Donate to Dreamtree

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Top

 



No Food, no money, my people's really hungry
For the honey's looking for the monies they due
but the street life is all I know,
feel me, yo, feel my flow,
straight from the street, feel the beat
as you read from your seat
I'm not rich as you can see,
I'm right from the gutter
I need some food,
like bread, water and butter
You don't wanna be me
my lifestyle's crazy and wild
You need a hand, your taste buds are bland
So if you wanna come up in the game,
don't strive for fame
who's to blame for bringing shame
to your name?

You

 

 


Ali Muhammad is just one of the talented youth of Taos.
Statement of Need
Currently Taos County has no youth shelter facility, no transitional living program, and no consistent crisis placements for transient youth, runaways, and other young people in crisis. Child abuse prevention services in the form of supportive interventions for young people and their families are desperately needed here, where poverty, unemployment, and geographical isolation place tremendous stress on families.

Taos County, located in the mountainous northern part of the state, is New Mexico's third largest and third poorest county. Taos County has a semi-rural population of 25,000, about 1/2 of whom live in and around the Town of Taos. The rest live at one of the two Native American communities within the county, Picuris and Taos Pueblo, or are scattered across sparsely populated areas or in small mountain villages an hour or more from town.

Back of DreamTree Main House

Due to its status as a resort, the cost of living in Taos is the highest in the state--even higher than Santa Fe--exacerbating the county's poverty.

The tourist economy provides mainly low-wage, seasonal employment with no benefits. The adult unemployment rate in the county averages about 15%, higher seasonally and in outlying areas; the youth unemployment rate is 33.9%.

Family stress is shown by the following statistics :

  • One third of babies in Taos County are born to single mothers, and 20-25% are born to teen-aged mothers.
  • During a recent twelve-month period, 711 juveniles were referred to the Juvenile Justice system in Taos.
  • Child Protective Services investigated 316 allegations of child abuse or neglect.
  • Taos' teen violent death rate, at 109.2 per 1000 is among the highest in the state.
 


The county is ethnically diverse:
~65% Hispanic
~25% Anglo
~9% Native American
~1% Other Ethnicities.

As of 1998, New Mexico ranked as the poorest state in the nation. Over one fourth of Taos County residents live in poverty;

40.5% of the children under the age of five are impoverished;

73% of female heads of households with children under age 5 in Taos County live in poverty.

Under three-fourths of adults age 25 and older are High School graduates, and our dropout rate is climbing.

 

  
Recent Changes in Public assistance and Medicaid have placed further strain on young people in the most need and on the agencies serving them. Whereas previously, Residential Treatment Center placements were stable for a period of up to two years, now these placements are approved for two week intervals, rarely for more than thirty days. Treatment Foster Care for youth at risk children has also been severely restricted. Young people who are forced to leave home (because of parental abuse or their own destructive behavior) have very few options.

In short, young people in Taos need our support.

At this moment, we know of young people who are living under bridges, in vans, in abandoned buildings, and in sexually exploitative and otherwise inappropriate situations.

The DreamTree Project is committed to providing these young people with safe, positive alternatives, helping them re-envision their lives and their futures.
If you or your organization/business can help, please contact us today.