San Benito High, Hollister Youth Alliance: Indian Canyon Retreat

Joven Noble Retreat to Indian Canyon

Saturday May 25, 2013

Purpose of Retreat

In many Native American cultures, the youth participated in a Vision Quest/Retreat to symbolize their rite-of-passage ceremony. Traditionally, these rituals have been performed to mark significant life transitions or changes. Generally speaking, they are seen as both personal and collective events that are guided and witnessed with the community, and often involve the “quester” spending time alone in nature in search of a personal vision that becomes a vision to support the entire community. The youth participating in the Joven Noble program will participate in the retreat to symbolize the completion of their participation in the program and to reflect on how the lessons that they have learned throughout the year will help improve themselves and their community.

About Indian Canyon

Indian Canyon is the only land continuously held by the

Ohlone people, the first inhabitants of the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Areas. Indian Canyon is the only federally recognized “Indian Country” along coastal Northern California From Santa Barbara to Sonoma. 
In order to provide a place for Indigenous people who need land for ceremony, Indian Canyon hosts over five sweat lodges, beautiful arbor area for gatherings, and offers a round house area (site for our future traditional Village House) for special events. In addition to offering 30-40 areas for individual prayer and ceremony. Indian Canyon provides research and exchange opportunities for students and interns from throughout Northern California. 


All kinds of wildlife, flora and fauna, can be found in Indian

Canyon, including Coastal Live Oak, Madrone, Buckeyes, Sycamore, Pine and Cottonwood, Deer, Red-tail hawks, Stellar Jays, Owls, Hummingbirds, Foxes and Coyotes, along with the occasional visiting Condors (during ceremony visiting from Pinnacles Park who are reintroducing Condors to the area). Located south of Hollister, this private remote Canyon may be visited by invitation.  

Thanks to the Hollister Youth Alliance at San Benito High School for providing this inspirational experience to ten youth ages 12-17 years of age.


Mario Ozuna-Sanchez
Senior Program & Training Specialist
National Compadres Network/ National Latino Father and Family Institute

Images from Family and Youth Services Bureau Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Conference 2013

Thank You From Maryland!

In March of 2013, Montgomery County, Maryland Department of Health and Human Services took a major step in strengthening it's youth violence/ gang prevention and intervention efforts by training twenty Street Outreach Network workers--a cadre of prevention/intervention workers that engage and work with high risk, and gang involved youth, and provide them with positive, life-affirming activities.

The Montgomery County Department of Recreation Wheaton Sports Academy staff (a high school based prevention program that engages students in positive, life affirming activities, and the front-line staff from two Youth Opportunity Centers were trained in the Trauma-informed, Evidence Based Joven Noble Curriculum. 

This training and certification could not have taken place at a more important time for the county, as many of the programs listed have experienced a significant spike in serving younger aged youth that have experienced multiple traumas in their lives.  Most importantly, we believe that providing such a training for our front-line staff helps to set the standard for what all our prevention and intervention programs should have in place to best serve children and youth in the community.  We look forward to work closely with NLFFI/NCN as the county continues to improve its service delivery to children, youth, and families for our diverse populations and we give special thanks to Maestro Jerry Tello!  

Luis Cardona
Youth Violence Prevention Coordinator
Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services
401 Hungerford Drive, 5th Floor
Rockville, MD 20850 

Sacred Fatherhood

Sacred Fatherhood

Making a Commitment to the Children

As we approach Fathers Day, I want to begin by acknowledging the fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers, compadres, mentors and others who have chosen to carry the role of loving, guiding, protecting and supporting children of the world. We also recognize that being an honorable father requires more than contributing to the birth and/or the raising of a child, but also the support and respect of the child's mother and in the traditional way, the honoring of all our relations. 

The first step of being a responsible father is showing up, being present and recognizing that the most powerful lessons the child will receive from us, as men, is our example of how we carry ourselves. Yes, how we treat their mother, grandmother, other men and women, other children and how we walk and handle the challenges in our lives.

For this reason, 25 years ago, a circulo of men began a journey and commitment of first, healing ourselves and then making a commitment to heal, nurture, guide and protect the next generations as a way of shedding the baggage and growing the blessings.

With that in mind we'd like to challenge fathers, grandfathers, uncles, mentors to sign on the National Compadres Network's FATHERHOOD PLEDGE making a public commitment to be the best man that you can be in support of the children and all our relations. This also recognizes that we are all learning, healing and growing and need our own support to continue on this path so if we can be of any support to you please contact us.

I personally on this father's day have the blessing of my three children and others that see me as their father or their uncle and a 2 year - 4 month old granddaughter that is bringing me a whole new series of joys and challenges. But she knows when I ask her "How much does Tata love you?" she answers as she opens her arms wide open " Tata loves me this much" with a big smile on her face that she is loved. At the same time, at the end of her visiting for the day, I am exhausted and it's in these moments that I really appreciate my daughter and all the mothers and grandmothers of the world who carry a heavy load but in spite of everything give us men a space to learn and grow and be or become the fathers and grandfathers that the children need us to be.

Blessings to all and Happy Fathers Day,

Jerry Tello,              

Director, National Compadres Network/National Latino Fatherhood & Family Institute

www.nationalcompadresnetwork.org

www.nlffi.org