Winds of Change - Fall 2017 - 28

25 to Watch

Agua Caliente
Band of Cahuilla
Indians
LOCATION:

Palm Springs, Calif.
FIELD: Philanthropy
➽ aguacaliente.org

Aiya Solar Project
TRIBAL AFFILIATION:

Moapa Band of Paiutes
LOCATION:

Clark County, Nev.
FIELD: Solar
➽ aiyasolarprojecteis.com

All Native
Group
TRIBAL AFFILIATION:

Winnebago Tribe
of Nebraska
LOCATION:

Winnebago, Neb.
Government
contracts
➽ allnativegroup.com
FIELD:

Cherokee Nation
LOCATION:

Tahlequah, Okla.
Philanthropy,
STEM education
➽ cherokee.org
FIELD:

28 WINDS OF CHANGE * FALL 2017

GILA RIVER INDIAN COMMUNITY
UTILITY AUTHORITY ➽ gricua.net

F

or centuries, the tribes living
in the Sonora Desert region,
John Lewis
south of present-day Phoenix, have
masterfully used the precious resource
of water to best advantage. Around
300 BCE the Huhugam people dug
500 miles of canals, many 10 feet deep
and 30 feet wide. These, in turn, were
linked to smaller irrigation canals so
thousands of acres of desert could
become arable land. (As a testament
to the sound planning that went into
this ancient infrastructure system,
many of today's modern canals follow
the same paths.)
In the late 1990s, indigenous
people of the 600-square-mile
"neighborhood," now comprising
the Akimel O'otham (Pima) and
Pee-Posh (Maricopa) tribes, created
the Gila River Indian Community
Utility Authority (GRICUA).
"The main focus of GRICUA is to
provide low-cost, reliable electrical
service to its nearly 2,400 commercial, industrial, residential, and
Next came a summer internship program
agricultural customers," says John Lewis, board
for high school and college students. It was a hit
chair. "Knowledge distribution is our responsitoo, and led to annual alumni reunions.
bility too," he adds. "Our secondary focus is
Then came the breakthrough idea. "I
incorporating youth into our process. We have
decided, 'Let's integrate all this and make a
to have a sustainable future."
STEM-focused youth initiative,'" Lewis recalls.
To Lewis, a Stanford-educated civil and
The community is building 1,600 homes, and
environmental engineer, that means getting as
he thought, "Cool! Let's integrate youth into the
many of the two tribes' children as possible
design and building processes."
interested in STEM. The Gila River community
As a result, GRICUA researched different
is located near a huge Intel manufacturing
STEM programs around the U.S. and found
facility, and the computer giant's studies have
that no one had tried a holistic approach.
found that even though Phoenix has two major
"We have our own traditional methods," says
universities, in the future they won't graduate
Lewis, recalling how the ancient peoples united
enough students with STEM majors to fill the
architecture, art, and agriculture in the
local jobs pipeline.
construction and shared maintenance of
That's why Lewis as well as his board of
their complex web of irrigation canals.
directors and managers knew they had to
Today the STEAM summer program
get into the STEAM business, which
gets fifth- through eighth-graders
means STEM education programs plus
excited about the relationships
the three As - arts, agriculture, and
between science and American Indian
architecture. It's the first such holistic
history and culture.
program in the country, according to Lewis.
"We're going to need engineers, line
He didn't originally plan to build this head
technicians, welders, general managers,
of STEAM. At first, back in 2010, he wanted
accountants, and service reps," says Lewis.
only to expand the horizons of local children.
"Those people aren't out there sitting on a shelf.
So GRICUA created the Washington Youth
We're getting our children into STEM programs
Tour, which sent high school juniors to D.C.
at the youngest possible age. The benefits will
"They loved it," Lewis recalls. "They came back
be tenfold, even a hundredfold."
so excited. They didn't even know our community had its own utility company."
- George Spencer

aises.org

TRIBAL BUSINESS JOURNAL; COURTESY OF JOHN LEWIS

The
http://www.gricua.net http://www.aguacaliente.org http://www.aiyasolarprojecteis.com http://www.allnativegroup.com http://www.cherokee.org http://www.aises.org
Winds of Change - Fall 2017

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