For Healthier Native Youth, Look To Their Strengths

Beside the dried-up bed of the Zuni River, a bright green athletic field surrounded by spiky coyote fencing stands out among the white and red rocks and dry grasses of the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. The turf field belongs to the Ho’n A:wan Community Park (the name means “belonging to all of us”). This 2.5-acre park was designed in collaboration with Zuni artists to provide a safe community space for Zuni youth to play, learn, and exercise. It’s the type of space that most American Indian communities lack, and it’s the home base of the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project (ZYEP), a Native-led organization that aims to improve the health and resilience of Zuni youth.