Diana Yazzie Devine | |
|---|---|
 Diana Yazzie Devine speaking with attendees at the grand opening of Homebase hosted by Native American Connections in Surprise, Arizona. | |
| Born | |
| Education | University of Wisconsin |
| Years active | 1975-2023 |
| Employer | Native American Connections |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent |
|
Diana "Dede" Yazzie Devine is an Arizona-based nonprofit professional. She led the nonprofit Native American Connections for over forty years.
Devine was born in Lansing, Michigan. As a child, she moved frequently due to her father, Dan Devine's, career as a football coach. [1] [2] She was the middle of seven children. [1]
Devine attended the University of Wisconsin, where she interned on the Ojibwe reservation. She lived and worked there for five years, during which time the Indian-Self Determination Act was enacted. Witnessing the changes that the act gave Devine an understanding of tribal sovereignty and government. [1]
As a part of her work, Devine traveled multiple times to Arizona. In 1979, Devine was introduced to a new residential treatment facility, Indian Rehabilitation. She agreed to help it until a leader could be hired. [3] Under Devine's leadership, Indian Rehabilitation transformed into the nonprofit Native American Connections. [1] As the organization's president and CEO, she greatly grew the organization to support Phoenix's homeless population. [1] [4] She was also active in the founding of the Native American Community Service Center and other services like housing programs. One of the housing communities is named after Devine. [1]
Under Devine's leadership, Native American Connections developed 1,000 affordable Phoenix residences and opened twenty-three Valley projects to provide aid and social services. Greg Stanton noted that "No one has changed as many minds about affordable housing ... in Arizona." [5]
Devine was also influential in transforming the Phoenix Indian School Visitor Center. This former American Indian boarding school became a place for Native Americans from many tribes to come together. [5]
To support her work, Devine earned her MBA from Arizona State University in 1999. [1] [6] She attended the school while running the Native American Connections. [6]
Devine retired in 2023. [7]
Devine raised three children as a single mother. [1]
Phoenix is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States and the most populous state capital in the country.
Supai is a census-designated place (CDP) in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, within the Grand Canyon.
Tempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2020 population of 180,587. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale and the Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community on the north, Chandler on the south, and Mesa on the east. Tempe is also the location of the main campus of Arizona State University.
Anthem is a planned community partially located within Phoenix and partially located within New River, a census-designated place. The community is entirely located in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, within the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the Anthem was 23,190.
Melanie A. Yazzie is a Navajo sculptor, painter, printmaker, and professor. She teaches at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Arizona is a landlocked state in the Southwestern region of the United States. Arizona is part of the Four Corners region with Utah to the north, Colorado to the northeast, and New Mexico to the east; its other neighboring states are Nevada to the northwest, California to the west and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California to the south and southwest. It is the 6th-largest and the 14th-most-populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix.
Martha Hopkins Struever (1931–2017) was an American Indian art dealer, author, and leading scholar on historic and contemporary Pueblo Indian pottery and Pueblo and Navajo Indian jewelry. In June 2015, a new gallery in the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, was named for her. The first permanent museum gallery devoted to Native American jewelry, the Martha Hopkins Struever Gallery, is part of the Center for the Study of Southwestern Jewelry.
Gail Bird and Yazzie Johnson are Southwest American Indian artists known for their innovative jewelry which uses varied stones and blends both contemporary and prehistoric design motifs.
Patricia A. Locke was a Native American educator, activist, and prominent member of the Baháʼí Faith. She worked closely with indigenous activists in supporting the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. After joining the Baháʼí Faith in 1988, she was elected as the first Native American woman to serve on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States.
Shmuly Yanklowitz is an Orthodox rabbi. In March 2012 and March 2013, Newsweek listed Yanklowitz as one of the 50 most influential rabbis in America.
The Arizona Women's Hall of Fame recognizes women natives or residents of the U.S. state of Arizona for their significant achievements or statewide contributions. In 1979, the office of Governor Bruce Babbitt worked with the Arizona Women's Commission to create the Hall of Fame. The first inductees were in October 1981. During its first decade, the Hall of Fame was overseen by the Arizona Historical Society and the Arizona Department of Library, Archives and Public Records. A steering committee would each year select a varying number of women to be inducted. The 1991 inclusion of Planned Parenthood creator Margaret Sanger resulted in disapproval being heard from some in the Arizona Legislature, and funding dried up. With the lone exception of María Urquides in 1994, there were no Hall of Fame inductees for over a decade. Inductions finally resumed in 2002, when the Hall of Fame has only inducted new honorees every two years. The award returned to being annual in 2018.
Ryneldi Becenti is a retired American professional basketball player. She became the first Native American to play in the WNBA when she played for the Phoenix Mercury in 1997.
Jolene Nenibah Yazzie is an American graphic designer, specializing in comic art. Her artwork predominantly features women as Native American warriors, and she utilizes bright colors and contrast in her works.
Sybil Lansing Yazzie Baldwin was a Diné (Navajo) painter active in the 1930s.
Cierra Fields is an anti-rape activist, Native American community health activist, and member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Fields worked as a freelance journalist for Indian Country Today Media Network.
Amy Bockerstette is an American competitive amateur golfer and disabilities advocate with Down syndrome. She is the first person with Down syndrome to both receive an athletic scholarship to attend college and also to compete in a national collegiate championship.
Steven Yazzie is a Native American artist, who is enrolled in the Navajo Nation and of Laguna Pueblo descent of his father's side. He creates video art and installation environments but described painting as his first and most important medium.
Kaibeto Boarding School, formerly Kaibeto Day School, is a public K-8 boarding school in Kaibito, Arizona, operated by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). The school has a capacity of 640 students and has 22 classrooms, four dormitories, and one cafeteria.
Ella Jean Hill Chaudhuri was an American community leader, activist, and author. She was a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, executive director of the Tucson Indian Center, and director of the Traditional Indian Alliance. She was inducted into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame posthumously, in 2013.
Mary Magdalene Black was an American advocate for underserved families and nonprofit pioneer. She founded and led the Black Family and Child Services of Arizona.