NATIVE NEWS

NAVAJO TIMES

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES   PHOTOS BY COLLEEN KEANE

Dawn Begay addresses members of the press as Mayor Richard Berry looks on during the unveiling of recommendations from a Native American Homelessness Task Force.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2015

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Mayor Richard Berry presents Sherrick Roanhorse with a plaque for his year-long work to establish a Native American task force on homelessness

After murders, city unveils recommendations to
improve conditions for homeless Natives
By Colleen Keane
Special to the Times.

ALBUQUERQUE - Two days
after Kee Thompson and Allison Gorman, members of the
Navajo Nation who were brutally
murdered last summer on the
city’s west side by three Hispanic
teenagers, Mayor Richard Berry
and then Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly sat down at city
hall to craft a plan to make sure
that this kind of tragedy would
never happen again.
On August 31, a little more
than a year after the murders,
Berry unveiled 14 key recommendations developed by an 18
member Native American Homelessness Task Force that was set
up after Berry and Shelly met.
The task force, which includes
representatives from the Navajo
Nation, the Pueblo of Laguna,
the Pueblo of Zuni, along with
city workers, was led by Sherrick
Roanhorse, a member of the
Navajo Nation, on loan from the
Public Service Company of New
Mexico, (PNM), one of the many
partners involved in the effort.
Appointing a tribal liaison for
the city to coordinate with tribal
leadership and programs was on
the top of the list.
Berry acting on that recommendation, announced the
appointment of Dawn Begay, who
is originally from Crownpoint,
N.M. Begay currently works
as the lead caseworker for the
homeless outreach program at
the First Nations HealthSource,
a community facility that provides health care, job placement
services and mental health
counseling.
“We appreciate your passion

and we are looking forward to
having your leadership,” Berry
told Begay after making the
announcement. He added that
Begay has extensive experience
developing solutions for the
homeless population as a member of the city’s Heading Home
initiative, a project that has
established homes for more than
450 of the most chronic homeless
in the city, several of whom who
are tribal members, according to
Berry.
As the liaison, Begay will
reach out to tribal governments
to heighten awareness on what
life is like for homeless Native
Americans in the city, enhance
tribal-city partnerships and help
implement the delivery of services to fill in existing gaps.
“We need a better communication system between our people
and our governments. This is a
great opportunity to establish
what that government-to-government relationship would look
like,” Begay said.
Berry added that the city has
already established a good working relationship with President
Russell Begaye’s office and that
coordination has begun with
the Navajo Nation Social Service Department, Public Safety
Department and Workforce
Development Program.
As the person who has been
charged with building a bridge
between the city and tribes, Begay said that she will draw upon
her traditional beliefs of K’é.
“I constantly ask myself, ‘What
can I do for my community?
What can I do for my people?”’
she said.
As part of her responsibilities,
Begay will be overseeing the

development of a one-stop shop
resource center at First Nations
HealthSource, located on Zuni
Road Southeast, where tribal
members will be able to get a full
array of services from health
and medical to help finding
transportation, housing and
employment.
“One of the biggest problems
our people face when they
come into Albuquerque is that
they don’t know how to access
services,” said Begay adding
that tribal members tell her that
they often face discrimination
when they try to access some city
services.
To expand the wellness center,
Berry announced that the city
will be providing First Nations
with $300,000 for repairs and
upgrades.
Begay added that once the
center is completed, she would
be exploring ways to bring in
traditional healing services.
Acting on another task force
recommendation, Berry announced the development of
culturally competency training
for about 175 city employees who
work as caseworkers and first
responders. Curriculum for the
training was created by Institute
for Indigenous Knowledge and
Development at the University
of New Mexico’s Health Sciences
Center.
When thinking about cultural
competency, historian Jennifer
Denetdale, a commissioner for
the Navajo Nation Human Rights
Office, said that it’s first important to understand the history
of the federal relationship with
tribes.
“Nobody chooses to live on the
streets. It reflects the history of

