Rehabilitation of Owe’neh Bupingeh (o-WEH-neh Boo-peen-gay): Rejuvenation of the Historic Pueblo.

“The thought, the idea and the vision have become a reality. The dream of the historic Pueblo is breaking ground July 10. 2010.”

The historic Pueblo is of vital importance to the preservation of the Ohkay Owingeh cultural heritage, as it is the location of most ceremonial activities and through the Owe’neh Bupingeh Rehabilitation Program, will again be a thriving residential area. Ohkay Owingeh is proud of the Pueblo’s history and heritage, and is committed to revitalizing its spiritual center through knowledge, conservation, rehabilitation and, as appropriate, new construction. The ultimate goal of this ten-year project is to revitalize the entire historic core of Ohkay Owingeh.

As early as 2003, the development of the Master Plan helped the Tribe and OOHA to realize the urgent need for rehabilitation of the historic core. The key was to attempt to marry preservation funding with housing funding. The project to rehabilitate the Pueblo core began very modestly, with a Preservation and Education Project, partially funded by the NM Historic Preservation Office, and completed over the summers of 2006 and 2007. This phase brought together six high school students from the pueblo who were mentored by Atkin Olshin Schade Architects, in the basics of architecture and historic preservation and taught the students a basic architectural surveying, GIS mapping, and the data entry skills in order to establish baseline mapping for the historic Pueblo. The work of these students has continued over the last 4 years, and many of them are now successfully pursuing or completing their college degrees.

The next phase was to complete an Historic Resource Inventory, to continue the students’ documentation effort through five basic tasks: 1) an inventory of 94 properties within the central core; 2) analysis of building typology, character-defining features, chronology, and physical condition; 3) mapping of the analysis; and 4) a final report that summarizes the project and outline the continuation of the rehabilitation project. A key aspect of the Resource Inventory was oral histories with tribal elders. Local anthropologists trained two tribal members who speak Tewa and English to conduct interviews with 17 elders. The main focus of the interviews was their experiences living and growing up in the historic area of the Pueblo. Finally, Atkin Olshin Schade Architects began the Owe-neh Preservation Plan, which has just been completed. The Plan includes a long-term preservation treatment recommendation for the Pueblo, comprehensive exterior and interior condition assessments, infrastructural studies, archival research, oral histories and GIS mapping. This is the road map that OOHA will use to implement rehabilitation in the historic core, while also meeting their Section 106 responsibilities required by federal funding, because the Pueblo is on the Federal Register of Historic Properties.

To date, the project has now received a total of $4,873,361 for all the planning efforts, design and construction. OOHA is planning to begin construction in July 2010 on the first phase of the implementation, which includes twenty-two homes. OOHA has worked closely with an Advisory Committee and Cultural Advisory Team to identify priorities for the rehabilitation, ownership of the homes, and minimum threshold requirements by funding sources. Over 28 families have qualified to receive assistance for their unit in the Pueblo, and the waiting list will help the OOHA to develop opportunities for additional funding.

Currently, the variety of leveraged funding sources consist of NM Historic Preservation Division, NPS Tribal Preservation Program, McCune Foundation, Chamiza Foundation, IHS, 08 RHED, 08 ICDBG, 08 HOME, 09 ARRA IHBG, 09 ICDBG, 04, 05, 07, 08, 09, and 10 IHBG. An additional $6,000,0000 is needed to complete the project. We anticipate completing the project within the next five years.

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A. Steps to determine if you are ready to rehabilitate your Pueblo

• Do you have the capacity to do the project?
• Is there a need to do the project?
• Does the Board and Tribal Council support the project?
• Does the community support the project?
• Do you want to create a team to assist?
• Can you attain funding sources to start the project?
• Does the project need to be done in phases?
• Is there any documentation on the Pueblo core area?
• Do you want to have students involved?
• Do you want to have elders involved?
• Do the families that own units in the Pueblo have ownership documentation?
• Do processes for ownership documentation need to be established?
• Is there any rehab policies for the Pueblo core area?
• Do you want to create an advisory group to assist with the cultural issues?
• Do you want to create an advisory cultural team to assist with the archeological treatment process for any findings?

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B. Project Scope for Phase I & II

• Create experience team to assist with the project
• Start analyzing and applying for funding sources Identify base map
• Perform preliminary historic cultural properties inventory (HCPI)
• Perform Informant Interviews (oral histories if desired)
• Mapping and Analysis

C. Project Scope for Phase IIIa

• Community Forum
• Preservation Education Project (if desired)
• Archival Research
• Keep applying for funding sources

D. Project Scope for Phase IIIb

• Preservation Plan
• Continued historical research and GIS mapping
• Detailed conditions assessments
• Infrastructure Assessment (domestic water, sewer, gas electrical, telephone, etc.)
• Implementation plan
• Keep applying for funding sources

E. Project Scope for Phase IV

• Implementation
• Document ownership of units
• Create selection criteria used to qualify families
• Complete design and documents
• Put project out to bid
• Award project
• Keep applying for funding sources

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F. Cultural & Community Involvement

• Create Advisory Group
  • Tribal Council members
  • Families who own units in the Pueblo
  • Clan members
• Create Cultural Team
  • Clan members
  • Spiritual Leaders
• Implement Oral Histories Project (if desired)
  • Hire professional historians, oral history trainers
  • Hire Interviewers and train
  • Hire tribal elders to interview

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G. Educational Component

• Identify curriculum for students
• Identify funding source to support project
• Solicit tribal students to participate
• Implement project

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Project Team

• Ohkay Owingeh Housing Authority
• Ohkay Owingeh Advisory Group
• Ohkay Owingeh Cultural Team
• Atkin Olshin Schade Architects
• Concept Consulting Group, LLC
• Magika
• Pueblo Students – Wanda Abeyta, Juanito Aquino, Victoria Aquino, Jonathan Cata, LeaRey Martinez, Lute Muntz, Lewis Romero.
• Sue-Ellen Jacobs, PhD
• Tessie Naranjo, PhD
• Interviewers – Pauline Aguino, Josephine Binford
• Tribal Elders (interviewed in oral histories) – Herman Agoyo, Teresita Atencio, Bertha Burck Simon Cata, Ramona Cruz, Tonita Cruz, Reycita Garcia, Florence Lujan, Tonita Lujan, Libby Marquez, Juanita Martinez, Gabrielita Nave

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