnered with non-profit organizations in this field, such as ecoAmerica, the National Tribal Air Association, and the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals, and looks forward to deepening those partnerships as a result of the EJ TCTAC project. This project will allow NIHB to expand its footprint in health and environmental justice career development through partnerships with Tribal Colleges/Universities (TCUs) and other minority-serving educational institutions. Indigenous peoples have known for millennia that the health of a person and the community is tied to the health of the environment.
Tribal communities are some of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and some of the most environmentally exploited. In the corrective effort to realize environmental and energy justice and to achieve the goals of the Justice40 Initiative, the federal government must ensure Indian Country has sustained access to tools and resources to tackle these issues in the way that works best for Tribes. In short, Tribes need a Technical Assistance Center devoted to Indian Country. NIHB, as the national voice for Tribal health, is the natural entity to serve as this one-stop shop for Tribes.
The EJ TCTAC will allow NIHB to provide services related to environmental and energy justice at the Tribal level. Like all NIHB projects, the EJ TCTAC will cover the national geographic area and serve Tribes throughout the United States. NIHB will leverage the 2018-2019 environmental health discussion sessions and the 2021- 2022 Regional Environmental Health Summits hosted by NIHB and supported by CDC to address environmental justice concerns in Indian Country, such as the impacts of climate change; external pollutants in the air, land, and water; Superfund sites; and the transition to clean energy sources.
NIHB will stand up the Tribal TCTAC as a one-stop shop for Tribal Nations looking for support in the environmental and energy justice spaces. NIHB will leverage our existing framework of outreach to increase the number of Tribes applying for and receiving funding from federal and non-federal partners on environmental and energy justice projects. NIHB will provide grant writing courses, grant application explainers, targeted application assistance, and project evaluation design trainings throughout Indian Country over the course of this project.
NIHB’s EJ TC TAC will provide technical assistance on funding opportunities, including applications involving a cohort or partnership with Tribes, municipal partners, and state governments. NIHB will develop a clearinghouse of state-based grants for which Tribes are eligible and provide technical assistance in the application process. With EPA and DOE’s coordination, the Tribal TCTAC will also work with regional TCTACs to ensure consistency, cultural competency, and the highest level of service possible to Tribal Nations. Additionally, NIHB will work with Tribal grantees to highlight their success stories widely through social media, look-back reports, and public announcements.
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