sports_basketballAnnouncing our 2024 NBA Foundation Grant Award Supporting Youth Experiencing Homelessness: read about this impactful award.

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Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors remains diverse in terms of the experiences and expertise offered by each member. Members share a common vision and enthusiasm to continue growing and strengthening the services of Native American Connections. Staying true to our roots, over half the board members are Native American, and to ensure the integrity of our services for homeless men and women, the board includes an individual who experienced homelessness.

Executive Committee

Christopher Sharp

Chairperson

Mohave/Colorado River Indian Tribes
Arizona State University – School of Social Work
Office of American Indian Projects

Dana L. Schmidt

Vice Chairperson

Founder and CEO at HRamp Up

Michelle Hale

Secretary

Diné - Navajo
Arizona State University – American Indian Studies

Paul Mountain

Treasurer

Pinnacle West, CFA

Members

Violet Mitchell-Enos

Member

Yavapai - Prescott
Former Health and Human Services Director, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community

Steve Gundersen

Member

Diné - Navajo
Tallsalt Advisors, LLC, President

Dr. Cherie McCabe Murray

Member

Navajo/Sioux
Colorado River Indian Tribes
Emergency Medicine Physician

Brian Greathouse

Member

Fond du Lac Band
of Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.
Real Estate Attorney, Burch & Cracchiolo

Housing and Recovery Peer Committee

Eleanor Jauregui

San Carlos Apache

Kenneth Lewis

Akimel O’odham/Gila River Indian Community Tribe

Loretta Salazar

Tohono O'odham

Sandra Blosch

Diné - Navajo

Sampson Taylor

Hopi

Emeritus Members

Edwin Gonzalez-Santin, MSW

ASU, School of Social Work

Neil Sutton

Pinnacle Capital Mortgage

Nicolle S. Hood

South American Indian

General Counsel, Camelback Partners Group

Telling Authentic Stories

Our traditions are the foundation of our organization - explore, learn, and utilize resources available for all.

Getting Help

Help is Here

Get the support you need with health, housing, and community services available at Native American Connections.

Getting Help

Ways to Get Involved

Your support changes lives and builds healthy communities. Find ways to get involved.

Getting Help

A "chronically homeless" individual is defined to mean a homeless individual with a disability who lives either in a place not meant for human habitation, a safe haven, or in an emergency shelter or in an institutional care facility if the individual has been living in the facility for fewer than ninety (90) days and had been living in a place not meant for human habitation, a safe haven or in an emergency shelter immediately before entering the institutional care facility. In order to meet the ‘‘chronically homeless’’ definition, the individual also must have been living as described above continuously for at least twelve (12) months or on at least four (4) separate occasions in the last three (3) years, where the combined occasions total a length of time of at least twelve (12) months. Each period separating the occasions must include at least seven (7) nights of living in a situation other than a place not meant for human habitation, in an emergency shelter or in a safe haven.

Federal nondiscrimination laws define a person with a disability to include any (1) individual with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; (2) individual with a record of such impairment; or (3) individual who is regarded as having such an impairment. In general, a physical or mental impairment includes, but is not limited to, examples of conditions such as orthopedic, visual, speech and hearing impairments, cerebral palsy, autism, epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), developmental disabilities, mental illness, drug addiction, and alcoholism.