Indian policy, which has resulted
in the lack of infrastructure on
our own land. That is the source
of homelessness for tribal members,” she said.
As tribal liaison, Begay said
that she will follow up on the
implementation of all task
force recommendations, which
include: enhancing government
data bases with tribal specific
information, identifying funding for caseworkers, increasing
resources for public housing,
developing a resource directory,
identifying public restrooms and
shower possibilities, maximizing
federal funding for behavioral health services, expanding
access to emergency shelters
and transitional housing and
supporting efforts to include
homelessness in the New Mexico
Hate Crimes Act.
Community advocate Nick
Estes (Lower Brule Sioux Tribe)
said that he’s supportive of the
efforts of the task force, but concrete steps need to be taken now.
“There has to be real material
support for the people,” he said.
Helen Tafoya from the Navajo
community of To’hajiilee agrees.
She along with her family have
voluntarily provided meals to
the homeless on the city streets
for the past 12 years.
“There is a need for a shelter,”
she said. The people who are on
the streets don’t have any place
to stay and winter is coming.
How many Natives are going to
be freezing?”
It’s a suggestion that’s been
made by others during a memorial for Thompson and Gorman, at a holiday meal for the
homeless and in public hearings
conducted by the Navajo Nation

Hope for Life day established
WASHINGTON – The National Action Alliance for Suicide
Prevention’s (Action Alliance)
American Indian and Alaska Native Task Force announced that
the first-ever National American
Indian and Alaska Native (AI/
AN) Suicide Prevention Hope for
Life Day.
The Hope for Life Day will be
held annually on September 10,
in conjunction with World Suicide Prevention Day. The Hope
for Life Day is part of the Action
Alliance’s AI/AN Task Force’s
efforts to change the conversation about suicide and promote
hope, life, cultural resiliency,
and community transformation.
Native communities bear

the largest burden of suicide
among all racial/ethnic groups
in the United States, with Native
youth being disproportionately
affected. In Native communities,
as in other communities, suicide
affects not just the people who
lose their lives, but also those
who are left to survive: parents,
siblings, friends, families, and
communities. Stigma regarding
mental health and suicide is also
a pressing issue affecting Native
communities. National efforts to
increase public awareness about
how suicide affects Indian Country are therefore greatly needed.
To assist health professionals and grassroots organizers
working in AI/AN communities,

the AI/AN Task Force produced
the Hope for Life Day toolkit.
The toolkit contains community
engagement strategies, tips for
meeting with tribal leaders, promotional materials, and suggestions for cultural activities.  
“Suicide prevention depends
on bringing together native communities, as Hope for Life Day
will do. IHS works with partners
to create a safety net of services
to protect individuals against
suicide risk and maximize the
effectiveness of programs,” said
Indian Health Service Principal Deputy Director Robert G.
McSwain, public sector co-lead
of the AI/AN Task Force. “Every
suicide affects the whole tribal

community and that is why IHS
provides staff and counseling resources in response to incidents
of suicide. We are honored to
participate in Hope for Life Day
to build awareness for communities to address the critical health
need for suicide prevention
strategies.”
“Hope for Life Day provides the
opportunity to equip tribal communities with suicide prevention
tools, focus on the needs of Native youth, and spotlight current
efforts for Native suicide prevention,” said Doryn Chervin,
DrPH, Action Alliance Executive
Secretary and Vice President
and Senior Scientist, Education
Development Center.

Office of Human Rights this past
year.
Berry said resources to build a
shelter need to be identified and
sought after, which is where the
partnerships between tribes, the
city, federal and state governments will come into play.
Adding her concerns, Kathy
Little Bear Fox, who helps Tafoya give out food to the homeless, said that she hopes that
services implemented under this
effort will break down existing

barriers for people who have a
criminal record. She said that
they are some of the most vulnerable because doors are often
closes to them.
“They don’t get help even
though they are reformed and
are no longer a threat to the
community. They shouldn’t have
to live under the circumstances
of the past,” she said.
“There’s lot of hard work left
to do. Our sleeves are rolled up,”
Berry added.