Springs center brings community to Native Americans

Developing a sense of community among the dozens of Native Americans in the Pikes Peak region has long been a challenge because there was never an organization to connect them.

That’s why Jim Ramirez started the Colorado Springs Indian Center.

Ramirez, a Southern Ute Indian, founded the center a year ago to develop cultural, educational and social programs for the estimated 12,000 American Indians in the Pikes Peak area. With help from 75 volunteers, the center has created programs and referred people to existing ones that involve health care, athletics, Native American culture, job training and youth education.

“We wanted to bring together an organization that maintains the culture and traditions of Native Americans, but also bring them into the mainstream by showing them the different resources available,” said Ramirez, who has also organized cultural awareness events throughout November — Native American Heritage Month.

A four-member board of directors that Ramirez chairs oversees the center, which is financed through donations.

To accommodate all the things the center wants to do, its leaders wanted to find a larger facility. On Nov. 15, the center moved to the second floor of a building on the Trinity United Methodist Church campus. Not only is it significantly larger than the old venue, it includes a gymnasium to provide more athletic programs for its clientele.

About half of the center’s programs are in place, Ramirez said, and officials plan to launch a Springs Indian Center Web site in December and hold an open house in January. The center has served about 450 American Indians since it opened.

“The center is a hub for the Native American population, building oneness for all peoples,” center board member Karen Medville said.

For more information on the center, call White Bison, a local Native American organization, at 548-1000.

NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH CELEBRATION

What: Pikes Peak Native American leaders will give talks and perform traditional Indian dances.

When: 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Monday

Where: 6101 Wetzel Ave. on Fort Carson; event is open to the public

Cost: free

More information: 548-1000.

—

Call the writer at 636-0367. For more religion news, go to Mark Barna's blog, The Pulpit, at http://www.thepulpit.freedomblogging.com.