The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Agency is offering $8.75 million in grants for transit services on tribal reservations and Alaska Native villages, a Feb. 22 news release said.
"With this new transit funding, we will connect more Native Americans and Alaska Natives to opportunity, advance environmental justice and empower Tribal self-governance in transportation," U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. "Thanks to the President's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are dramatically increasing our support for transit projects on Tribal reservations and in Alaska Native villages."
The bipartisan infrastructure bill allocated $8.75 million to rural tribes which will be available to any federally recognized tribe, the news release said. Nonfederally recognized tribes are eligible to apply for transportation grants on a state level.
Grants can be applied for through the Tribal Transit Program and will be awarded on a competitive basis.
Competitive projects include those which will use the funding for, "capital, operating, planning and administrative expenses for public transit projects that meet the growing needs of rural tribal communities," the Tribal Transit Program website detailed.
"For residents of Tribal and Alaska Native lands, transit is a lifeline," said Nuria I. Fernandez, administrator of the Federal Transit Administration. "This funding opportunity will improve public transportation connections to healthcare, jobs, education and other resources in communities that have been historically underserved."
