Clubs' woes extend to Gallup

Bill Hoedebeck, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Gallup, speaks during an interview Monday at the Northside Recreation Center in Gallup. During the interview Hoedebeck said "when you start playing politics with kids, the kids lose." (Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent)

By Pamela G. Dempsey
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — While the Boys and Girls Club of Navajo Inc. continues to fight permanent closure, its problems have extended beyond the borders of the Navajo Nation.

The executive director of The Boys and Girls Club of Gallup said they're "hurting financially".

"Our funding has slowed down since the Navajo Nation's problems," said Bill Hoedebeck, executive director for the Gallup club.

The Boys and Girls Club of Navajo Inc. and the tribal office that filters down its federal grants, the Navajo Nation's Diné Expansion Office, have been struggling over money for the past 18 months. The funding tug-of-war resulted in the club's closures and the Expansion Office's own efforts to seek a charter from the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. The non-profit's 14 clubs serve 6,000 children across the Navajo Nation.

Local supporters have hesitated to donate to the Gallup club, which operates independently of the Navajo Nation, Hoedebeck said.

The Gallup club is one of 16 to receive funding from the Navajo Nation's Diné Expansion Office for a new program which mentors children of inmates; however, because the Boys and Girls Club of Gallup has its own charter and operates alone, the association ends there.

Under a grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Navajo Nation was able to fund clubs that cater to Native American populations throughout the country. Native American members of the Boys and Girls Club of Gallup make up nearly 80 percent of the 1,400 children the club serves.

However, Hoedebeck said, his club may pull out of the mentoring program for inmates' children because the club has yet to be reimbursed for the money the club has spent.

Under an agreement with the Navajo Nation, a club first expends the funds and then submits receipts for reimbursement.

The Boys and Girls Club of Gallup, while allotted $20,000 for the mentoring program throughout the year, spent $1,000 so far but has not received it back. Hoedebeck said if the club does not receive the reimbursement by March 1, then he will pull out of the mentoring program, which serves three children locally and has referrals for more.

Local supporters, Hoedebeck said, "don't want to see their money swished away."

"This stuff is killing us financially," he said of the Navajo Nation's situation with its own clubs. "It's frustrating."

— To contact reporter Pam Dempsey, call (505) 879-1707 or email pamelagdempsey@msn.com