Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation

The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation desires to support the higher education of disadvantaged students from Vallejo California attending Solano Community College. Their intent is to provide annual and emergency scholarships to the students most in need through the establishment of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation Momhi Scholarship. Momhi in the Patwin language means “giving”.
As background, Patwin ancestors of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation lived in villages spread across a large territory that spans from Sonoma Valley in the west to the Sacramento River in the east, and from just south of Clear Lake in the north to San Pablo Bay in the south. Settled on federal land in the early 1900s without basic resources, Yocha Dehe’s people tried to farm what they could, living in grinding poverty for many decades. With Federal and State legislation, financial independence was gained from Cache Creek Casino Resort gaming revenue. This revenue provides economic stability and opportunity for tribal citizens and provides the wherewithal for the nation to reacquire more of their traditional lands, to invest in the future of their children through improved education, and to provide philanthropic support to communities in need. In 2009 the tribe legally changed its name to the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, to honor the name of their homeland in the Patwin language. Translated literally, Yochadihisel means home (Dihi) by the spring water (Yocha), or spring home. For the nation, the meaning of success is not just a thriving community and prosperous enterprises; it is also the recovery and revitalization of Patwin language and traditions, as well as the protection of cultural and burial sites from disturbance and desecration.
Students wishing to apply for this scholarship must currently reside in Vallejo, California.