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Accomplishments in Serving Native Americans: Head Start's American Indian Programs Branch

By Helen M. Scheirbeck, Chief, American Indian Programs Branch, Head Start Bureau

In 1996, the American Indian Programs Branch (AIPB) of the Head Start Bureau funded 130 grantees. These grantees were located in 15 States and represented: 118 federally recognized Tribes who directly operate programs; 4 inter-Tribal consortia representing 26 reservations, 12 colonies, and 14 rancherias; and Native Alaskan regional corporations' serving 35 villages and cities.

The Head Start Bureau provides resources to four Tribal Governments to operate Parent Child Centers. They are:

• Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, Inc.
  
• Crow Creek Sioux Tribe
  
• Oglala Sioux Tribe
  
• Blackfeet Tribe

This year the Bureau funded seven Indian Early Head Start (EHS) programs which serve pregnant women, infants, and toddlers (ages birth to three years), and it expects to fund five additional programs later this year. The EHS programs funded are:

• Little Hoop Community College
  
  
• Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe
  
  
• Fairbanks Native Association
  
  
• