NARCH (AIRCH) XII Administrative Core Abstract The Administrative Core is critical to the success of the Center. It provides administrative, fiscal and management oversight of all components and projects and guidance in evaluation and planning. Process is key to the success of the Center and the Administrative Core provides the resources to keep all elements of the Center functioning and moving forward and serves as a catalyst to engage all the partners in regular and culturally respectful communication and relationship building. Since its establishment in 1975 as a non-profit organization, the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. (ITCA) has advocated for self-determination for its Member Tribes through public policy development, research, and education. The membership of ITCA is comprised of leaders from 21 federally recognized tribes in Arizona. ITCA operates more than 30 projects and employs a staff of 70 to provide technical assistance and training to tribal governments in program planning and development, research and data collection, resource development, education, health, management and evaluation. Strengthening tribal governance is at the core mission of ITCA including taking action on matters that affect Member Tribes individually or collectively and promoting tribal sovereignty. The University of Arizona and the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona boasts a successful 20-year partnership through the NARCH program in the American Indian Research Center for Health (AIRCH) along with establishing new relationships with Arizona State University. Our application for the Native American Research Center for Health XII (NARCH XII) focuses on improving health disparities in our Tribes by strengthening tribal governance through research. We propose six projects: 1. A capacity building project to assist Tribes with building research capacity to support ITCA Member Tribes in implementation and evaluate their own community-based research projects through a competitive process to receive technical assistance and mentorship from a team of American Indian researchers at The University of Arizona; 2. A student career enhancement program to establish the Rising Stars Program to create a health, science, technology, engineering, math field (HSTEAM) outreach program for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) students and develop a HSTEAM Ambassador program with AI/AN students; 3. A faculty/researcher project to apply an innovative Indigenous ethics and data governance framework grounded in Indigenous Peoples’ rights to equip early career researchers in Arizona with knowledge, tools, and perspectives to create research relationships with tribal nations and Indigenous communities that advance and benefit Indigenous Peoples rights and interests with collaborative partners; 4. A pilot project to establish vector-borne disease research committees in each tribal community by examining community-level risk perception, conduct evaluative surveillance of arthr...