In an area of the city where daily life is a struggle for hundreds who live on the street, the Albuquerque Indian Center (AIC) was a place to be fed, receive mail and find some respite. The relief it provided was brought to a halt Jan. 21 when the center, located at 105 Texas St. SE in the International District, closed due to financial issues.
But it didn’t take long for area residents and Native American organizations to begin forming plans for the site’s potential future. In the short term, the nearby First Nations Community HealthSource clinic organized meal distribution (about 250 were fed once a day at the AIC) and became a temporary location for mail distribution.
The ability to receive mail at a dedicated address or post office box is likely taken for granted by most, but for scores of people without a permanent address, the convenience is of great importance.
“We thought: ‘Oh, my God — that’s mail that people need for their Social Security benefits,’” Chenoa Bah with University of New Mexico Health Sciences said.
Bah said postal officials held the AIC’s mail while others worked to have it rerouted to First Nations.
“We think that about 4,000 pieces of mail have been returned to sender,” Laura Harris, executive director of Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO), said. “There could be money in that mail, court dates, maybe somebody passed away.”
‘We can do a lot better’
Bah, Harris and other Native leaders say the AIC’s location is a vital one that needs to be preserved. It’s adjacent to the Bernalillo County-operated Tiny Home Village and was recently the site of a vigil recognizing homeless deaths in 2024, part of the annual Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day. Many filled the center in December, including city councilors and Mayor Tim Keller.
The AIC is also in an area of the International District where encampments filled with those who are struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues are common. Harris noted that many in the encampments are Native American, which represent 40% of the city’s homeless population but only 8.5% of the total population.
“It’s just a stark picture to see,” she said. “We think we could do a lot better and help people — not just feed them — but figure out ways to get more assistance to them and get them settled. This would be our ultimate goal.”
Harris is a member of the Native Leadership Collective (NLC) of Albuquerque, which formed in 2019 to give Native Americans a greater voice in city, county and Albuquerque Public Schools affairs. (About 10% of APS students are Native American). The collective currently includes 36 executive directors and CEOs of Native-led nonprofits and Indian-owned businesses that are all headquartered in Albuquerque.
Harris said NLC representatives have been in contact with the AIC’s executive director, Mary Garcia, and that a new board of directors is being assembled.
“Mostly they wanted somebody to come and save them financially,” Harris said. “We’ve done that before when they closed in 2016. They’ve just been having a great deal of difficulty fundraising and running their programs.”
Harris said whatever happens to the site, the community and Native coalitions will be included in decisions.
“We don’t know exactly how it’s all going to end up, but the community has rallied,” she said. “We want folks to know that they haven’t been forgotten and we’re trying to organize to figure out how we can keep that property in community hands.”
Harris can be contacted at lharris@aio.org.