Diné Skate Garden Project keeps rolling with $500K Trails+ grant

Amy Denet Deal didn’t expect to take up skateboarding at age 60, but she says that’s just one of many positive outcomes of the Diné Skate Garden Project, the nonprofit she founded in 2022 to give Navajo youth the boards, ramps, rails and knowhow to learn to skate — all without needing to leave tribal land.

The organization recently received a $500,000 Trails+ Grant from the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division to improve Two Grey Hills Skatepark, which the nonprofit built three years ago on Navajo Nation at the base of the Chuska Mountains. The funding will add a slew of new upgrades, including solar-powered lighting, drinking water access, shade structures, bathrooms, benches and trash cans.

“We had Tony Hawk and his friends come skate it that next spring, which was crazy,” said Deal, a Diné fashion designer who also owns 4Kinship, an upcycled artwear brand based in Santa Fe, and Indigenous Futures 4Ever, which she founded earlier this year to support emerging Native artists. “It’s been a really fun ride.”

Two Grey Hills Skatepark’s christening by the Birdman himself was coupled with an Outdoor Recreation Division Outdoor Equity Grant, which funds skate classes for Navajo kids looking for ways to improve their physical and mental wellbeing in their ancestral homelands. Skate classes are held weekly, Deal said.

“We love the Outdoor Recreation Division,” she told the Journal. “They’ve been a pillar of our work out there and really understand how to support an Indigenous-led nonprofit. It’s a special thing to get this kind of support from the state of New Mexico.”

Division Director Karina Armijo said the latest round of funding is all about rounding out the park with the infrastructure to make it safer and more comfortable to use.

“It’s great because this is one of those programs that we fund, where it’s not just one-and-done,” Armijo told the Journal. “Instead, we’re looking at it like, ‘OK, we did this part. What’s next?’ This seemed like the perfect second part to this growing community that’s supporting their kids being outside.”

Earlier this summer, the Outdoor Recreation Division also awarded a $500,000 Trails+ Grant to Picuris Pueblo to construct a new bike park, which opened on July 19, offering Picuris youth a similar athletic outlet in the extreme sports arena.

Armijo explained that the Diné Skate Garden Project has a total of 24 months to utilize the funding for the planned improvements to the skatepark, which Deal said has also become a site for free skateboard and clothing distribution since it opened.

“To date, we’ve done around 5,000-plus skateboards and helmets to kids on Navajo land, and our skate mentorship programs have been in place for two years,” she said.

Deal said the nonprofit hands out skateboard “completes” — trucks, wheels, bearings and all — so kids can get rolling right away.

The next distribution, set for Sept. 3, will be the nonprofit’s largest ever, with 2,000 skateboards and more than 70,000 pairs of “Star Wars” and Disney-themed shoes for kids as they get into the swing of the new school year. A separate nonprofit, Baby2Baby, will also be providing 10 pallets of diapers and other family goods, Deal added.

“We’ve been doing a lot of work to get these partners aligned,” she said.