Wishtoyo Foundation

Description

Wishtoyo improves the well being of communities and protects natural resources in Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Louis Obispo Counties through a unique approach which integrates Chumash culture in our programming. Activities include Chumash cultural preservation, historical, and spiritual wellness programs; cultural environmental stewardship education programs; ecological and cultural restoration projects; community mobilizing, advocacy, and legal enforcement actions; scientific research; protecting waterways; and finding solutions to climate change.

At the heart of its programming is Wishtoyo’s Chumash Discovery Village in Malibu, an outdoor education facility that serves as the Wishtoyo Institute as well as a cultural and ceremonial gathering area. The Village is an authentic re-creation of a working Native American village on a four-acre historical site at Nicholas Canyon County Beach in Malibu. It is the only living Chumash cultural village of its kind in Southern California, and serves as Wishtoyo’s administrative and programming headquarters. Wishtoyo also has a water quality laboratory at California State University Channel Islands(CSUCI) where a majority of its water monitoring and testing takes place.