The first 16 months suggest the school is taking root, with enrollment and community-wide enthusiasm as the key measures of success. Census Bureau, with 37% of families living below the poverty line. Towaoc is the poorest ZIP code in Colorado, according to the U.S. In the Ute language, kwiyagat means “bear.” The hope is that the school will keep the Ute language and culture alive and strengthen the Towaoc community, too.

Kwiyagat Community Academy, or KCA, opened in September 2021, is Colorado’s first charter school located on a Native reservation. Towaoc has a 54-bed prison, run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and a U.S. There are plans to build a tribe-owned grocery store. The tribe runs a casino, hotel, and a gas station and travel center along the highway. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe manages a 7,700-acre farm and ranch. It’s 22 miles as the crow flies to the Four Corners National Monument. The town is due east of the cliffs that form the “toes” of the sacred Sleeping Ute Mountain, a 9,984-foot peak with a profile that is said to resemble a Ute Indian chief resting on his back with his arms folded. Twelve miles south of Cortez, in the southwest corner of Colorado, a right turn on Mike Wash Road leads three miles up to the town of Towaoc on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation. This story was originally published by the Colorado Sun at 4:01 AM MST on Feb 14, 2023.

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