DENVER — “Before this was Colorado, before this was Denver, this was Indian Country,” said Rick Waters, who helps run the Denver Indian Center, a social service organization helping the American Indian and Alaska Native community for more than 50 years.
“The Denver Indian Center is a safe, reliable and trustworthy place for the community members to go,” Waters said. “Over the past year, we've had 200 different tribal members come through.”
Colorado was “from time immemorial, home to many tribal nations,” he said. But atrocities and policies like the Federal Indian Relocation Act of 1956 pushed many tribal members out of their ancestral homes and into urban spaces, creating a need for a new gathering place.
“This is a community that's vibrant and thriving and surviving right here amongst us,” he said. "This is Native American Heritage Month. But for me and many of my friends and colleagues, every day is Native American Heritage Day," he said.
At the center, members of different tribes, with different cultures, can come together around shared values like family and the preservation of their languages and traditions.
The center connects native people with essential services like food assistance, transportation and help finding work. They also advocate on behalf of Native Americans, host social gatherings where the community can share a meal and teach classes like their Honoring Fatherhood program.
David Wright and Josh Espinoza both teach the Honoring Fatherhood course, after going through the program as students themselves.
“Everybody comes from a different perspective with different tribes. But at the end of the day, they all want what's best for their kids,” Wright said. “Traditional ways are still important to Native families,” he said, whether "they're being raised by the standard mother and father” or by “grandparents and aunties and uncles."
Espinoza describes the course as a “men’s talking circle,” where fathers – Native and non-Native – can come together to tackle issues they may otherwise be embarrassed or intimidated to talk about. Those topics range from historical traumas like forced relocation and boarding schools to practical skills like financial literacy and parenting skills.
When Espinoza first joined the Denver Indian Center, he was a single father looking for food assistance. Once he took the Honoring Fatherhood course, he said he learned to put aside his pride and ego and feel comfortable reaching out for help. Now, as a teacher of the course, he said he’s gained a deeper sense of who he is and what’s important to him.
The Honoring Fatherhood program emphasizes the power of choices.
“I like to think of the idea of just being a better person every day, and helping others,” Espinoza said.
Wright beamed with pride when reflecting back on Espinoza’s journey. “He came in a position where he needed help. But now he's working for us as an alumni of the program... he's become a better leader, and a better man for it,” Wright said.
Personal growth Wright said he’s experienced too.
“It's helped me heal,” Wright said. "Having grown up in a broken household, it's helped me to understand and reflect on my own traumas."
As the program and the center continue to grow, Wright and Espinoza hope more community members can benefit, whether they have indigenous ancestry or not.
“We teach from a Native perspective, but it resonates with every father because there's something that they can get out of every lesson that we that we give,” Wright said.
