My name is Andrea D’Attis. I am a rising senior at Lycee Stendhal Milan. Last Fall, I was invited to participate in a unique two week summer program living amongst, and working with, members of the Navajo Nation, residing in Torreon, New Mexico, part of the Torreon/Star Lake Chapter of the Navajo Reservation, located in northeast New Mexico. Aside from the chance to broaden my cultural horizons, I was also attracted by the opportunity to further explore my interest in studying the various types of democratic forms of governance currently operating throughout our world. In this regard, I was particularly intrigued with studying the unique type of democratic governing system currently operating in the Navajo Nation. My initial research revealed that the Navajo system of democratic governance is a hybrid type of governance: embracing representative democracy, at the national level of governance, and direct participatory democracy, at the local level of governance. At the national level of governance, the Navajo Nation has adopted a representative form of democracy consisting of an Executive, a Legislative, and a Judicial branch of government, all headquartered in Window Rock, Arizona. The Navajo Executive branch is headed by a President and a Vice-President, who are directly elected by the popular vote of the Navajo people. The Navajo judges of the Navajo Judicial Branch are appointed by the Navajo President, and confirmed by the Navajo Senate. My interest, though, lay mainly in the inner workings of the Navajo Legislative Branch, a legislative body, known as the Navajo Nation Council. This council is composed of twenty-four district delegates, or councilors, chosen directly by the people. The legislative council represents the one-hundred and ten municipal chapters the Navajo Nation is further broken down into. Each of these one-hundred and ten municipal chapters are led by a Chapter President, a Chapter Vice-President, a Chapter Secretary/Treasurer, a Council delegate, and a member of the Land Board. These individuals are all directly elected by a consensus of the individuals residing within each of these one-hundred and ten municipal chapters. Each of these chapters, in turn, are semi-autonomous, which provides these local authorities with near plenary authority to regulate everything that transpires within each jurisdictional municipal chapter. In preparation for my trip to the Navajo reservation, I first met, virtually, with Wally Toledo, a respected elder of the Navajo Nation, whose father had been a member of the famed World War II Navajo Code Talkers. Because of my abiding interest in government, Mr. Toledo had consented to allow me to personally interview him, this coming summer, all for inclusion in the research paper on the unique status of the Navajo system of governance I was preparing to draft this coming summer. Mr. Toledo, having earlier cut short his college career at Dartmouth College in order to return to the Navajo reservation, and serve his people, by acting as a representative in the governing body of the Torreon/Star Lake Chapter Section of the Navajo Reservation, eventually becoming the Chapter’s President, where he served as President for the last thirty years. He was the perfect candidate for me to interview as part of my research paper on the Navajo system of governance. Poverty in the Navajo Nation, in general, and in the Torreon/Star Lake Chapter of the Navajo Reservation is both severe and endemic, with poverty rates currently exceeding 71.6% of the families residing in Torreon, New Mexico. Of course, the Covid pandemic only made matters worse for such families already struggling with the ravages of poverty prior to the epidemic. Shortly after meeting Mr. Toledo, he introduced me to two individuals who work tirelessly within their Torreon, New Mexico community to help ease the ravages of such endemic poverty: Haven and Shanell Gordo, President and Vice-President, respectively, of the Torreon After-School Learning Program, a community organization dedicated to enriching the lives of all Navajo families, residing in Torreon, New Mexico, especially the children, through various year-round educational and social programs. This coming summer, the Gordos wishing to bring a ray of hope into the lives of the children, and the families, residing in Torreon, New Mexico, are planning a number of fun summer activities, including: four weekend camping trips, in the mountains surrounding Torreon, New Mexico, scheduled for the third and fifth weekends of July, and the second and fourth weekends of August, a large, all day summer festival, open to all the residents of Torreon, New Mexico, scheduled for Sunday, August 20, 2024, as well as six fishing trips, three movie nights, and five star gazing nights, conducted intermittently, throughout the summer during certain, specified week days, in the months of July and August. Sadly, after relocating from New York City to Milan, in December, 2024, I discovered that I could no longer attend this extraordinary two week summer program in New Mexico. Still, I fully intend to interview Mr. Toledo, now, virtually, in furtherance of continuing my research on this unique hybrid form of governance, generating a research paper in the process. As for assisting the Gordos with their worthwhile summer project, I decided to set up this LFEBridge account because I realize that all of the extraordinary summer activities the Gordos are planning for this coming summer will be expensive. This is why I am now asking you to please make a generous donation to help me help Haven and Shanell Gordo help the children of Torreon, New Mexico, along with their families, have a great summer, and, hopefully, this can help dull the effects of the otherwise difficult lives led by the children, and the families, residing in Torreon, New Mexico. Thank you for your time and for supporting the community Andrea D’Attis
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