Welcome to Native Ways 2 College

NATIVE WAYS 2 COLLEGE (NW2C) is an exciting and ground-breaking new project that is specially designed to support middle school and high school Native American students in Los Angeles County to plan, prepare, and pursue pathways to higher education.

Our goal is to empower the self-determination of Los Angeles County Native American students and their families with access to educational choices and services that will cultivate a living Indigenous education ecosystem within our unique geographical, historical, and cultural context. 

The AIR initiative and the NW2C Project was designed by Anahuacalmecac, an Indigenous community-based charter school in Los Angeles, and has partnered with the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians and the Gabrielino-Shoshone Tribal Council of Southern California, community-based organizations, and other local service providers to offer year-round, high quality culturally relevant educational and mental wellness services in Los Angeles to impact 1000 students across tribal identities, districts, and schools. NW2C’s programming will inspire and cultivate students’ Native identities creating pathways to high school graduation, college enrollment, and retention.

Through the AIR Initiative, Tzicatl and Semillas will work to advance from the community building and network mobilization experiences already established to address what we identify as the “Resurgence Gap”. The Resurgence Gap is the chasm between the life potential of American Indian youth and the reality of their conditions caused by the systemic barriers and historic failures of public education. In order to overcome this gap, not only is systemic change imperative at the institutional level but more importantly, Indigenous youth and families need to be able to re-establish an entire ecosystem rich in community, culture and creativity where they can flourish.