Pauma Community

Tribal Youth

Mission Statement

The Pauma Youth Program is dedicated to changing the lives of Pauma tribal youth through providing a safe, structured and caring learning environment. The program seeks to cultivate the character traits of honesty, respect, and responsibility through providing meaningful interaction and role modeling. Our goal is to provide our youth with the skills and resources needed to grow and develop into productive members of Pauma tribal society.

Youth Advisory Group

The Tribal Youth Advisory Group is made up of tribally appointed members of the Pauma Band of Luiseño Indians. These individuals work with outside resources on and off reservation in creating opportunities for Pauma youth.

Youth Program Services

The Tribal Youth Program offers a variety of services to meet the individual needs of our youth. Key services include:

• - Education (Public Schools, GED, Community College)
• - Vocational Training
• - Individual, Family and Group counseling
• - Life Skill Training – (Anger Management, Conflict Resolution)
• - Independent Living Skills
• - Native American Programming – (Awareness & Participation)
• - Recreation
• - Medical, Dental, and Mental Health Services
• - Community Volunteers, etc.
• - Tribal Unity: Peers
• - Leadership/Tribal Government

Participating tribal youth are encouraged to express their own goals and how they will accomplish them.

Johnson O'malley
Program aka JOM

The Johnson-O’Malley (JOM) Program was first federally funded in 1936 to provide additional academic support for Native American students. Over the last several years, federal funding has been greatly reduced. However, in keeping with the Johnson-O’Malley ideal, the Pauma Band of Luiseno Indians has committed to providing quality academic support to students grade K-12. The JOM Program is overseen by the Pauma Education Committee, which is made up of community members and parents. Additionally, the JOM Manager, along with qualified tutors, provide a program that supports tribal students to achieve their academic goals.

Program Highlights

In order to provide a program that meets the needs and goals of the parents and students, academics is always a priority. We meet this goal through our partnerships with local schools. Pauma JOM is an official academic intervention site for kindergarten through 8th grade students.

We also provide academic support on campus for our students. We try to always incorporate the Luiseno cultural traditions in all our program facets in order to build cultural identity and pride.

Other program highlights – these may or may not take place each year depending on availability and scheduling:

• -Organic Tribal Garden
• -Native Plant Garden
• -Science Classes
• -Sensory Play
• -Art Classes
• -Luiseno Language Instruction
• -Healthy Lifestyles- Food, Nutrition, and Active Play
• -Inter Tribal Sports
• -Indian Health Council Partnership
• -Pauma Fire Department
• -Pauma Youth Program
• -Pauma Library
• -Title VII

What Our Kids Say

JOM is a great place to study our homework and get it done. We can play outside and we can play on the computer when we are all done.”

Healthcare

During the early twentieth century, the Indian Health Services (IHS) developed a reputation for administering substandard health care services to Indian people throughout the nation. Pauma tribal elders remember these times and characterize their treatment by IHS officials as callous, aimless and indifferent. Government directives received by local agency offices during this time ordered mass round ups of native children. The majority of these children had their tonsils removed at the Soboba Indian hospital, whether they had been diagnosed with tonsil ailments or not.

The 1950s ushered in a new wave of reductions to an already minimal state of health care services. Circumstances for Southern California native people did not begin to change until the early 1970s when nine bands (tribes) of Luiseño, Cahuilla, Cupeno, and Diegueno (Kumeyaay/Ipay) came together and formed the Indian Health Council, Inc (IHC). Initially the consortium shared meager funding and eventually sought outside resources to build a clinic to serve their people. In 2000, Pauma, a consortium member, worked with the other bands to open a new state-of-the art clinic and provide expanded services. The present CEO, Romelle Majel-McCauley, and head of medical services, Dr. Daniel Calac, are Pauma tribal members. IHC is dedicated to the continual betterment of Indian health, wholeness, and well-being.

With a main facility located adjacent to the Rincon reservation in the Pauma Valley and the Santa Ysabel Community Health Center located on the Santa Ysabel Reservation, IHC provides a full spectrum of on-site and outreach services and programs to the North San Diego County reservations of Inaja-Cosmit, La Jolla, Los Coyotes, Mesa Grande, Pala, Pauma, Rincon, San Pasqual, and Santa Ysabel. IHC has over 150 employees and serves approximately 15,000 patients.

IHC provides an array of culturally appropriate health care and related services which range from prenatal to geriatric; from well-child to adult fitness classes and diabetes clinics; from youth substance abuse prevention to domestic violence treatment and prevention programs. Specialized/part-time services include podiatry, orthodontics, mammograms, eye clinics, and others. With the aid of IHC’s mobile fleet, outreach efforts to health fairs, youth programs, rabies clinics, and environmental health services extend the clinic’s reach into surrounding tribal communities.

In the spirit of overcoming these historical challenges and assuring quality healthcare for Pauma people today, the Pauma tribe provides medical, dental and vision coverage for its tribal members, so that they have the opportunity to seek services both within and outside of the community.

Veteran

During the 20th century Pauma men and women served with distinction in the U.S. Armed Services. That commitment has carried through into the early part of this century.