This presentation was delivered as part of the Tribal Lands and Environment Forum: Virtual Gathering in August 2021 by Eugene Goldfarb with GLEP/TAB, Scott Nightingale with the KSU Tribal TAB, Misha Mazurkewycz with the Ponca Tribe, Alex Villalpando with the Northern Ponca Housing Authority, and Nicole Beauvais with the Northern Ponca Housing Authority.

There is a tendency for tunnel vision in organizations; for staff to focus on their program and not realize that other tribal arms can help them better accomplish program objectives. For example, TRP’s can help TDHE’s perform the required due diligence on properties prior to acquisition and can also help TDHE’s evaluate and clean up contamination (e.g. lead, asbestos, meth). Likewise TDHE’s can help tribal governments in marshalling resources for brownfield redevelopment. The session will: outline the purpose and functioning of TRP’s and TDHE’s; report on case studies of successful collaboration; suggest ways to facilitate cooperation; engage in discussion with participants on how to move this along.