Register for the Community Navigator Program Webinar
Register for the Arizona workshop
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CNP

Community Navigator Program

American Indigenous Tourism Association

Community Navigator Program 2-Day Workshop

Join the American Indigenous Tourism Association for a free, two-day breakout training session:

  • May 19-20, 2026 at the Staybridge Suites, located at:
    9141 E Hummingbird LN
    Scottsdale, AZ 85250
    Proudly located within the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community

This session is designed to build practical grant application skills, strengthen cultural tourism development and support Native Nations and communities in accessing U.S. Forest Service funding. The Community Navigator Program helps Tribal communities identify funding opportunities prepare strong proposals, and navigate post-award compliance requirements.

Participants will learn how to:

  • Tell "Our Story" and build meaningful, culturally grounded visitor experiences
  • Engage community members in cultural tourism planning
  • Identify and pursue federal grant, contract, and partnership opportunities
  • Collaborate with partners to support healthy forests and long-term sustainability

Travel hardship stipend is available for the first 10 registered participants who complete the full, 2-day training.

Community Navigator Program Webinar
Arizona Workshop

Questions?

For more information, please contact Colleen Coleman, Community Navigator Project Director.

Email Colleen
Pioneer Park Kalispel Heritage Trail in Washington American Indigenous Tourism Association

Pioneer Park Kalispel Heritage Trail in Washington.

To learn more about this program, sign-up for the American Indigenous Tourism Association's newsletter, The Rupert Report, for weekly announcements and program details and/or contact us at info@americanindigenoustourism.org.

Newsletter Signup

More Information About the CNP

The Community Navigator Program was developed through a partnership between the American Indigenous Tourism Association and the USDA Forest Service to connect American Indigenous communities with funding opportunities and provide capacity building training focused on healthy forests, recreation, and economic development.
Our work is intended to build capacity and support navigation of the breadth of opportunities across programs and complexity of funding opportunities. This work includes:
  • Supporting funding opportunity identification.
  • Supporting the completion of high-quality grant, contract, and partnership applications;
  • Supporting post-application financial and reporting compliance; and
  • Supporting capacity building within Native Nations and communities to find and apply for USFS grants and other funding opportunities on their own in the future.

The Community Navigator Program

“We are excited to partner with the USDA Forest Service on this important initiative,” said Sherry L. Rupert (Paiute/Washoe), CEO, American Indigenous Tourism Association. “This partnership allows us to expand our reach and empower Indigenous communities with the tools and resources they need to promote healthy forests and lands. Healthy forests are vital not only for environmental sustainability but also for the economic vitality of Native Nations, where recreation and cultural tourism can truly flourish. Through the Community navigator program, we will provide essential guidance to Native Nations in securing grant funding and building the capacity needed to ensure that their tourism and recreation enterprises can thrive in harmony with their cultural values and the environment.”

American Indigenous Tourism Association will be providing a variety of program supports including outreach, technical assistance and training activities, webinars and dedicated sessions at the American Indigenous Tourism Conference to support the program.

American Indigenous Tourism Association is also working with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and with the Alaska Native Heritage Center to develop trainings specific to alignment with healthy forests, recreation and economic development. The pilot launch of both these training programs was at the 2025 American Indigenous Tourism Conference.

Community Navigator Partner Programs

American Indigenous Tourism Association Community Navigator Webinar Series

To support your land use/tourism planning and implementation goals, American Indigenous Tourism Association has developed a webinar series to bring you experts from grant writing to cultural fire response and more. To watch past webinars and to sign up for upcoming webinars, see American Indigenous Tourism Association Webinar Series on our website.

Examples include:

Webinar Series

Grant Writing Tools

In addition to the program and partner resources, the following are additional resources and tools to support your efforts to find resources and support for your tourism, recreation and land use efforts: