Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren signed legislation Thursday to allocate roughly $184 million for renovations and other needs of 86 senior centers.
Vice President Richelle Montoya said it’s the least they can do for Navajo elders at this stage in their lives.
“They're the ones that raised us since we were young kiddos,” said Montoya, “and they've been there to instill the stories and the love of our traditions and our cultures into our lives. As leadership, it's of extreme importance for us to make sure that they have facilities and they have services that are able to make sure that their lives are just that little bit easier.”
Montoya said the funding is a long time coming and will also help provide resources like programs for nutrition, behavioral and mental health.
“It's a place for our elders to come together and to talk with one another and to lift each other's spirits up and to have a healthy meal, to learn about the different changes that their age has brought them to,” she said. “So when it comes to that, I believe that this funding that the 25th Navajo Nation Council put forth, it was of extreme importance for a long time.”
She said upgrades are sorely needed in locations like the Oljato Senior Center north of the Arizona-Utah border, which has a great layout but after an electrical fire: “Their kitchen is not at full capacity, their refrigerator is not working well, their stoves are not working well. And it's just – it was such a shame to see, to walk through it and see the possibilities for the elders in that community, but because of lack of funding they weren't able to have anybody there.”
On top of keeping quality of life high, she added, centers also provide a key point of intergenerational connection that helps keep language and traditions alive.
According to Nygren’s office, the Navajo Nation Department of Health will start with comprehensive evaluations to replace outdated ones for many locations.
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