Soccer for healthy children, youth, and communities.

The Native American Soccer Project

Southwest Youth Services

SYS Board of Directors

Ezra Bayles – Ezra is the Health and Community Services Director at Taos Pueblo, where he oversees seven community health-based tribal programs through programming, budget, and supervision duties.  An administrator at Taos Pueblo since 1999, Ezra was director of The New Mexico Pueblo Soccer Project from 1994-1998.  He has also worked as a fly-fishing guide and ski race course supervisor in Taos, New Mexico.

 

Kara Bobroff (Navajo/Lakota) – Kara is the Founding Principal of Albuquerque’s Native American Community Academy (NACA).  In 2006, she was identified as one of the “Best Emerging Social Entrepreneurs” in the United States and was awarded a national Echoing Green Fellowship to establish NACA as one of the first urban American Indian academies to support language, culture, health, and college preparation for youth.  

 

Gidget McCook (Sandia) – Gidget is Field Office Manager at the Albuquerque branch of the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC).  The NIYC is a national organization that champions and advocates for the rights of all Native Americans, including: treaty rights, tribal rights of sovereignty, freedom from exploitation of American Indian resources, and access to guaranteed governmental entitlement to health care, employment training and education.

 

Edward McKenzie, MD (Navajo) – Edward is an emergency room physician at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque and is a recognized local community leader.  He also serves on the Board of Directors at First Nations Community Health Source and at the Native American Community Academy.

 

JoAnn Melchor (Santo Domingo) – JoAnn directs the 21^st Century KEWA Learning Center at the Pueblo of Santo Domingo Day School.  In her many years of experience in the educational and non-profit fields, JoAnn has worked as a regional coordinator with Futures for Children and with the American Indian Graduate Center, an Albuquerque-based non-profit that provides scholarship and mentorship support for American Indian graduate students.

 

Clayton Small, E.D. (Northern Cheyenne) – Clayton is a leadership consultant and community trainer for Native American communities and youth across the country.  A former elementary school principal, Clayton is a longtime proponent of Native leadership and health & wellness programs.  He was a designer of The Native American Sports Council, a non-profit organization created to promote and train Native athletes for international-level competition.  An elite athlete himself, Clayton has competed in numerous U.S. marathons and as a professional basketball player in international competition.

 

Marie Valdez (Isleta) – Marie played Division-I women’s soccer at Texas Tech University from 2000-2004.  She is now a practicing physical therapist in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, where she recently gained certification as a licensed athletic trainer. 

Copyright 2007 Southwest Youth Services, Inc.

 P.O. Box 82624 Albuquerque, NM, USA  87198-2624

    Phone: 505.265.4300 - Fax: 505.792.1659 - Email: info@sysnm.org