Meet Vincent Maldonado of Native Music Coalition

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vincent Maldonado.

Hi Vincent, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2016, I and a group of friends wanted to start having classes that would teach and empower youth in our Native American communities and provide an alternative to the challenges many reservations have with alcoholism, drugs, and violence.

So we started to have music workshops and cultural activities like drum making and Native American beading. As we started these workshops we started to see the people attending were getting the support they needed culturally to begin to start the process of healing and or overcoming challenges. We recognized that there are not many positive role models in our communities that are doing this work. That is when we decided to transition to a behavioral health agency.

As we did that our number of members grew rapidly. We initially started with our kids’ program, serving youth from ages 4-18. Since then we have opened a wellness center where we have the honor of helping adults, families, youth, and foster parents of Native American children grow, learn, heal, and participate in group, and individual therapy all with recognizing spiritual identity as the beginning to start the healing process. Since then we have opened 3 homes.

The homes are available for those who have achieved sobriety and are looking to maintain abstinence from alcohol and or drugs. We have free housing for men and women and children. Our vision is to help families heal together and not be forced to compromise while one goes to work on their new way of life.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The work we do has been challenging. Being a registered behavioral health provider has many challenges with licensing and credentialing.

We did it all on our own with minimal to no guidance. Our mission to serve Native youth and families across Southern Arizona is something bigger than us. We did not give up and persevered.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Native Music Coalition?
NMC is a nonprofit that addresses the need for meaningful services for Native Americans by Native Americans. In Astro the behavioral health services, we help support local Native-owned businesses by providing them with coaching on start-up and branding tips.

We also provide educational support to students around the Tucson area. We have served a total of 700 youth this year so far! We are truly humbled and proud to give back.

What makes you happy?
Things that me happy, are seeing people smile. Smiling is a reaction to something that resonates in a good way.

When I see a mom or child smile, it brings joy to my heart. I know for that moment with us they are safe, happy, and healing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nativemusiccoalition.org
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/native_music_coalition?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nativemusiccoalition/
• Other: https://beacons.ai/nmc_tucson?fbclid=PAAabL-voxkNTbjBpiK9ES5YnL4RdxD_Wi_BkdZygwUKbcgIjQbQhYmRXCu9s