Lucerne Castle youth home is vital to building a stronger Clear Lake community
The Pomo society originally inhabited the area around Clear Lake. We thrived in a grand society filled with families, trade, and earth-conscious living—until Gold Rush miners and land speculators began pushing our ancestors off their land around two centuries ago. Congress refused to sign the treaty with our Pomo ancestors, so our land was stolen by force instead. Our families and society were hunted, fractured, scattered, and enslaved.
California's first Governor demanded the extermination of our people. California's first Legislature paid vigilantes for each Indigenous person they killed. But we persevered and we are still alive today.
The Pomo people still suffer from those historic traumas. Scotts Valley Pomo have struggled for decades to have just a part of our ancestral lands returned to us—Congress and California still deny us that small measure of dignity. Without land to call home, our families are scattered between Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma and Contra Costa counties, and beyond. Many of our people suffer in poverty and homelessness at much higher rates than the rest of the State. COVID, diabetes, and other non-native illnesses take our elders from us and steal our traditions.
Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians is a recognized leader in helping to restore our families and our culture. We take care of Pomo and other Indigenous people throughout the four-county area; the largest service area of any Indian tribe in California. We provide or facilitate welfare services, job training, education, health and mental health services, housing, and cultural revitalization. Our services are often open to more than just the Pomo community, because we believe that our responsibility is to help people. Even those whose ancestors stole from us.
Scotts Valley proposed adding the Lucerne Castle to our system of community supports. Pomo youth, the disadvantaged youth of other Indian tribes, and the youth of our community deserve an opportunity to build a better life. We intend to give them that opportunity through low- or nocost housing, wrap-around social services, employment and education, and social integration. It makes no sense to have a place designed to give youth opportunities located nowhere near employment or community. The youth home project will house up to 60 young people.
Lucerne Castle is situated in a great location for our project. With implementation of the Shoreline Communities Area Plan, there will be ample job opportunities in the service sector that are perfect for entry-level work performed by disadvantaged youth. Healthy entertainment options will be available for community building, and youth will bring a vibrancy to the town center of Lucerne; they will be active and re-invest their income into local businesses.
Scotts Valley Pomo has the knowledge and experience to provide high quality housing and services, and we have connections in State and federal government to bring money from outside of Lake County directly into the Lucerne town center. We all know that outside money is needed in Lake County to help rebuild what we have lost to wildfires and other economic calamities.
There are people in the community that malign Scotts Valley Pomo, and spread falsehoods about our efforts to improve the Lucerne community—efforts that align with our interest in rebuilding the Pomo community.
The fact is there are two people using their personal website to misinform local residents. These individuals have a conflict of interest and a personal interest in the Lucerne Castle. They selfishly want to undermine our ability to help disadvantaged youth gain the opportunity to have a better life.
It is correct that our project may bring youth from outside of Lucerne and outside of Lake County. But that is because our people have been scattered, and because those County lines were arbitrarily drawn through our ancestral lands. The Scotts Valley Pomo believe that all youth and children are important to our community. We believe that local residents share our values and beliefs in addressing the needs of our young people, who are the future of our community.