Staff Spotlight: JS Torres

For this month’s Sonoran Center Staff Spotlight, we are meeting with JS Torres. Torres is a Student Project Aide for the Sonoran Center’s Native Initiatives. We discuss their work with the Circle of Indigenous Empowerment, what Native American Heritage month means for them, how to bring communities together, upcoming projects, and more!
 

Introduce yourself and talk about the work you do

My name is JS Torres. My pronouns are they/them. I work as the Native Initiatives student aide. What that means is that I basically do pdfs so they’re accessible, make sure it has alt text, make sure everything is in order. I also assisted Joshua (Drywater) when he was still here with a project we were doing with Tohono O’Odham. How he explained it is that each of the nations we worked with has its own unique needs and we go and try to help with their needs. What Tohono O’odham wanted was for more people to go to higher education. What I was helping him with was to basically create a list of what they already have that could help them and also what they could do to improve it.

My partner is Tohono O’odham and I am up on that rez a lot, so it’s easier for me to have a picture of what’s needed. They need more bus stops. They need more public access. Tohono O'odham Community College (TOCC) is free for anyone who is registered, so that doesn’t exclude people from other tribes as long as they are registered with the tribes, but it’s kind of hard to go to school if there’s no way to get to school, you know? What I was trying to do is help find ways to encourage people to go to higher education, specifically TOCC because that’s the closest one. So that’s what I was doing for a while. Right now I’m also creating the newsletter. Every quarter we produce a newsletter for the Circle of Indigenous Empowerment, the CIE. So that’s what I’ve been honing in and working on. With that I’ve been going to webinars for Native American Heritage Month. I’m having an interview with the people putting on the webinars. The webinars are about water, about land rights, and what it means to be proud to be Indigenous. I also help with the technical side of our Youth to Youth webinars, which is an empowerment for students with disabilities to be proud of who they are and how they can get jobs after they graduate. Youth to Youth is a transitional program which tries to transition from high school up until after they graduate. Because in high school you seem to have all the support but once you are launched into the real world all your support is gone. So what we try to do is help to provide them with outside of school resources to help them transition easier. That’s also something we’re doing with Tohono O’odham as well. 

What are some things that come to mind thinking about other things the Sonoran Center can do to support Native communities?

In the past, I worked with the Pima County Health Department's REACH program which is the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health which works with the Indigenous and Hispanic population of Pima County, and my whole career has been centered around Indigenous people. I spoke to a bunch of different tribal leaders. What they want is ways for people to come together besides football and basketball. So if we could do more events that pique interest, that would be very great. I also work for the Indigenous Alliance Without Borders - we do a couple events a year to help people come together. We do Indigenous Peoples Day; we’re doing a winter market that’s coming up in December. It helps bring the community, even the urban natives, together. So, whatever we do I think it would be very beneficial to provide some sort of gathering for people to come out besides football and basketball. 

November is Native American Heritage month. What does that mean for you?

For me? I guess it’s to embrace your Indigenousness. I know a lot of people who are Indigenous don’t really like 'thanksgiving'. If you look out there, there’s a bunch of community healing events for 'truthsgiving', as they’re calling it. There’s ceremonies, gatherings, all about sharing what really happened on 'thanksgiving' and what really happened when the colonizers came to the US. I guess it’s really just giving out information and teaching people. I’m not saying it’s our job to teach everyone about what happened, but there’s a lot of things that people and urban Natives don’t know as well. Reconnecting Natives and stuff. I think it is very beneficial for Indigenous people who are comfortable sharing to share. For example, I just made an Instagram post about this: during NA heritage month, it’s very popular to “rock your Mocs” (moccasins). But not all Indigenous tribes have moccasins. The Tohono O’odham, Pima, and Pasqua Yaqui don’t have Moccasins, they have sandals because we live in warmer climates. The Navajo and Apache have moccasins, because they live where it snows. I’m Tlingit and Lakota Sioux, so I can’t relate to that, but it’s also something I’ve learned. So you share the knowledge. I think it’s good to share the knowledge and to allow people to come into your space and learn. 

What is your favorite part of working at the Center?

I do like that it is within the University. I was very excited to find this position, because I came from another Native center, and I was concerned about finding a flexible job where I could work and go to school at the same time, that also deals with Indigenous people and helping out. I think that's my biggest thing - I like going out into communities and helping people. By doing this, it may not be as big as something somewhere else, but by putting together the newsletter, by moderating a webinar, it’s giving information to people directly. I appreciate that this is an option for me: to go to school and have flexible work hours as well.

What is something you’ve learned from your experience here, if anything?

So, something I learned - I didn’t know how to do the accessible pdfs at all. That was brand new to me. I didn’t know how screen readers work. I do appreciate that I now have that knowledge going forward so whatever I do I can help implement it to be more accessible. 

Any info about Native Initiatives coming up in the future?

We have one more Youth to Youth webinar on December 13. Also, I helped create a pamphlet for TBI within Indigenous populations. That’s going to come out in January along with the new website they’re making. 

Do you have any advice for someone who may be interested in doing the kind of work you’ve been doing?

I’d say come in with an open heart and open mind. Different communities are so different, and you have to be open minded and listen to people and be open to hearing others’ experiences. Especially when it comes to working with other Indigenous communities. Keep an open mind and listen to people. 

Anything else I haven’t mentioned that you want to talk about?

Indigenous rights and Indigenous people are important throughout the entire year - not just during this month or on Indigenous peoples’ day. We are here, we are alive, and we will continue to thrive.