Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona

Based on a recent community needs assessment, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s newly established Dr. Fernando Escalante Community Library and Resource Center will enhance its services to the Pascua Yaqui community by focusing on intergenerational exchange and family involvement in the center and by creating a gathering place that promotes cultural learning for the community as a whole. The center will accomplish this by adding Yaqui resources to the collection; offering activities on Yaqui culture, language, and knowledge, including an “Elder Docent” program to engage elders in cultural activities at the library; conducting workshops on how to access tribal information; and adapting a formal multigenerational reading program to make it culturally appropriate in order to strengthen literacy skills for all ages.