Tewa Women United Receives Tribal Personal Responsibility Education Program Grant

Tewa Women United (TWU) recently received a $362,000 grant from the Administration on Children, Youth and Families – Family and Youth Services Bureau. This award will support the efforts of our A’Gin Healthy Sexuality & Body Sovereignty Project. TWU is one of eight organizations throughout the nation to receive the Tribal Personal Responsibility Education Program federal funding.

The purpose of this program is to support projects that educate American Indian/Alaska Native youth between the ages of 10 and 19, and pregnant and parenting youth under age 21, on both abstinence and contraception.

The A’Gin Project was developed by community leaders and educators in 2011 as an approach to address issues of body sovereignty and personal empowerment for all stages of life. This project has served over 500 youth throughout Northern New Mexico in tribal, public and community settings since 2012. TWU Associate Director Nathana Bird, who has served as the project director since 2016, said, “We appreciate the continued support of the Family and Youth Services Bureau to continue this work that was developed by community members who invested their heart and spirit into this curriculum. We are taking a culturally based approach to prevention and empowering young people to have conversations about their bodies and relationships in their lives that are based on TWU’s core values.”

Located in the ancestral Tewa homelands of Northern New Mexico, Tewa Women United is a multicultural and multiracial organization founded and led by Native women. Tewa Women United was established in 1989 and became a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in 2001. Tewa Women United envisions movement(s) rooted in P’in Haa (Breath of Heart/Life) and P’in Nall (Touching Heart and Spirit) that nurture and celebrate the collective power of beloved families, communities, and Nung Ochuu Quiyo (Earth Mother).