Ancestral Lands Office

OVERVIEW

The SCC Ancestral Lands Office, located in Acoma, NM offers corps programs at Acoma Pueblo and across the regional area.  This offices selects Native youth to work on a variety of projects.

In 2008 and 2009, the Ancestral Lands office ran youth crews funded by the New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps that selected young adults, ages 14-18, to work on a variety of community projects.   Projects included trail maintenance, trail construction, restoration work on an historic staircase, playground improvement, and tamarisk removal.

This office continues to grow and expand.  In 2010, the Ancestral Lands office will complete preservation projects at Petrified Forest National Park, conservation projects at Chaco Canyon National Historical Park and engage 30 middle school youth in a Summer of Service youth program and continue to operate the NM Youth Conservation Corps project in Acoma.
PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT

In 2007, SCC Board Member Cornell Torivio of Acoma Pueblo began advocating for SCC to develop a
conservation corps program at his home community to increase the number of youth who have the
opportunity to participate in a conservation corps. In partnership with Acoma Pueblo, SCC applied for –
and received – funding from the New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps) to operate three day crews (36
total participants) for 14-18 year old local youth in summer 2008 and then again in summer 2009. SCC
serves as the fiscal agent and program operator while Acoma Pueblo identifies the projects, contributes

match funding and provides oversight to the program. All program staff members are Acoma and report

regularly to Tribal Council and the Acoma Governor.

Looking forward, the Ancestral Lands office will continue develop relationships and partnerships to engage additional native youth on preservation, conservation and youth projects on native lands.
The program has been highly successful and has become somewhat of a national model for engaging
Native American youth. US Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall recently introduced the Public Lands
Service Corps Act of 2009, which includes a subsection creating an “Indian Youth Service Corps”
modeled partly after SCC’s Acoma program.

For more information please contact: Cornell Torivio, Program Development Coordinator   cornell@sccorps.org or 505-552-4074