Las Vegas Indian Center provides assistance, classes

Director believes in connecting American Indians with heritage

Photos by Vic Valbuena Bareng/ViewClockwise from top left, Kerriebah Bedonie, from the Dine Tribe in Arizona, dances regularly at the Native Dance class at the Reed Whipple Cultural Center, 821 Las Vegas Blvd. North. Keanu Bedonie, left, and Trent Singer, both from the Navajo tribe, learn traditional dance as a way of maintaining their American Indian heritage. Eleven-year-old Lynelle Singer, from the Dine Tribe in Las Vegas, practices a traditional dance. Photos by Vic Valbuena Bareng/ViewClockwise from top left, Kerriebah Bedonie, from the Dine Tribe in Arizona, dances regularly at the Native Dance class at the Reed Whipple Cultural Center, 821 Las Vegas Blvd. North. Keanu Bedonie, left, and Trent Singer, both from the Navajo tribe, learn traditional dance as a way of maintaining their American Indian heritage. Eleven-year-old Lynelle Singer, from the Dine Tribe in Las Vegas, practices a traditional dance. Photos by Vic Valbuena Bareng/ViewClockwise from top left, Kerriebah Bedonie, from the Dine Tribe in Arizona, dances regularly at the Native Dance class at the Reed Whipple Cultural Center, 821 Las Vegas Blvd. North. Keanu Bedonie, left, and Trent Singer, both from the Navajo tribe, learn traditional dance as a way of maintaining their American Indian heritage. Eleven-year-old Lynelle Singer, from the Dine Tribe in Las Vegas, practices a traditional dance. Advertisement

Depending on how one sees the numbers, 27,000 American Indians living and working in Las Vegas is either surprisingly low, according to Debra Reed, director of the Las Vegas Indian Center at 93 W. Bonanza Road, or higher than one would expect.

Either way, the nations Cherokee, Shoshone, Ute, Black Feet, Ojibwe, Navajo, Pauite, Sioux, Comanche and Choctaw are a presence in the valley and have been for the 103 years of the city's formal existence, and beyond, said Reed.

"As far as overall population," said Reed, "there are between 2 to 4 million Native Americans throughout the U.S. The population was almost annihilated. But we survived."

Acting as a social services agency, providing assistance with employment, affordable housing, education and emergency financial assistance, the Las Vegas Indian Center has been dedicated to that survival, Reed said.

"We provide services to our target audience, which is Native Americans, and other populations," she said. "We help those populations become self-sufficient by providing direct services and resources for individuals. If we don't provide the services here directly, we'll refer individuals to our partner agencies that can provide those services."

Substance abuse treatment for adults on an outpatient basis has become a part of the center's mission, as well as serving as an employment office, offering job referrals, classes in resume building and computer use.

The center also offers housing assistance and owns 12 housing units throughout Las Vegas.

Alongside its mission to provide the basics in subsistence for all families or individuals that might be in need of help as they transition from one phase of life to the next, or come into town without family or employment, the part of the center's mission Reed firmly believes in is connecting American Indians to their cultural heritage, she said.

There is growth and solutions there, she said.

"I think for many Native Americans who grow up culturally, you identify your native blood no matter how much Native you are. One of the things that seems to be woven through most of the stories from Native Americans who see themselves as culturally Native is a sense of community," said Reed.

Reed, who holds a master's in social services, is of three tribes -- Shoshone, Pauite and Ute. Raised on a reservation at Fort Dushane, Utah, she said a sense of community comes out of knowing where one's land is, knowing where one's people are from.

"I feel blessed. Growing up on a reservation is very different because you're in a solid, supportive community where everybody knows everybody," she said. "I had all my grandparents, uncles, cousins and aunties to teach me my culture, to teach me to pass on the things that I have learned. Not that I always listened. But when I look back on it now and I meet Native Americans who are searching for something, I see this disconnect. I feel blessed that I was raised with family, having that connectedness, having that culture. Knowing who I am, knowing where I'm from."

Reed likens such a connection to a tree and its roots.

"The roots nourish the tree," she said. "The branches go up and they're visible to everyone, they bear fruit, and that fruit falls back to its roots. Those roots are always grounded. That's how I feel about my people, my relatives, my culture."

There are over 500 federally recognized tribes in the U.S., and another 300 to 400 tribes that are not federally recognized.

The Las Vegas Indian Center is a nonprofit organization and was incorporated in the state of Nevada in 1972.

The office serves the needs of urban American Indians inside the Las Vegas metropolitan area and throughout the rural areas of Clark County.

The center acts as a resource for classes in the cultural arts, such as a native dance, and conducts programs in education with a Tutoring Native Youth class, which meets Monday through Thursday at the Las Vegas Pauite Tribe's Health and Human Services Clinical Training Room at 1257 Pauite Circle.

For more information on classes, programs and services, call 647-5842.

The center is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday and Fridays by appointment.