Tribal Voices

The Inter Tribal Council, the Southwest Enviornmental Health Sciences Center and a number of Tribes in Arizona are funded by the EPA to conduct Envrionmental Education among Tribal members in 2020 and 2021.

Overview 

Tribal Voices is a collaborative project overseen by the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona. It includes multiple Tribal offices and the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center  

 

Goals 

  • Promote community and student environmental stewardship through culturally relevant activities that lead to Environmental Stewards Community Projects. 

  • Develop environmental literacy among youth in 5 tribal communities that encourages youth to pursue environmental education and careers.

​ 

Project Description 

  • Partnership meetings at the beginning for training about: EE Continuum, Indigenous EE and Project Based Learning, at the midpoint to assess reaching benchmarks, and at the end for summative evaluation and planning next steps. 

  • In school presentations about local environmental issues, traditional ways of interacting with the environment, by elders and professionals, and environmental and environmental health careers. 

  • Interviews of elders in the community to further explore traditional ecological knowledge. 

  • Field trips to see environmental issues first-hand and to learn more about the careers. 

  • School Based Intergenerational discussions about solutions to develop and implement Environmental Stewards Community Projects to address one issue the community faces in a culturally appropriate way. 

  • Demonstrations of environmental stewardship through articles, photos, and drawings submitted to the SWEHSC Indigenous Stewards Magazines and presentations at the Tribal Forum. 

​

Who will be involved? 

Students 

  • 20 per community 

  • Gain environmental education, learn about environmental careers, engage in environmental health projects 

Teachers 

  • 7 per community 

  • Assist students with developing projects, help in hosting educational events 

Elders 

  • 4 per community 

  • Provide traditional knowledge, build intergenerational connections with students  

Environmental Professionals 

  • 2 per community 

  • Present on careers, provide environmental education presentations, assist students in completing projects 

Community Members 

  • 10 per community 

    • Includes parents, general public, and community leaders 

  • Identifying community environmental health issues, help students develop projects