Congratulations to the 2024 Indigenous Resilience Leadership Awardees
The Southwest Adaptation Forum (SWAF) is the biennial gathering of practitioners, professionals, research, and community members who are working to accelerate effective climate adaptation and reduce the impacts of climates change in communities and landscapes across the Southwest.
The Southwest Adaptation Forum occurred on February 27th through the 29th, 2024 in Tucson, Arizona. This conference offered a variety of peer-to-peer learning, breakout discussions, short presentations, panel discussions, field trips, and networking opportunities.
In conjunction with the Southwest Adaptation Forum, The Indigenous Resilience Center honored four individuals at the Indigenous Resilience Awards. These four individuals are Amy Juan, Clifford Pablo, Ray Martinez, and Dr. Selso Villegas, all who exemplify great service to their communities.
The Honorees;
Amy Juan is a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation belonging to the communities of Comobabi, Ali Cukson, and Wecij Oidag. Juan, has worked closely with traditional medicine and food in various programs including climate change adaptation.
Juan, commended for her work at San Xavier Co-op Farm is grateful for the support she has received,
“Community recognition to me means a lot because our community is who keeps us accountable, and can’t run away, I have to continue this work and continue to be responsible for what I’ve been entrusted with, and it means a lot.” Juan said.
Juan, was honored to be receiving the resilience award alongside Clifford Pablo and Dr. Selso Villegas who inspired her work at the San Xavier Co-op Farm.
Clifford Pablo is a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation from the community of Wa:k. Pablo has been working with the Tohono O’odham Community College Agriculture program to teach and learn about agriculture and the environment. Pablo has been working to preserve his culture, environment, and precious water resources while adapting to the changing world around him.
Pablo, was nominated because of his commitment to his students and carrying on a knowledge that has been passed down to him. We have had the fortune of listening to Pablo’s story and hearing him mention that his greatest crop has been his students and passing all he knows to them,
“Receiving this award acknowledges what I've been working at all these years since my beginnings with my Wosk (grandfather) in my home village of Wa:k (San Xavier). So many gardens, farms, land, and water projects with so many interested, knowledgeable people along the way. Been trying to preserve our culture, crops, environment, and precious water resources and expand our abilities to cope with a changing world,” Pablo said.
Ray Martinez is a member of the Pueblo de San Ildefonso. Martinez has worked with the Department of Environment and Cultural Preservation for the past 20+ years. Martinez is prioritizing continuous monitoring of the Chromium Plume and providing accurate and frequent communication to Pueblo residents and Tribal Council.
Martinez, has been working effortlessly to learn more and build his and his Pueblo’s capacity for climate adaptation. Martinez, made tremendous strides in the completion of San Ildefonso’s Climate Adaptation Plan, and he is working diligently towards implementation.
“I accept this on behalf of my community, my staff. They’re the ones that put this together. You know, it’s not an individual, myself, that’s doing these things, this is the whole community,” Martinez said.
Dr. Selso Villegas is a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation. Dr. Villegas graduated from the University of Arizona with a Master’s in Wildlife and Fisheries Science, and his PhD dissertation was on environmental contaminants. Dr. Villegas has spent the last 25 years working in executive positions in Natural and Water Resource Management for his tribe.
Dr. Villegas’s lifelong commitment to tribal climate adaptation, water security, integration of traditional knowledge, training of Native American youth, climate advocacy and being a voice to center Mother Earth in our conversations.
“Mother Earth speaks to us every day, when the wind passes through the trees, when the animals talk to each other, and when the rain falls to the ground," Villegas said
Congratulations to the recipients of the Indigenous Resilience Awards, we look forward to the next year!
Congratulations to the 2022 Indigenous Resilience Leadership Awardees
Dr. Otakuye Conroy-Ben
Dr. Timian M Godfrey
Sixth World Solutions, Janene Yazzie and Kern Collymore
This prestigious new honorary award recognizes outstanding individuals making a positive impact in tribal communities to create healthy environments. An award ceremony was held at the 2nd Annual Tribal Leaders Summit: Advancing Tribal Health in Phoenix, AZ on November 4th. IRes Director, Dr. Karletta Chief, presented these awards at the Resilience Award luncheon. The vision of IRes is that we see a world in which Indigenous communities are thriving and adaptable to meet environmental and societal challenges. IRes is supported by the University of Arizona Institute for Resilient Environments and Societies, and the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice. IRes aims to position UArizona as a world leader in Indigenous resilience research, education, and outreach.
Dr. Otakuye Conroy-Ben
Assistant Professor, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering
Dr. Otakuye Conroy-Ben Assistant Professor, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering Bio Otakuye Conroy-Ben (Oglala Lakota) is an assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Build Environment at Arizona State University. Conroy-Ben received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Notre Dame, a master's degree in analytical chemistry from the University of Arizona, and a doctorate in environmental engineering from the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on the biological effects of polluted water. Her research interests include environmental endocrine disruption, metal and antibiotic resistance in bacteria, and wastewater epidemiology. Conroy-Ben is advisor to the ASU chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES).
