San Fernando Valley : Native American Service Center Closes
When Shoshone tribal member Dana Smith heard the news, he was crushed.
“What are we going to do now?” Smith asked his wife, Dustie. “Where else can we go?”
The Smiths were not the only ones dismayed when the Van Nuys office of the Southern California Indian Center closed Feb. 29, leaving the San Fernando Valley’s 10,400 Native Americans with no place to call their own.
The federal budget ax came down on the nonprofit center, slashing its federal funding by almost 50%.
The center provides job referrals, financial assistance and other essential services to Native Americans at four remaining offices in Los Angeles, Garden Grove, Carson and Commerce.
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