Native American After-School Program

Dear Friends,

Our Spring Semester is in full swing, and it’s been a great year so far for the Gu Vo Academic After School Program! Thanks to your kind and generous donations, we continue to grow, and to provide the amazing children of the Gu Vo District with the opportunity to hone their academic skills through tutoring and homework help, lessons and activities rooted in STEM, and our Too Good for Drugs curriculum.

Due to its remote location, the Gu Vo District faces unique challenges. At over 50%, dropout rates are among the highest in the country. Over 70% of the adult population suffers from type 2 diabetes, due in large part to the lack of access to healthy, nutritious foods. As the only nonprofit providing academic services to the Tohono O’odham Nation, our mission is to combat these challenges by providing quality academic assistance, and healthy, delicious meals served according to USDA standards. We believe education is the key to bringing about positive change, and a better quality of life, and we are proud to say that, since its inception in 2011, none of the kids enrolled in our programs have dropped out of school, or out of the program.

We are excited to announce our brand new Earth Bench and Community Garden, which were officially completed earlier this month. Pictures of the project are included in this report. In partnership with FoodCorps Arizona, we work to connect kids to healthy food while in school. FoodCorps is a nationwide team of AmeriCorps leaders who connect kids to real food and help them grow up healthy. These leaders are in limited-resource communities where they teach hands-on lessons about food and nutrition; build and tend school gardens, and teach cooking lessons; and help change what’s on lunch trays giving kids healthy food from local farms. STEM lessons from the garden are brought into the classroom daily.

On Sunday, February 12th, Healthy People Coalition and NAAF hosted a community project in Gu Vo District. NAAF students and community members joined together to build an earth bench at the Gu Vo Community Building. The bench framework is a sustainable, recycled construction of wood and “clean” litter – empty plastic bottles and paper. Finished off with homemade mud-and-straw cement, the earth bench can seat up to six people, with a backrest sculpted in the shape of one of Gu Vo District’s sacred mountains. A large ramada emblazoned with Tohono O’odham Peace on Earth Bench provides shade from the hot desert sun or a respite from the monsoon rains.

The project came about through the efforts of Girls’ Voices, a Gu Vo community group of five young women dedicated to self-empowerment through autobiographical storytelling on YouTube. These socially conscious youth wanted a way to give back to their home.  With the help of community members, as well as Brennan Bird from Peace on Earth Bench and Claire Kaufman from GreaterGood.org, the earth bench is a tremendous success, as well as a great place to rest and reflect.

Projects like the garden and Earth Bench are an exciting way for the kids to connect to their community in a positive way that gives something valuable back to the community. Projects like these are only possible through the dedication of our staff and volunteers, and of course, through your donations. Thank you so much for being a part of our mission to bring quality education, healthy meals, and opportunity to the children of the Gu Vo District. We truly cannot thank you enough!

Sincerely,
Jeremy Paxton
Director of Development
Native American Advancement Foundation (NAAF)