About The Bobby Barrett Foundation

The Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians

The Kumeyaay peoples were the original inhabitants of San Diego County, once occupying an ancestral territory that extended from the Pacific Ocean, south to Ensenada, Mexico, east to the Colorado River, and north to Warner Springs Valley. The Kumeyaay greeted the Spanish when they sailed into San Diego Harbor with Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542.

Horticulturalists, hunters, and gatherers, the Kumeyaay were masters at managing the natural resources in their vast territory. However, beginning with the Spanish invasion of 1769, the Kumeyaay were forced from their lands. By an 1875 Executive Order, lands were set aside for California Indian reservations, including the Capitan Grande Reservation, through which the San Diego River once ran. Capitan Grande originally included portions of the ancestral lands of the Los Coñejos Band, members of which would later become the Viejas Band. Beginning in 1893, Indians from Mission San Diego and other tribes were placed on the reservation as well.

Demand for water gradually increased as the non-Indian population grew in San Diego County. As a result, the City of San Diego built Lake Cuyamaca, which took most of the water originally used by the Kumeyaay peoples. The city later built a dam on the river, creating El Capitan Reservoir, and eventually purchased the heart of the Capitan Grande Reservation, where many Kumeyaay had established homes and were living off the land. From the proceeds of this "sale", members of the Coapan Band bought Barona Valley, and are now known as the Barona Band of Mission Indians. Another 28 Capitan Grande families, including members of the Los Coñejos Band, purchased ranch land formerly owned by Baron Long in the Viejas Valley, settled there, and became known as the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians.

Today, Viejas is one of the twelve remaining bands of the Kumeyaay Nation, which also includes Barona, Campo, Ewiiaapaayp, Inaja-Cosmit, Jamul, LaPosta, Manzanita, Mesa Grande, San Pasqual, Santa Ysabel, and Sycuan. Approximately 300 enrolled tribal members and 200 non-members call the 1,600 acre Viejas Indian Reservation home. Viejas continues to share a joint-trust patent with the Barona Band for the remaining Capitan Grande Reservation lands. Viejas is governed by a modern, two-tiered democratic government, and wholly owns and operates the Viejas Casino, Viejas Enterprises, and Viejas Entertainment. Viejas also owns the Borrego Springs Bank, and has partnered with other Indian tribes to develop the Four Fires, LLC, which owns the Marriott Residence Inn in Washington, D.C.

The Foundation

Bobby Barrett is a lifelong resident of the Viejas reservation who remembers life before tribal government gaming. Isolated from the San Diego community for years, many members of the Viejas Band were unable to work, or to provide any meaningful quality of life for themselves and their families. Unemployment on the reservation was over 80%; access to healthcare, education, and even basic necessities was at best inadequate, or simply non-existent. Families on the reservation suffered from poor health, alcoholism, and violence, all the result of poverty.

As the Viejas Band became successful through its economic ventures, its tribal members gradually began to enjoy a quality of life about which few tribal members even dared to dream. Mr. Barrett has never forgotten the struggle to obtain shelter, to feed and clothe a family, or to provide for a childs education. He also has not forgotten that the well-being of a community is only as good as that of its weakest members.

For years, Mr. Barrett has been generous in assisting those in need through donations to individuals and support of various charities, particularly those serving the needs of children. In 2005, he established the Indian Nations UNICEF Tsunami Relief Fund to assist survivors of the tsunami, with a specific focus on the needs of children. However, Mr. Barrett sought a vehicle by which he could ensure that his assistance would reach those who were entitled to receive it. In 2005, The Bobby Barrett Foundation was created to achieve this goal. The Foundation embodies the traditional values of compassion, generosity, and kindness that have sustained the Kumeyaay people from generation to generation. The Board of Directors is dedicated to easing the burden of those living in poverty, and invites those who share these values to join in our efforts.