Guam Community College received a grant award totaling $587,647 from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation.

The award will fund a two-year planning period to establish a collaboration between GCC, the Department of Lands and Natural Resources in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, and Tåno, Tåsi Yan Todu to design programs that develop a capable and competitive workforce to meet the growing needs of the region’s conservation organizations.

Tåno, Tåsi Yan Todu is a Guam-based nonprofit environmental organization committed to restoring habitats in the Marianas.

The project addresses both the need for capacity and the inclusion of indigenous knowledge and people in conservation practices in the Mariana Islands.

The objective of the project is to increase local knowledge and build the capacity of the local workforce. The project’s collaboration between educators and employers in Guam and the CNMI will identify curriculum opportunities to expose students to environmental-based careers and natural resource planning.

The methodologies designed in this project will help with a future project that includes a field school, internship program, and graduate fellowship rooted in indigenous knowledge.

The goal of the funded project is to produce the next generation of capable, conservation practitioners and leaders. High school students, college interns, and graduate school fellows will partner with local agencies and organizations to tackle pressing conservation challenges.

The student exchanges between Guam and CNMI will nurture deeper relationships between communities that share ecologies and cultures but are divided by geopolitical boundaries and historical events.