Programs & Services

Shinnecock Indian Health Services:
The opening of the Health Clinic in 1993 was an amazing event. Not since the age of the pauwaus (medicine people) and plant healers had Shinnecock people been able to get treatment for illness and health conditions on their own land. Now tribal members receive acute care visits, physical examinations, immunizations, prenatal and gynecological services and home visits through the auspices of New York State and American Indian Health. A dental wing opened in January of 2002 making the Health Center one of busiest places on the Reservation. While there are still no full time health and dental professionals on staff, healthcare for the Shinnecock people has improved drastically.

Shinnecock Community Health Worker Program:
Under the umbrella of the Health Center, the Community Health Worker Program, funded by the State of New York, provides health services for pregnant women. The program often goes outside its objectives and provides other services, such as tradition-based training of young women on self care, building self-esteem and healthy relationships and creating support systems.

Senior Nutrition:
At the Senior Nutrition Program, hot lunches for Shinnecock senior citizens are provided by the Suffolk County Office of the Aging and are served daily during the week. Homebound seniors have their meals delivered.

Indian Education Program:
Today, the education of the Shinnecock Indian is light years in advancement over the old Shinnecock school system. Up until 1950, the education of Shinnecock children took place in a one room schoolhouse with two teachers serving all grades up to the seventh. It was without electricity or running water. Built in the 1800s, the school educated generations up until it was closed in 1950 and the Shinnecock children were bused to school in Southampton. Now a reverse of sorts is taking place. The bus from Southampton brings the Shinnecock children to their own after school program for tutoring and homework supervision, academic achievement and cultural enrichment activities in a high tech learning environment with snacks.

Shinnecock Youth Council:
The primary goal of the Shinnecock Youth Council is to fortify the youth of Shinnecock with the richness of their own history, to reinforce a sense of pride in their eastern woodlands culture and all that is indigenous to the Shinnecock people.

The Shinnecock Shellfish Hatcheries and Environmental Center :
The Shinnecock Nation had great expectations for the original tribal Oyster Project which opened in 1973, but brown tide and general pollution forced it to close before it developed into the business enterprise it was planned to be. The hatchery was operational for less than 10 years, but the reseeding of oysters in our bay waters began again in 2004 and the project has been revived under the new name of The Shinnecock Shellfish Hatcheries and Environmental Center.