MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Season’s Greetings everyone! I hope that this message finds you, your family and community doing well, during this holiday season.
Throughout this year, on top of running the Chamiza Foundation, I have continued to serve on various boards and organizations such as the New Mexico Agriculture Funder Group, Golden Apple Foundation Advisory Council, New Mexico Tribal Planners Roundtable, Indian Land Tenure Foundation, and the Taos Pueblo Business Development Corporation. All of these organizations continue to do tremendous things for our tribal communities and for the New Mexico social sector and I am very honored to serve in these various capacities.
This year, the Chamiza Foundation provided support for 12 projects. We provided support for projects that focused on language, agriculture, traditional foods, traditional architecture, arts & crafts, youth development, intercultural exchange, intergenerational exchange, and land stewardship. The total amount distributed into our Pueblo communities for 2023 was $132,165.97.
As a reminder, we will be accepting applications for Chamiza Foundation support in 2024. Our first deadline will be on Friday, February 9, 2024. Our priority areas are language preservation, traditional architecture, sustainable agriculture, traditional arts & crafts, tribal & ancestral history, oral histories & storytelling, youth education & leadership, intercultural/intergenerational exchange, and education.
Eligibility-The Chamiza Foundation invites proposals from the following:
- New Mexico’s 19 Pueblo Indian tribal communities
- Ysleta del Sur Pueblo located in El Paso, Texas, member of the All Pueblo Council of Governors and the 20th Pueblo
- Pueblo community leaders
- Non-Pueblo organizations that serve Pueblo communities. These entities must submit a letter of support from the Governor of the Pueblo as evidence that the community has requested their involvement
There are three ways that you can apply 1) You can complete your application online through our website 2) You can email your application to apply@chamiza.org or 3) You can send your completed application directly to me at executivedirector@chamiza.org. Please let me know if you have any questions about applying to the Chamiza Foundation.
Lastly, I would like to announce that our office will be closed from Monday, December 25, 2023, until Wednesday, January 3, 2024.
Wishing everyone Happy Holidays and a blessed New Year!
Sincerely,
Dr. Amanda J. Montoya
A Special Message
from the
Zuni Youth Enrichment Program
Zuni Pueblo, NM
This year, The Zuni Youth Enrichment Program (ZYEP) is celebrating its 15th year serving Zuni youth and families! We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Chamiza Foundation, as a faithful partner on this journey, who has invested in the youth of Zuni, and the future of our community.
ZYEP started as a 20-person summer camp in 2009. Today, ZYEP serves 1,000 youth annually, and we continue to grow our programming and impact. ZYEP is a representation of our Zuni values, where we pass on the strengths of our culture. While from the outside it might look like a simple youth program, it is truly the culmination of values, visions, and hope, not just for Zuni, but the world.
ZYEP has made a difference in the lives of our youth and community for the last 15 years.
Thanks to the support of our faithful partners, just this year:
- Our art apprenticeship program enrolled 43 youth this year. The program provided opportunities for youth artists to connect with master artists, build their own art portfolios, show and sell their art in art shows, grow in financial literacy, and acquire materials necessary to practice their craft.
- ZYEP launched our new Rooted in Health Traditions after school program in the 2022-2023 school year. Focusing on youth in the critical years before and during middle school, this new program provides after-school programming in art, physical activity, food sovereignty, and Zuni language and culture for 100 kids annually.
- ZYEP was honored to receive the 2023 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize. This prize celebrates communities at the forefront of advancing a fair and just opportunity for health.
As we celebrate 15 years, we are also dreaming about our future. We know that we can make a difference for the next 15 years, and we envision:
- Expanding ancestral Zuni food systems curriculum: processing traditional foods on a large scale, harvesting, foraging, and distributing food resources to our community.
- Building curriculum to strengthen cultural understanding of Zuni art forms.
- Developing our art apprenticeships and training in more art forms and establishing an open art studio and gallery space for youth.
- Growing culturally relevant outdoor recreation programs, in collaboration with Grand Canyon National Park.
- Strengthening youth connections to Zuni language and culture.
- And so much more…
Thank you for your partnership on this journey over the last 15 years. We could not have done it without your support, investment and trust in us. We hope that you will continue to join us in empowering Zuni youth and building the leaders and future of our community, in 2024 and beyond.
You can read more about our 15-year journey and our dreams for the future in our 15th Anniversary Newsletter and on our website. In honor of our 15th anniversary, a group of generous supporters will match any donations made to ZYEP from now until the end of the year, up to $15,000.
Thank you for believing in our children, their potential, and their futures. Your support truly makes a difference.
Tahlia Natachu-Eriacho, M.Ed.
Zuni, San Felipe, Navajo
ZYEP Executive Director
To donate click here ZYEP
