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Meet your R5 Tribal Relations Specialist
Rowena Yeahquo
Tribal Relations Specialist, Pacific Southwest Region 5, Vallejo, CA.
Ms. Yeahquo (Kiowa and Comanche) has a Masters in Regional and City Planning from the University of Oklahoma and has over 20 years of experience in Tribal and Community Planning. Recently, she has worked with tribes in Oregon and northern California as a tribal planner assisting with economic development, capacity building, grant writing, and realty services. Ms. Yeahquo has also been the Director of the NW Region Tribal Technical Assistance Program (NW TTAP). The NW TTAP was a Federal Highway Administration funded program housed within Eastern Washington University Planning Department in Spokane, Washington. The NW TTAP provided technical assistance to 42 tribes in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Western Montana. The technical assistance and training included traffic safety, transportation plans, land use development, and cultural resources protection. This involved coordination with federal, state, and local governments for tribes to maximize efficient use of resources.
She was formerly a Community Planner for the Transportation Branch, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Eastern Oklahoma Region. In this position, she met with tribal, state, federal and county representatives to discuss tribal goals and priorities in order to facilitate transportation plans and construction. After working with the Eastern Oklahoma Region BIA, Ms. Yeahquo worked as a consultant and developed 22 Tribal Long-Range Transportation Plans in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas for Southern Plains Regional BIA Office. While working with the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes, she developed a Master Plan for a Tribal Justice Center & Courthouse with funding from Office of Justice Programs.
She has been a grant peer-reviewer for several federal programs including: Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Native Americans, Department of Justice, and US Department of Agriculture. Ms. Yeahquo has contracted with several tribes to provide technical assistance in Tribal Planning, Economic Development, Transportation Planning, Hazard Mitigation Plans, and Grant Writing.
As a Tribal Planner Ms. Yeahquo's mission has been: “To empower tribal communities with the capacity to operate, administer and advance their programs for the future of their tribal nation.”