ADABI answers crisis calls while waiting on reimbursement
CHINLE
When a mother and her children flee a violent home in the middle of the night on the Navajo Nation, the advocates at ADABI, short for Amá Dóó Áłchíní Bíghan Inc., do not check their bank balance before responding. They grab a bottle of water, climb into the nonprofit’s lone vehicle and drive.
“Our priority is their safety,” said Lorena Halwood, the longtime director of ADABI. “If a client and six children need to be picked up in Forest Lake right now, my staff, they’re on their way. They don’t wait to say, we need to put in gas. There’s no gas. They’re already on their way. Because time is of the essence, and we have to get that family to safety.”
That urgency has kept families alive. It has also pushed the nonprofit to the financial edge.
ADABI was recently awarded a $500,000 contract through the Navajo Nation Division for Children and Family Services. But the money does not arrive up front. Instead, the shelter must first cover its own costs, including salaries, utilities, repairs, food, diapers and fuel, then submit invoices for reimbursement. Those payments can take weeks or longer to arrive.
To read the full article, please see the April 2, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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