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The Phoenix Indian Industrial School was established in 1891, operating as a boarding school for American Indian children by the Bureau of Indian Affairs up until 1990. Across its 99 years of operation, the mission of the school was to educate thousands of Native American children, though we know in its early operation, much of their education involved cutting of cultural ties and forced assimilation to a military lifestyle. In fact, Indian Commissioner Thomas Morgan speaking at the establishment of the school in 1891 said, "it's cheaper to educate Indians than to kill them." (Lindauer, 1998).
The elementary building, which was completed and opened in the early 1930’s, later converted into a music building during the school's transition; this is where the famous Phoenix Indian School band rehearsed. The band played at many historic occasions in the community, including Arizona’s Statehood celebration in February 14th, 1912.
Located at the corner of Central Avenue and Indian School Road, much of this site was transferred to the City of Phoenix from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1990, which the city used to create Steele Indian School Park. Since its closing, the COP saved three historic buildings and placed them on the National Register of Historic Places. One of those historic buildings, the former grammar school building, is the building Native American Connections and Phoenix Indian Center (PIC) have renovated, and have transformed it into the Phoenix Indian School Visitor Center (PISVC).
Check out this interview with Native American Connections' former CEO, Diana Yazzie-Devine, describing the Phoenix Indian School Visitor Center collaboration.
Native American Connections and partners signed a Letter of Understanding with the City of Phoenix to operate the Phoenix Indian School Visitor Center. We appreciate LISC Phoenix for recognizing the historic significance of and investing in this historic project and building.
We encourage all to schedule a visit to the Phoenix Indian School Visitor Center
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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.