History and Tribal Endeavors
The Jamul Indian Village is part of the Kumeyaay Nation, which has held historic boundaries in what is now southern San Diego County and Northern Baja California. Our Tribe’s boundaries were slowly diminished after colonization of the Americas to a remaining approximately 6 acres in Jamul, which is a community in the San Diego County unincorporated area. Jamul, which means sweet water in Kumeyaay, is an incredible community. Our Tribe was able to build a casino to bring economic prosperity to our members, and is under construction of a boutique hotel to serve our customers. The hotel is planned to be open in 2025 and will have 200 rooms and include a spa, restaurant, event space and rooftop pool. The hotel will provide an opportunity for our customers to stay over and experience multiple days of gaming, as well as enjoy the other amenities offered.
Latest Efforts
The Tribe has used the proceeds for our casino to invest not only back into our community, including the funding of a fire engine and numerous road improvements, we have also acquired land in the area to help bring our people back home. As noted, our Tribe presently has one of the smallest reservations in the country, at just over 6 acres. We have acquired 4 other parcels, the largest of which will allow for both residential and commercial construction. Our priority is to provide services to our people and the community, as well as future home sites for our members. We are excited to bring our people home so we can live as a community and practice our culture and traditions.
Gaming Niche
The Jamul Casino is the closest casino to downtown San Diego, a short 20 minute drive. Given its location, our 1,600 games and the fact that it’s the newest casino with all of the premium restaurants and amenities you’d expect, it’s quickly become one of the best in Southern California and the most popular in San Diego. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved since we opened in 2016.
Benefit to San Diego
The Tribe believes strongly in its position in the community, and routinely invests back into local efforts, be it youth sports, civic organizations and charities. From health care, to diversity, from civic to homeless services, the culture of the Kumeyaay and our Tribe is to give back. Despite our Tribe’s long and difficult history we have been blessed with this opportunity to not just uplift the lives of our members, but also help others.
Other Opportunities
With the properties we’ve acquired, which will expand our reservation by approximately 170 acres, one of the goals for our Tribe is to create a permanent office for our government, rehabilitate an old home to be used as a cultural and community center, and develop other commercial activities that will create economic benefit to further help our people and support the community. The commercial activity could include a health clinic, which is really important to the Tribal community. One of the key threats to Indian Nation is lack of culturally appropriate health care. From doctors and practitioners who understand Tribal needs, to facilities that are located in areas with Indians live, one of the goals of our Tribe is working to help expand health care facilities to meet our people’s needs.
My History
As the daughter of leaders who fought to bring a vision of change and prosperity to the Jamul Indian Village, I learned from a very young age the importance of working hard to achieve your vision. I had some detours and personal issues that I dealt with, and one of the key recovery points was immersing myself in helping my people, my family. At age 21 I became a Tribal Council member, and a few short years later was elected as the woman Chair of the Jamul Indian Village. But as our name indicates, it takes a village, and I’ve been blessed with strong leaders on my council all of whom have a shared vision for a strong and prosperous future for our Tribe. In addition to our initiatives with the casino, hotel and property acquisition, we’re also cultivating the future. We have a program called “Acorns to Oaks” which helps our young ones to become our next Tribal leaders. Through the program we educate on our history and culture, how to avoid pitfalls, as well as serving as a volunteer group to support local charities.
Working with Other Tribes
Similar to our theme of working together as a Tribe, we also work to support our other Tribal Nations both in the region as well as across the country. It’s critical we support each other. Many of our issues can be the same, but even if they are not, we can act as mutual aid in so many ways. For me, I’ve been able to serve in numerous positions, from local as Chair of the Southern Indian Health Council, to statewide as Chair of the California Tribal Chairs Association, to nationally as a member of both the Health and Human Services and Interior’s Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committees. All of these positions help advance causes that are important to my Tribe, as well as our Tribal Nations nationally.
Conclusions
A great amount of determination and perseverance has been a hallmark of our Tribal Nations, including the Jamul Indian Village. That has brought us economic benefit and the ability to give back. For me, as Chair, it allows me to give back with my time to initiatives both locally and elsewhere.
