Some major changes have happened within the Tribal Technical Assistance Program (TTAP) recently.
Victoria Peters is no longer involved with the TTAP. Filling in for her as Acting Director for the Center for Local Aid Support (CLAS) is Joe Conway. He has a history of working with the LTAP and TTAP programs.
More importantly though, is a change in upper leadership for the program. Amy Lucero, P.E. is the Chief Technical Services Officer and Acting Chief Innovation Officer. Amy was one of the speakers at the recent ITA Annual Meeting. She has been with FHWA in some capacity for 28 years. The old TTAP program was under Amy's leadership.
She told us that she did sit in on a TTAP listening session in Santa Fe. She is reviewing comments as they look for a way forward with the program. Amy doesn't think that they have a good model yet. They are hearing that many want a regional type model. Basically, they are back to the drawing board for the TTAP. She wants to spend time moving forward rather than looking back. She is working on a response on comments that have been received. This should go out to the tribes soon. Her focus is on lessons learned and opportunities moving forward.
Amy also spoke at a recent meeting of the Oklahoma Tribal Transportation Council (OTTC). After listening to Amy, we are very hopeful for the future of the Tribal Technical Assistance Program.
Note - The comments above are from my perspective after listening to Amy during the ITA Annual Meeting. We hope to have Amy's personal comments soon about TTAP. We will share those as soon as we get them. - Carla Edwards