Multicultural: Building Resilient Communities
Goal I.
Alejandro Tecum, Adelante Mujeres
Adelante Mujeres educates and empowers Latina women and their families through holistic programs that ensure their full participation and active leadership in the community.
Alejandro is originally from Guatemala and moved to Oregon in 1999. He joined Adelante Mujeres in 2002 working as a Mathematics and Spanish teacher. In 2005, he initiated the Adelante Agricultural program and serves as the Program Director of Sustainable Agriculture.
Tachini Pete, The Potlatch Fund
Tachini Pete was raised in both the Flathead Reservation and Navajo Reservation with strong cultural values in the Salish and Navajo traditions. His mother is Salish and his father Navajo. He is the father of four children, three sons ages, 22, 18, 12 and one daughter, age 15. He has been an avid learner and teacher of the Salish language since 1994. Tachini is a learner by nature. He has earned Certificate’s of Completion in Automotive Technology from Wyoming Technical Institute and Salish Cultural Leadership from Salish Kootenai College (SKC); Associate’s degrees in Native American Studies and Bilingual Education from SKC. In 2001 he graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Elementary Education from the University of Montana Western and in 2010 he graduated from Gonzaga University with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. His work activities include a small business selling Native American drums online (Tachini Drums, www.tachinidrums.com), teaching, curriculum development, and most notable, in 2002 Tachini was the lead co-founder and served as executive director of the non-profit organization, Nkwusm, Salish Language Revitalization Institute until December 2011. His major accomplishments include publication of the first modern Salish language translation dictionary in 1998 followed up with a more comprehensive 816 page second edition (Medicine for the Salish Language, SKC Press) with thousands of entries published in 2010. Tachini is devoted to strengthening community and empowering youth through the wisdom of indigenous languages. His forte is second language acquisition, language revitalization and small business development.
