Urban Indian Centers and Disability Supports

More American Indians now live in cities than in rural areas or on tribal lands. Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) serves those with disabilities and supports their efforts to secure and maintain employment. Urban Indian centers, found in most major cities in the United States, are potential partners with VR agencies in providing this support. Many urban Indian centers include employment training and placement services among their offerings. This fact sheet provides a brief overview of urban Indian centers and includes contact information that VR counselors can use to refer clients or to learn more about local centers.

Life in a city is not new to the landscape of American Indians. In fact, Native Americans lived in urban communities for hundreds of years prior to the arrival of Europeans. The largest ancient urban community in what is now the United States was Cahokia, a mound city inhabited from 800 to 1400 C.E., and set aside today as an Illinois state historic site, “The City of the Sun.”

Today’s urban American Indian lives in a city for very different reasons than those influencing the ancient Midwesterner, but more American Indians now live in urban areas than in any other kind of community. Beginning in the 1930s, some Native Americans began to leave those rural areas where employment opportunities were limited and racism was sometimes more marked. At the close of the Second World War, Native American veterans returned home needing jobs, and cities offered more, if not better, employment. In the 1950s, shifting federal policy encouraged and stressed the relocation of even more American Indians from reservation lands to cities. Some federal agencies even provided reservation residents with transportation, usually bus tickets, to nearby urban communities. Today, American Indian cultural and social centers are established in many cities and are able to help clients deal with the practical matters of finding work and living daily life in an urban setting.

Modern urban Indian centers are an example of a long history of cooperation among tribes in the United States. Today’s urban Indian center brings together members of various tribes from around the country and links cultural pride with social services to improve the daily lives of its clients. “The successful Indian center has the delicate task of helping the urban American Indian bridge the gap between his traditional tribal heritage and the functional urban society” (French, 1979). Bridging the gap may include providing medical services, helping locate employment, providing educational and job skills training, or working on local economic development issues.

In larger cities, several urban Indian centers may work together to provide services that in a smaller community would be housed under one roof. In Chicago, for example, the American Indian Center is the social and cultural home for the city’s American Indian population, while the American Indian Health Services of Chicago, Inc. provides a variety of medical and wellness services. It administers an outpatient clinic, dental care, family and individual behavioral health services, a diabetes program, and an outreach and education program for alcohol and substance abuse prevention. The Chicago field office of the California Indian Manpower Consortium has for six years offered employment services to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians fourteen years of age and older. The office provides help with GED completion and arranges for training in licensed vocational nursing, computer training, welding and other certificate programs. It assists with resume preparation and interview techniques, and runs a summer employment referral program for area youth.

In a smaller city, such as Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Albuquerque Indian Center, Inc. offers services to New Mexico urban Indians, including Navajo and Pueblo tribal members. The center houses social services, such as a sobriety and wellness program; homeless care, including emergency shelter and home locator services; employment location and referral; as well as training programs in computer skills, GED completion, and other job skills training. It also offers communication services to clients, including photocopy machines and free local phone calls. Its treatment and counseling program, which includes traditional counseling methods, currently serves more than 300 people.

Similarly, in Seattle, Washington, the Seattle Indian Center serves a cross-section of native peoples from throughout the United States, as well as a substantial population of Alaska Natives. The center offers a broad base of social services. Its community services department includes a food bank, clothing bank, hot meal program, and emergency hotel vouchers. Employment services at the Seattle center include a job bank, a GED completion program, and a computer literacy program. The Workforce Readiness program consists of completing job applications, writing resumes, and developing interview skills. The center’s on-site childcare program accepts children 10 months and older. “We offer a broad base of social services for people who may be having problems finding these services elsewhere,” says community service coordinator Tony Moses.

The Seattle Indian Health Board, chartered in 1970, integrates traditional and western approaches to healing and provides culturally appropriate choices for health care. It includes a pharmacy and a nutrition program, as well as help for victims of domestic violence, among its more general health care services. Its Community Connections division works with Native American student clubs at select Seattle high schools and offers monthly powwow outings, lessons in beading and other cultural crafts, as well as photography classes and other activities.

The following list of urban Indian centers in the United States will include some in small cities that border reservations and others that sit in the middle of a sprawling metropolis. While each will have different resources at its disposal and may address different needs, each center offers a combination of practical support and cultural connection to sustain those who are crossing the bridge between tribal tradition and modern urban life.

References

Beck, David R. M. (2002). Developing a voice: The evolution of self-determination in an urban Indian community. Wicazo Sa Review, 17(2), 117-141.

Fixico, Donald L. (2000). The Urban Indian Experience. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

French, Lawrence (1979). The educational dilemma facing urban Indians. Journal of American Indian Education, 18(2).

Michel, Karen Lincoln (2002). Indian in the city: Cultural survival after relocation. Native Americas XIX, 1 & 2, 46.

National Offices

Indian Health Service
Urban Indian Health Program Branch
Rae Snyder, Acting Director
801 Thompson Avenue, Suite 200
Rockville, MD 20852
PHONE (301) 443-4680
jcussen@hqe.ihs.gov

Indian Health Service
Division of Acquisitions and Grants Operations
Robyn York, Director
12300 Twinbrook Parkway, Suite 100
Rockville, MD 20857
PHONE (301) 443-5204
FAX (301) 443-9602

National Council of Urban Indian Health
Beverly Russell, Executive Director
Email Beverly
501 Capitol Court, Suite 100
Washington DC 20002
PHONE (202) 544-0344
FAX (202) 544-9394
deputydirector@ncuih.org

Urban Indian Centers and Disability Supports

American Indian Disability Technical Assistance Center

October 2003

References