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The Na’Nizhoozhi Center Inc., or NCI, the Gallup area’s primary resource for treating street drunks and other addicts, may have to shut its doors next February because of funding problems, the Navajo Times reported.
Over the past couple of years, the NCI has had funding reduced by various agencies to the point where the Gallup detox program can’t survive any further cuts, NCI officials told the Times.
NCI Director Jay Azua said that at one time the Navajo Nation provided the program with $2 million a year but now provides no support, the Times said.
And the city of Gallup, which has provided money to NCI through a distribution of liquor excise taxes, has said it is planning to make further funding cuts, the paper reported.
The program serves an average of 80 clients a day or 29,200 clients a year and employs a total of 66 full-time workers, the Times said.
NCI figures show that the program’s budget has been cut every year from 2009, when operating costs were $1.7 million, until 2012, when the program’s annual budget was $1.4 million.
“The closing of NCI will have a major impact on the social fibers of this community and region,” said a statement put out by the NCI board of directors. “The costs to the community taxpayer will be far greater than the costs of continued NCI services,” if the program is forced to close, directors said.
