Day 1, SWTHA Board Meeting in the books.. Good conversations with the SWTHA Board and invited guests, the Southwest Tribal Housing Justice Collaborative (Chenoa Bah-Jensen, Dawn Begay), Mayor Keller and staff, Brandi Ahmee, and Terry Sloan and the potential for partnership, collaboration, and project development with the City of Albuquerque and tribal partners for affordable housing..

We got things ready for discussion with the SWTHA membership for Day 2, SWTHA Business Meeting and discussion with Bernalillo County Commissioner, Adriann Barboa.. Long and meaningful conversations at the reception this evening. The future is hopeful and optimistic for SWTHA.. 2026 is going to be a busy but fruitful year for tribal housing here in the Southwest.

Day 2 SWTHA Business Meeting was a good, successful, and productive day.. We had the pleasure of 1st Lt. Governor, Charles Jojola of the Pueblo of Isleta provide our welcome and opening prayer.. The Pueblo of Isleta Veteran Association posted colors ahead of the meeting..

We had elections for the Arizona and New Mexico representatives. Results were:

New Mexico:
Kenneth Ruthardt, Executive Director Isleta Pueblo Housing Authority
David Martinez, Finance Manager Pueblo of Acoma Housing Authority

Arizona:
Ricardo Vital, Executive Director Pascua Yaqui Tribe Housing Department
Lukaya Williams, Grant Manager White Mountain Apache Housing Authority

We also had elections for the SWTHA Secretary and SWTHA President.

SWTHA Secretary:
Lorrie Chavez, Executive Director Santo Domingo Tribal Housing Authority

SWTHA President:

Jamie B. Navenma, Executive Director Laguna Housing Development and Management Enterprise

We had site visits & conversation with Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa, Cindy Chavez, County Manager, and Ben McIntosh, County Real Estate Manager. The potential for the tribes to work with the City of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County to address and potentially have housing projects developed as partners is exciting! This will be an ongoing conversation with all involved.

Our partners provided reports to the membership. AMERIND, NAIHC, Southwest Office of Native American Programs (HUD/SWONAP).

We also reviewed and adopted the SWTHA Strategic Plan for 2026-2029. Our Mission and Vision statements have changed, reflecting the new direction SWTHA is taking moving forward.

New SWTHA Vision Statement:

“To build a future where Indian housing professionals and tribal housing entities thrive – supported by funding, resources, and leadership development through Southwest Tribal Housing Alliance’s (SWTHA’s) capacity-building and advocacy efforts, while remaining culturally grounded and empowered to lead.”

New SWTHA Mission Statement:

“SWTHA is the united voice for tribal housing in the Southwest — advocating at the tribal, state, and federal levels while building an alliance rooted in tradition, collaboration, and shared strength across Native communities, promoting self-determination.”

These statements were adopted to guide the 2026–2029 plan and to align directly with the plan’s four overarching goals: Communication & Engagement; Advocacy & Policy; Capacity Building & Workforce; and Organizational Stability & Sustainability.

We scheduled capacity building trainings and worked on identifying locations and training opportunities for our May & September Tri-annual meetings. May Tri-annual meeting will be held in Tucson, co-hosted by the Pascua Yaqui Housing Department and the September Tri-annual meeting will be held in El Paso, co-hosted by the Ysleta del Sur Tribe Department of Housing.

Overall, the past two days have been very productive and fulfilling. Kwa’kwah/Dawa’eh to all who helped make these meetings a success!