Tewa Women United
Tewa Women United
Since 1989, Tewa Women United has been strengthening and re-strengthening beloved families and communities. Through relational-tivity TWU embodies courageous spaces that center Indigenous women and girls to connect with ancestral knowingness, healing strengths, and lifeways for the wellbeing of all.
We’re based within the original boundaries of our Tewa homelands in what is now the Pojoaque-Española Valley. Our name comes from the Tewa concept wi don gi mu, which translates to “we are one.”
We’ve accomplished much over these 33 years, including:
- Strengthening leadership for Native women, girls, and youth through projects such as the Sayain (Circle of Grandmothers) and A’Gin Youth Council
- Providing hundreds of trainings and presentations at the state, national, and international levels to address environmental, social, and racial justice, violence against Native women, historical trauma and, most importantly, healing approaches
- Providing doula services and parent education to hundreds of families in northern New Mexico, and establishing a culturally-based community doula training program
- Shaping policy and developing multi-disciplinary teams in response to environmental violence concern, downwind and downstream from Los Alamos National Laboratories, as well as in response to sexual violence concerns
- Reclaiming our agricultural legacy through creation of community gardens like the Española Healing Foods Oasis, and protecting the sacredness of our seeds
As Pueblo/Tewa women, our source of strength has always been our connection to land, spirituality, and culture. We understand that what happens to women’s bodies happens to our Earth Mother, and we work at the intersection of environmental justice, reproductive justice, and sexual/gender-based violence. We are committed to protecting our sacred lands, the giver of life.
We invite you to visit www.tewawomenunited.org, to learn more about our work.
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The Santa Fe Community Foundation invited its community partners to submit stories related to its November topic of Native American Heritage.
Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
Last year, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian opened Carved Stories by Hopi artist Mavasta Honyouti. Featuring all sixteen low-relief carvings from the Coming Home series — created in tandem with Honyouti’s children’s book Coming Home: A Hopi Resistance Story — the exhibit recounts his grandfather Clyde Honyouti’s experience at an off-reservation federal boarding school. This Indigenous-led project offers a powerful and visually compelling reflection on Hopi life, culture, and history. As Brian Vallo notes, “Carved Stories… is both powerful and beautiful.”
Kha'p'o Community School
With support from the Native American Advised Fund, sixth-grade students at Kha’p’o Community School embarked on Our Voice, Our Stories — a year-long documentary project blending traditional Tewa arts and modern digital storytelling. Through pottery, weaving, sewing, and film, students explored their cultural identity and celebrated their voices as young Tewa people.
Truchas Services Center Preschool
The Truchas Services Center Preschool serves children from all the surrounding communities, providing supervision and appropriate curriculum for children ages 3 to 5 years old. The mission of the Pre-School program is "Children learning through playing".
