Clockwise: Dennis Turner – Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians & SCTCA Executive Director, Mark Romero – Chair Mesa Grande Band of Diegueno Indians, Anthony Pico – Chair Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, Eric LaChappa - Vice Chair La Posta Band Mission Indians
Photo by Frank Blanquet
Members of the Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association recently sat down with FNX NOW to talk about their effort to establish a Youth Regional Treatment Center in the San Diego County area. The facility would serve Native American youth who have encountered challenges with substance abuse and behavioral problems.
Noli Indian School 2012 valedictorian Elizabeth Rios, 17, holds her daughter.
Photo by Courtesy of Elizabeth Rios
Like many high schoolers at the top of their class Elizabeth Rios takes pride in her community, plays sports and participates in student government. What makes her different than other teens is that she’s also a mother.
“I think people judged me a lot,” said Rios, a 17-year-old tribal member from the Cahuilla Band of Indians. “I didn’t want them to think of me as just a teen mom. I was more than that.”
Potawot Health Village opened in 2002 to serve Yurok, Tolowa, Wiyot, Hupa and Karuk Indians who live within in a 5,000-square-mile territory encompassing most of northern Humboldt and Del Norte counties
Photo by Bob Weisenbach
To walk into the central gathering space of the Potawot Health Village in Arcata, a multi-tribal health clinic, is to be made instantly aware of the concept of traditional native food as medicine. “Got Acorns?” reads a poster. “Got salmon?” “Got seaweed?”
Built, administered and owned by American Indians, Potawot is at the front line of a national resurgence among native peoples to address the link between the loss of ancestral native foods and disproportionate rates of diabetes and other chronic diseases.
