The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation is a federally recognized tribe of

Mission Indians Mission Indians are the indigenous peoples of California who lived in Southern California and were forcibly relocated from their traditional dwellings, villages, and homelands to live and work at 15 Franciscan missions in Southern California and ...

from

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

, located in an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...

just east of

El Cajon El Cajon ( , ; Spanish: El Cajón, meaning "the box") is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, east of downtown San Diego. The city takes its name from Rancho El Cajón, which was in turn named for the box-like shape of the va ...

. The Sycuan band are a Kumeyaay tribe, one of the four ethnic groups indigenous to San Diego County.

Reservation and administration

The Sycuan Reservation is located at . The nearest outside communities are the unincorporated communities of

Dehesa A ''dehesa'' () is a multifunctional, agrosylvopastoral system (a type of agroforestry) and cultural landscape of southern and central Spain and southern Portugal; in Portugal, it is known as a ''montado''. Its name comes from the Latin 'defens ...

Harbison Canyon Harbison Canyon is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California. Harbison Canyon had a population of 3,841 as of the 2010 census, up from 3,645 as of the 2000 census. Geography According to the United States Geological Survey (U ...

and

Crest Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings *The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York *Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...

. Cody Martinez is their current tribal chairman. The band operates two waste water treatment plants, a

sequencing batch reactor Sequencing batch reactors (SBR) or sequential batch reactors are a type of activated sludge process for the treatment of wastewater. SBR reactors treat wastewater such as sewage or output from anaerobic digesters or mechanical biological treatmen ...

used for their casino, administrative buildings, and maintenance buildings. They also operate and own a modular treatment plant in a flood plain near one of their residential areas. The tribe operates a water treatment facility which controls their nitrate levels. Additionally, the tribe operates a small medical clinic, dental office, fire department and tribal police force. In 2005, they eliminated their environmental department for political and economic reasons. In 2004, they installed a new air conditioning system, internal control systems, and a new parking lot.

Economic development

The move toward casino gaming on the Sycuan Band reservation was spearheaded by the Sycuan Band's former chairwoman, Anna Prieto Sandoval. The Sycuan Band opened its first gambling facility, the Sycuan Bingo Palace, on their reservation in 1983. As a direct evolution from that successful venture, they now run a profitable

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

, as well as an off-reservation golf course. The Sycuan band is not the only San Diego-area band to operate significant commercial enterprises off-reservation. The Sycuan band purchased the downtown San Diego landmark

U. S. Grant Hotel The 'U.S. Grant Hotel'' is a historic and one of the oldest hotels in downtown San Diego, California operating under a franchise of Marriott International as part of theiLuxury Collectionbrand. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Pl ...

in 2003. It also advertises heavily in relation to the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

major-league baseball team (including both television and radio commercials during game broadcasts, and posted advertising at Petco Park, the team's home field).

Hotel casino resort expansion

A $226 million hotel casino expansion opened to the public on March 27, 2019. The casino has a total of 2800 slot machines and 80 gaming tables (blackjack, poker, etc).

Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming

The Sycuan band also provides an endowment to support the Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming, a research institute at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

Education

The

Kumeyaay Community College Kumeyaay Community College (formerly D–Q University) is a public community college in the U.S. state of California. Established in 2004 by the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation through gaming revenues, it is located on the Sycuan Indian Rese ...

was created by the Sycuan Band to serve the Kumeyaay-Diegueño Nation, and describes its mission as "to support cultural identity, sovereignty, and self-determination while meeting the needs of native and non-Native students." In addition, the reservation is served by the

Dehesa Elementary School District Dehesa Elementary School District is a public school district located in the rural East County area of San Diego County, California, United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. ...

and

Grossmont Union High School District The Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) is a public school district located in eastern San Diego County, California, and serves high school, adult school, and Regional Occupational Program (ROP) students in the cities of El Cajon, Le ...

Notes

References

* Eargle, Jr., Dolan H. ''Northern California Guide: Weaving the Past and Present.'' San Francisco: Tree Company Press, 2000. . * Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. .

External links

Sycuan Tribe official homepage

Sycuan Casino official homepage

Singing Hills Golf Resort at Sycuan official homepage

Elicit Lounge homepage
* {{authority control Kumeyaay California Mission Indians Native American tribes in San Diego County, California Native American tribes in California Federally recognized tribes in the United States