Tribal Participation in State Public Transportation Programs: The Washington State Story Thursday, May 31, 2007 Cathy Silins Acting Director, Public Transportation Division

Community Outreach The Agency Council on Coordinated Transportation (ACCT) encourages local coalitions that include representatives of social service, educational and transportation organizations that either provide transportation or need to arrange transportation. Coalitions are to include tribal representatives

Public Transit/Human Services Plans Regional Transportation Planning Organizations are required to develop these plans every four years All projects funded with competitive grants for public transportation projects through WSDOT must be included in these plans Tom will expand

Development of Grant Selection Criteria At the current time, the Washington State Legislature has allowed WSDOT to develop criteria for project selection for the Rural Mobility and Paratransit/Special Needs state funded competitive grants WSDOT established the Grants Program Advisory Committee (G-PAC) in 2006 The G-PAC included a Tribal representative

Grant Writing and Technical Assistance for Grant Preparation WSDOT provides at least three training sessions prior to the application deadline Invitations are distributed to Tribal governments, local transit systems and nonprofit organizations WSDOT staff provide one on one assistance

Grant Review Teams WSDOT uses a forced-pairs process for reviewing the competitive grant applications Every two years WSDOT receives almost 100 applications In 2007, there were 12 reviewers – two representatives from Tribal governments in Washington State

Grants Administration Training All agencies that receive a federal or state grant from WSDOT are required to attend a training session within 30 days of receipt of their contract Organizations can also request follow- up assistance

Training Coalition The Washington State Transportation Training Coalition establishes an annual training calendar The Coalition includes a representative from an urban and rural public transit, nonprofit transportation agency and Tribal transportation. WSDOT provides scholarships for training

Other Training Opportunities Special training is available, i.e. Asset Management, Safety and Security, the annual Washington State Public Transportation Conference All grant recipients are encouraged to take advantage of the associations that provide networking – Community Transportation Association of the Northwest Peer to peer programs

Site Visits WSDOT staff visit all grant recipients Checklist Provide updated information

Tribes do not have access to all grant programs Regional Mobility Grants provided to local governments to address congestion ($20 million a year) Attorney General’s Office has determined that Tribal governments are NOT local governments

(cont.) Tribal Transit programs are currently not provided formula funds that are available to public transit agencies In , WSDOT will distribute $19.5 million is Paratransit/Special Needs Grants to transit, $8.5 million for Revenue Equity grants to transit, and $8.4 million for vanpool to transit

Cowlitz Tribe Operating assistance to sustain on-call and route deviated service for elders and persons with disabilities $139,000 Lummi Tribe Operating assistance to sustain fixed route service on the reservation with connections to WTA $277,000

Makah Tribe Operating assistance to sustain fixed route service to the general public and door to door service to elders and persons with disabilities on the reservation $201,227 Squaxin Island Tribe Operating assistance to sustain and expand service $157,808 Capital assistance to purchase one replacement minibus $65,000

Yakama Nation Hire a mobility coordinator to educate the public on public, private and rural transportation services and resources $126,387 TOGETHER! Provide transportation services to Chehalis and Nisqually Tribes through a contract

Concluding Remarks Many decisions are made on data Communication is important Continue to look for opportunities