Areaya Fernandez
Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians
Liyah Martinez
San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians
Faith Pojas
La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians
Jayla Pete
Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria
AIR Summer '19
About AIR Programs
Our mission is to promote higher education among the Native youth community.
Created in 1993, the AIR Program has continuously served our San Diego American Indian community and Native youth through our after-school mentoring programs. In 2002, the AIR program was incorporated as a non-profit organization in response to low educational attainment among our Native youth. We have developed our mission as "the promotion and success of American Indians within education."
The AIR program uses a “Teaching through Culture” model where Native youth learn about their culture and issues affecting their tribal communities. They contemplate the root causes and deliberate possible solutions with the help of college mentors (native and non-native) on many of these issues.