Happy to even have a job
By Cassandra Raye Chee
Special to the Times
FLAGSTAFF, July 14, 2011
Now, as a recent college graduate, you ask yourself one question. What now?
It took Desiree Denny until she was 32 to earn the coveted degree from Arizona State University, but she's found that having a bachelor's degree isn't much on the Navajo Nation.
Denny, who is from Lukachukai, Ariz., is Tó'aheedl'inii (Water flows together Clan) and born for Tód'k'ózhi (Salt Water Clan). She received her BA in elementary education with high hopes of molding young minds and putting a dent in the educational failure rate in the Navajo Nation.
A 2007 graduate, so far Denny has found only 18 months of work teaching, at Jeehdeez'a Academy in Low Mountain, Ariz. She said schools on the reservation are looking for teachers that have a minimum of three years of experience, or extra certifications that put them in the "highly qualified" bracket.
"The only job that I'm qualified to have on the Navajo Nation is to be a substitute teacher, but still I'm overqualified," Denny said.
Meanwhile, school faculties on the reservation are overloaded with older teachers who have neither the zeal of new teachers nor the training that goes with a modern bachelor's in education, she said, and they need to be replaced with fresh blood. Classroom teaching is suffering from dull, outdated methods while the innovative techniques that new teachers bring are ignored.
"We don't get to do any fun activities the children will enjoy and learn from," Denny said. "We do the same old boring things and you can tell the kids lose interest."
Denny is married with five children and is applying for jobs to support her family, but no one is willing to hire her, she said.
"I'm wondering why the reservation isn't doing a better job trying to put out more jobs," Denny said. "People are leaving the reservation to find jobs in the city."
Her husband, Virgil Tachine, 43, is among those who left the reservation to find work.
Tachine, who is Tód'ch''i'nii (Bitter Water Clan), born for Nat'oh Dine'é Táchii'nii (Tobacco People of the Red Running into Water Clan), found a job in Phoenix. To cut costs, he stays with friends there and hitchhikes to work every day. When he gets paid he sends the money home.
He is also saving money in hopes of returning to school this fall. He wants to attend Diné College, but in the meantime he is helping Denny raise their children.
Philan Tree, 25, originally from Tolani Lake, Ariz., is a full-time student at Northern Arizona University. She knows the need for jobs on the reservation, and found a way to create some.
Tree, who is Kinyaa'áanii (Towering House Clan), born for Tábaahá (Edge Water Clan) ran an award-winning AmeriCorps program, the Coconino Rural Environment Corps, and went on to found the Energy Conservation Corps in 2009.
Tree, along with another person, approached Coconino County's Community Services Department with an idea to help reservation residents improve their energy efficiency and water conservation, and the county agreed to try them out.
Organized as a part of CREC, they utilized green building techniques to weatherize homes and decrease their energy usage. The crews that were hired to do the work got training and certification as green builders in the process.
The program has since been expanded to the entire county, according to the CREC Web site, www.crecweb.org.
With the help of the city of Flagstaff, the Navajo Nation, and Leupp, Tolani Lake, Birdsprings and Tonalea chapters, Tree's program was able to hire 21 Navajos.
The people who applied were told the jobs paid minimum wage, and some applicants were overqualified for the work, but it didn't matter, she said. They had families to support and bills to pay.
"They said there were no jobs on the reservation," said Tree, who left ECC when her 18-month job assignment ended. "The workers were happy to even have a job."
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