The Painted Desert Development Project, Inc., also known as STAR School, is located outside the Southwest end of the Navajo Nation. Established in 2001, the STAR School has served its predominantly Native American student body as well as the neighboring Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe communities by dealing with issues related to water security and quality. This will be the 8th year of program management for the TAT grant.
This grant will be used to assist with Native American applicants in preparing applications for water and waste grants made at state-level offices and improve the operation & maintenance of existing water and waste disposal facilities in rural areas.
The program is also open to all Federally Recognized Tribe in Arizona (Arizona has 22 Federally Recognized Tribes).
The Overarching Goal of this proposed program is to identify/evaluate solutions to water and wastewater disposal problems in distressed & socially vulnerable Native American communities.
To achieve the overarching goal, this program intends to address the following objectives/purposes in the Navajo Nation as well as other tribal communities in Arizona:
Objective 1: Identify and evaluate water and waste disposal issues and solutions in the distressed & socially vulnerable Native American communities of Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, San Carlos Apache Tribe, and additional qualifying Native American communities in Arizona.
Objective 2: Develop water/waste disposal projects addressing identified water/waste disposal issues, including water contamination by emerging contaminants.
Objective 3: Increase public awareness of the water safety and security challenges and solutions through in-community outreach, educational workshops, hands-on training, distribution of educational materials, and demonstration project development.
Objective 4: Increase participation of socially disadvantaged (SDA) Native American communities, organizations, individuals, and groups in USDA Rural Development (RD) utilities grant programs.
Objective 5: Strengthen long-term sustainability of the program by attracting state, and private funding to implement viable solutions to address water/waste disposal problems.
Objective 6: Assist rural community recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and build tribal community resiliency in the face of a changing climate.
