Hands Across Cultures Corporation or HACC [ Hawk], serves Rio Arriba and northern Santa Fe Counties and seven northern Indian pueblos. The vast numbers of the area’s 60,000 people are Hispanic [or Native American]. The people of the area are rich in tradition and spirituality, yet they suffer from economic, educational and health trauma. This plight is intergenerational: elders have witnessed the undermining of their culture, values, and beliefs. People who are now parents or young grandparents grew up torn between their families’ traditions and conflicting values of imposed educational systems and messages portrayed by the media. Children, hopeless at an early age, often seek solace or identity in alcohol, gangs and other illegal drugs.
