Kate Spilde Contreras is the new chair of the Sycuan Institute of Tribal Gaming at San Diego State, a major philanthropic effort by the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation. The tribe endowed the institute with a $5.5 million contribution.

Millions of dollars a year in gaming revenue are spent by county Indian tribes on hundreds of charitable organizations and causes that benefit a wide segment of San Diego’s population. Schools, chambers of commerce and groups that serve the poor, the elderly, the handicapped and victims of abuse are a few of the many organizations benefiting from Indian casinos and resorts.

But the tribes also help one another. Earlier this year, the Pala Band of Mission Indians, which operates the Pala Casino Resort and Spa, spent $1 million to purchase 10 new mobile homes for members of the neighboring La Jolla Band whose homes were lost in last year’s Poomacha wildfire.

“The tribes are close physically and culturally,” says Pala spokesman Doug Elmets. “Pala not only purchased the homes but arranged to have them placed on foundations.”

Sixty homes on the La Jolla reservation burned in the fire. Pala funded the purchase of nine three-bedroom, two-bath, double-wide trailers and one four-bedroom, two-bathroom trailer.

“We’re very fortunate to be in a position to give and help our neighbors and fellow tribe re-establish their reservation, their home,” says Pala Tribal Chairman Robert Smith. “We want to help actively ensure that life on the reservation is restored.”

The Barona Band of Mission Indians and other gaming tribes also assisted La Jolla Indians in fire relief efforts.

Last year, the Pala tribe’s philanthropic efforts totaled $1.4 million and included contributions as small as $1,000 to the Fallbrook Baseball Club and as large as $125,000 to the Bonsall Union School District. “The tribe gets requests for assistance far and wide,” says Elmets. “They try to do as much as they can.”

A much larger population group — California’s school children — are the beneficiaries of another tribal philanthropic effort launched in 2006 by Barona Tribal Chairwoman Rhonda Welch-Scalco. Since its inception, the Barona Education Grant Program has awarded $300,000 to 60 schools throughout the state, which use the funds (each grant is $5,000) to purchase supplies and materials such as books and computers.

Public, private and charter schools are eligible to apply for the education grants. A school can apply for $5,000 once a year but only one grant is awarded per state legislative district. Grant applications may be submitted by a locally elected state official or the school may apply directly if it has an endorsement letter from the legislator representing the area. Local schools getting grants have included La Mesa Dale Elementary and Dehesa Elementary, which were designated by Assemblyman Joel Anderson (R-La Mesa).

The involvement of politicians in the grant process has generated criticism from the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, which claims the grants, while beneficial to the schools, give Barona undue influence with state lawmakers. Robert Stern, president of the organization, says there isn’t any need to involve a lawmaker.

Yet state schools chief Jack O’Connell has endorsed the grant program, saying it is effective in helping to close gaps in education funding. And Barona tribal leaders say lawmakers are ideally suited to know the needs of schools in their districts.

Rhonda Welch-Scalco, chairwoman of the Barona Band of Mission Indians and a doctoral candidate, established the Barona Education Grant Program in 2006 that has contributed $300,000 to 60 schools in California.

Welch-Scalco has a personal interest in the educational system. She is pursuing a doctorate in education at UC Riverside. She also is the latest member of her family to serve as a leader of the Barona tribe. Her great-grandfather, Bob Quitac, was a tribal chairman, as were her grandmother and mother. Her father served two terms as vice chairman and an uncle served two terms as chairman.

Last year, the Barona tribe gave more than $3 million to some 600 organizations in the county. Last year’s contribution included $1 million to support the cardiac and endovascular services at Sharp Grossmont Hospital.

The Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming, part of San Diego State’s School of Hospitality and Tourism, represents another significant philanthropic effort by a local tribe, in this case the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation. The tribe endowed the institute in 2005 with a $5.5 million contribution. Since then, the institute has created an academic curriculum leading to a bachelor’s degree in hospitality with an emphasis on tribal gaming and has funded major research projects on topics such as responsible gaming, employee diversity and cultural revitalization through gaming. The institute also has a new chair — Kate Spilde Contreras, former managing director of The Center for California Native Nations at UC Riverside, who began work this month.

Sycuan Chairman Danny Tucker says this year there are seven research projects under way at the institute that will produce findings on off-reservation gaming, traditional gambling among the Kumeyaay and language recovery.

“The Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming is a unique partnership that produces numerous benefits for the tribal governments in the region as well as for the university,” says Tucker. “Our partnership has the potential to improve business performance through strengthening tribal government gaming management resources and creating a pipeline for students to both work and study.”

So far this year, charitable contributions by the Sycuan tribe and its casino have totaled more than $3 million in cash and more than $1.5 million worth of in-kind donations to over 600 organizations.

Last year, the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, which owns the Viejas Casino in Alpine, contributed $2.3 million to more than 850 charitable organizations. The San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, owner of Valley View Casino in Valley Center, contributed more than $250,000 to charity in 2007.

The National Indian Gaming Association says tribal governments in the country contribute more than $100 million a year to charity for programs that benefit both non-Indian and Indian communities. “These are goodwill gestures,” says Michael Roberts, president of First Nations Development Institute in Colorado. “The tribes have had a long history of giving.”

Despite the downturn in the economy, local Indian tribes say they will continue to contribute as much as they can to charitable organizations. “We anticipate giving back to the community at our current level — if not higher in the future — given the current economic conditions of ups and downs,” says Robert Scheid, spokesman for the Viejas tribe.

Similar sentiments were expressed by Joe Navarro, CEO and president of the San Pasqual Casino Development Group. “The San Pasqual tribe prides itself on being a good neighbor,” says Navarro. “In the coming year we remain committed to providing assistance to the local community to the best of our ability.”

The Pala tribe, says spokesman Elmets, is intent on meeting the needs of nonprofit organizations that come to it for contributions — either at current levels of support or higher. “In times of economic distress, the nonprofits need help even more,” he says.