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Faced with a lack of wellness resources while amid his own struggles withaddiction, Vincent Flores-Maldonado decided to make a turn in his life that would result in the helping and healing of hundreds of Native Americans across Southern Arizona.
Now the founder and executive director of the Native Music Coalition (NMC), Flores-Maldonado’s legacy began in 2014. It was then that he decided it was time to begin his work providing the Native American community in and around Tucson with alternatives to Western medicine regarding family struggles, community issues, and addiction.
Verywell Mind 25Vincent Flores-Maldonado is one of our top 25 thought leaders, experts, and advocates making a difference in mental health.See 2023 Honorees
Verywell Mind 25
Vincent Flores-Maldonado is one of our top 25 thought leaders, experts, and advocates making a difference in mental health.
See 2023 Honorees
After spending a few years living with his uncle, a spiritual healer who taught him the ways of the land and the traditional role of the Indigenous man, Flores-Maldonado knew he needed to serve his community.
As a protector of his people, Flores-Maldonado created NMC to provide a wide range of services in the seven locations it serves, from Tucson all the way up to its newest chapter in South Dakota.
In 2016, NMC officially became recognized as a non-profit through Flores-Maldonado’s efforts as well as a community of artists who supported his vision.
Programs Available at NMC
At the Wellness Center in Tucson, NMC puts on cultural awareness sessions, youth groups, music workshops, drum-and-gourd rattle making classes, painting classes, and beadwork and talking circles. They strive to promote sobriety while also creating spaces for youth and families to grow in healthy, culture-centered ways. Through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state’s Medicaid program, NMC has an annual budget of $720,000 to give towards its programs.
The cultural awareness sessions provide a space where Indigenous folks can learn more about their culture while remaining tribe-specific, inclusive, and understanding of modern life.
The center also provides a horse camp for both youth and adults to learn about how horses intertwine with Native Americans and their history.
Mato Siyete, the organization’s newest chapter in South Dakota, serves to preserve culture, promote sobriety and restore indigenous identity.
Why Therapists Say Cultural Safety Is Essential in Mental Healthcare
Trips and Ceremonies
With culture at the core of the organization, Flores-Maldonado knew he wanted to tie in ceremony and travel as a part of his methodology of healing to give asense of identityto those who work with NMC.
Each year, Flores-Maldonado takes members of the organization to sit in and participate in ceremonies from the cholla bud harvesting with the Tohono O’odham Nation to the Sundance ceremony of the Gil River Indian Community.
Professional Education
The organization strives to provide professional accountability when serving its community and also works to hire from the community it serves. This is done as a way to create jobs but also to ensure that when healing takes place, it can take place in a space that is understanding and empathetic to the families who enter their doors.
With a staff of 35, the organization represents members from the Navajo Nation, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, White Mountain Apache Tribe, and the Tohono O’odham Nation.
Community
Next to Flores-Maldonado is his partner Anna Tarazon who works as the office manager and program coordinator for NMC.
Like Flores-Maldonado, Tarazon is educated in the work that they provide for the community members. She holds a Bachelor’s in Human Studies from Prescott College and a Master’s in Social Work from Arizona State University.
Together, the two have five adopted children from the Pascua Yaqui tribe.
1 SourceVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Native Music Coalition.Cante' Waste'.Additional ReadingShoutout Arizona.Meet Vince Flores Maldonado | Executive Director.Tucson.com.Program brings spiritual healing to Tucson’s Indigenous community.
1 Source
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Native Music Coalition.Cante' Waste'.Additional ReadingShoutout Arizona.Meet Vince Flores Maldonado | Executive Director.Tucson.com.Program brings spiritual healing to Tucson’s Indigenous community.
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Native Music Coalition.Cante' Waste'.
Shoutout Arizona.Meet Vince Flores Maldonado | Executive Director.Tucson.com.Program brings spiritual healing to Tucson’s Indigenous community.
Shoutout Arizona.Meet Vince Flores Maldonado | Executive Director.
Tucson.com.Program brings spiritual healing to Tucson’s Indigenous community.
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