Through our association with the military reservists and the Pentagon, we have been able to be the conduit for having 62 miles of roads built in inaccessible areas of the Navajo reservation where school buses and ambulances fear to tread. Recently, the military built an $800,000 parking lot for Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital and the Native American Hospital in Gallup, both of which serve a predominantly Native American population.

ANA along with the Southwest Indian Foundation (SWIF) and the Navajo Nation’s Housing Authority, were instrumental in achieving what was believed to be virtually impossible, to have the Navajo Nation agree in advance to sponsor building materials and building lots. SWIF, a sister agency to ANA, is to coordinate the effort and also supply a warehouse rented for $1 a year from the Navajo Nation to build housing year round, as well as a vehicle designed and built by SWIF to move the housing to the reservation sites.   The goal is to establish a housing program in Gallup where Navajos will be taught building trades by the military reservists. This project could ultimately build 50 houses a year at an amazing cost of $20,000 per house.

It became apparent for the first time that all the component parts of this innovative housing project were coming together on the reservation. At the October 4, 2000 meeting, Major General James E. Andrews stated this was in the top three of some two hundred programs reviewed. The military will provide expertise in construction and ANA is the conduit to bring the entire program to fruition.  Nine homes built by the Air Force reservists and the Air Force Academy were dedicated on Saturday, October 14, 2000.