Navigate:

Mission
Program Design

Statement of Need   

History    

Funding Sources   

Wish List   Community_Partners


We recently released our Annual Newsletter! If you didn't receive one and would like one, call us, or come by DreamTree and pick one up.

The DreamTree Project

128 La Posta Road Taos, New Mexico

Phone: 575.758.9595

Fax: 575.758.2045



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Top

 



"No Food, no money, my people's really hungry
For the honeys 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."

Excerpt from "Straight from the Street" by Ali MuHummud

 

 


Ali Muhammad is just on

                                      e of the talented youth of Taos
Statement of Need

Currently Taos County has the only youth shelter facility, transitional living program, and 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.

    

About Taos County:

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.

Above:

DreamTree's Main House:

The Emergency Youth Shelter

 

Taos County:

Economic Statistics

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.
 


Taos County's

Ethnic Diversity:


~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.

 

  
 
The DreamTree Project is committed to providing young people with safe, positive alternatives, helping them re-envision their lives and their futures.
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.

If you or your organization/business can help, please contact us today!