EPA Awards 20 Million Dollar Grant to Santa Fe Indian School

Funding will revitalize campus to make it more climate resilient

Santa Fe, NM: Trust for Public Land (TPL) in partnership with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and the Santa Fe Indian School today announced that the EPA has awarded a $20 million grant to the Santa Fe Indian School to revitalize the school’s 115-acre campus making it more resilient to flash flooding and to create opportunities for culturally relevant outdoor learning and recreation. The grant is part of the EPA’s Community Change Grants Program, which is made possible by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

Dr. Jennifer Santry, TPL’s Director of Tribal Community Schoolyards said, "TPL is proud to partner with the Bureau of Indian Education, Environmental Protection Agency, and Santa Fe Indian School on this important initiative. This collaborative project will transform the Santa Fe Indian School campus into a climate-resilient learning environment. By integrating Indigenous-led and nature-based solutions like bioswales, native vegetation, and first foods, we're not only mitigating flooding and erosion, but also creating hands-on learning opportunities in Indigenous land stewardship. This transformation will strengthen cultural identity, provide exceptional outdoor recreation, and make the entire community safer from the increasing threat of flash floods.”

The Santa Fe Indian School sits on a 115-acre campus that houses the academic buildings, community buildings and serves 700 students. This grant will provide funding for a series of bioswales, arroyos and flood plains designed to slow the flow of water and protect against flash flooding, while providing a venue for students to learn about the Pueblo value, "Water is Life." The Santa Fe Indian School is owned and operated by 19 Pueblos of New Mexico and is a national leader in Native and Indigenous education and programming. Yet, the school is often inundated by flash flooding that renders classrooms and dormitories unusable.

“Community engagement is critical in determining the learning objectives and shaping the learning environment for our students,” said Tony L. Dearman, Director, Bureau of Indian Education. “Through this partnership, Santa Fe Indian School will create a campus that reflects our students' needs and values. Collaborating with the Trust for Public Land, the Environmental Protection Agency, our students, and our local community allows us to enhance the SFIS campus while creating a shared vision that fosters stewardship and pride, honors cultural heritage, and empowers our students.”

Christie Abeyta, Superintendent of the Santa Fe Indian School added, “Santa Fe Indian School is extremely blessed to have a relationship with the Trust for Public Land and the EPA. The grant we are awarded will have lasting and significant impacts on our school and campus community by mitigating flood damage and increasing energy efficiency. In the past decade, catastrophic floods have damaged learning and living areas on campus – thus causing interruptions to the education of our 700 students. We look forward to collectively working towards a safe and educationally engaging future that honors our students.”

“With funding from the Community Change Grants Program, we are resolving longstanding environmental challenges in disadvantaged areas and increasing climate resilience within communities,” said EPA Regional Administrator Dr. Earthea Nance. “Through these projects the applicants will develop innovative ways to reduce pollution in their neighborhoods while creating new jobs that improve public health. We look forward to seeing the long-lasting environmental improvements from these projects.”

Students from the Santa Fe Indian School designed their schoolyard as a place for recreation and to celebrate Indigenous foodways. This grant will weave student designs into the broader campus while mitigating the risk of floods, improving outdoor education spaces, integrating edible landscaping and agriculture into the landscaping and nature-based flood mitigation efforts, improving the flow of traffic and pedestrians, promoting positive public health outcomes by reducing exposure to indoor and outdoor pollutants, and providing workforce development.

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About Trust for Public Land

Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national nonprofit that works to connect everyone to the benefits and joys of the outdoors. As a leader in equitable access to the outdoors, TPL works with communities to create parks and protect public land where they are needed most. Since 1972, TPL has protected more than 4 million acres of public land, created more than 5,420 parks, trails, schoolyards, and iconic outdoor places, raised $110 billion in public funding for parks and public lands, and connected nearly 9.7 million people to the outdoors. To learn more, visit tpl.org.