Reason Selected for Resilience Leadership Award
Dr. Otakuye Conroy-Ben is a nationally recognized engineer in wastewater epidemiology and developed tools to understand COVID-19, opioid misuse, and water quality disparities in Native American communities. With her team, she developed a new method to quantify proteins of the coronavirus and created the Wastewater-Based Epidemiology Tribal Coordination Center and COVID-19 dashboard. Her work centers Indigenous data sovereignty and tribal research ethics while training Native American students and professionals. Tribes who were hard hit with COVID-19 impacts were able to use the results from Dr. Conroy-Ben’s laboratories to make informed and quick decisions during a public health emergency potentially saving lives for communities that do not have equitable access to data, health or research.
Timian M Godfrey, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
Assistant Clinical Professor
Dr. Timian Godfrey is a member of the Navajo Nation and belongs to the Red Bottom clan with her maternal grandfather being from the Salt clan. Dr. Godfrey graduated from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing Doctor of Nursing Practice-Executive program in 2019, and simultaneously attained certification in American Indian Health from the Center for Indigenous Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Currently, she is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Arizona College of Nursing in the Family Nurse Practitioner-DNP program. Dr. Godfrey has more than 19 years of health care experience working in the capacities of a certified nursing assistant, emergency medical technician, registered nurse, and now as a nurse practitioner. In addition to her work in academia, Dr. Godfrey also works as a nurse practitioner with TribalHealth, an emergency medicine leadership company that works exclusively with government and tribal health programs. A primary motivation to pursue a nursing career is her personal conviction in Hózhó , a Navajo holistic belief that health and well-being for all living things results in physical and spiritual beauty, harmony and goodness. It is often said that one must "walk in beauty." Dr. Godfrey believes this statement aligns with the mission of nursing.
Reason Selected for Resilience Leadership Award
Dr. Timian M Godfrey has been part of the effort to get legislation passed for tribal communities and has put together pathways for native students pursuing nursing. She is committed to tribal health and opportunities for native students to excel and support their communities. For Dr. Godfrey, academia provides a unique opportunity to develop innovative strategies that promote academic equity. She is a strong advocate for increasing the presence of underrepresented peoples in health science professions. To achieve this goal, her primary focus is creating equitable academic opportunities for students from historically marginalized populations. At the University of Arizona, she is the current PI for two federal grants aiming to diversity the nursing workforce and increase the presence of Native American nurses working in tribal communities. Dr. Godfrey stated that she believes, “…collaborative efforts with our communities are the way to address many of the nation's most pressing health issues. She is deeply honored to be recognized by the Indigenous Resilience Center and takes this as a call to action to continue advocating for health equity.”
Sixth World Solutions
Sixth World Solutions is a non-profit organization that takes a systems-based approach to develop socio-economic solutions for Indigenous Peoples, Nations, and communities. They center community leadership and rights-based approaches for regenerative, place-based solutions. Sixth World Solutions is guided by Indigenous principles of kinship, community, environmental responsibilities, traditional principles of leadership, and strategic planning modeled after seventh-generation philosophy.
Reason Selected for Resilience Leadership Award
Sixth World Solutions has been supporting Indigenous communities by piloting SNF nanofiltration units across the Navajo Nation. They work closely with community members to co-design the units to meet their water and energy needs. Sixth World Solutions centers community leadership and rights-based approaches for regenerative, place-based solutions. Sixth World Solutions work has supported tribal health that has been impacted by issues such as COVID and long-term drought.
Janene Yazzie
Janene Yazzie (She/Her/Hers), NDN Collectives Southwest Regional Director, is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. She has over 12 years of experience as a community organizer and human rights advocate deeply rooted in local community issues. Beginning from her community Tsé si’ áni, in Diné Bikéyah, she has worked on the intersections of climate change, water security, food security, energy development, and nation building with Indigenous communities and Indigenous-led organizations in the US, Canada and Latin America. Working at the local, national, and international levels of governance, she has built expertise in advancing Indigenous Peoples rights through policy and facilitating rights-based approaches to development through holistic, place-based solutions. She has a background in International Policy and Human Rights. Janene is a co-founder of Sixth World Solutions.
Kern Collymore
Kern Collymore is Afro-Caribbean from Trinidad and Tobago. After graduating from Columbia University he co-founded Sixth World Solutions and has worked on land restoration, water security and food sovereignty for over a decade. He developed the Community Leadership Program for the first Navajo Nation community-led watershed project called the Little Colorado River Watershed Chapters Association (LCRWCA). Recently, Kern has focused his efforts in developing solar water filtration, rainwater catchment systems and other forms of sustainable development for Diné producers to deal with the dual impacts of COVID and long-term drought. He is currently pursuing his Masters in Sustainable Communities at Northern Arizona University (NAU). As an activist Kern has been on the frontlines advocating for the rights of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), helping to facilitate teach-ins, engaging in policy advocacy, assisting with mutual aid and creating a network of support amongst BIPOC communities.