Navajo Nation dedicates Chinle tent for family healing and youth learning

A new tent at the ABNDN Spiritual Site in Chinle gives Navajo families a place for youth teaching, cultural learning and healing. The Navajo Nation Division for Children and Family Services dedicated the structure on June 20 during the 60th annual convention of the Azee’ Bee Nahaghá of Diné Nation, with NDCFS Director Thomas Cody, Executive Assistant Amber Morgan, President Buu Nygren and First Lady Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren attending.

The convention ran June 18 through June 20 and carried the theme “Azee’ Hinaah Dinisingo Bik’ehgo Naasha.” The tent is a gathering space where learning and healing can take place, built to support families who already come together for spiritual and community purposes in Chinle.

On June 18, NDCFS supported a Youth Sheep Butchering Demonstration, where staff helped young people learn how sheep are butchered, prepared and cooked. Staff also explained the animal’s role in Diné life, the wool economy and family self-sufficiency.

On June 19, NDCFS staff provided information on services for attendees. The Family Violence and Prevention Services Act grant under the Navajo Nation’s P.L. 102-477 Plan funds public awareness, prevention of domestic and dating violence, and specialized services for abused parents and children.

The Preserving Navajo Families Initiative was created in fall 2023 to strengthen families by partnering with faith-based organizations and practitioners, while responding to violence, suicide, substance abuse and missing and murdered Diné relatives.

In 2025, President Nygren called the 59th convention a place where elders served as “cultural bearers” of peyote medicine. In 2022, ABNDN said peyote is sacred and has been consumed for religious, cultural and ceremonial purposes since time immemorial.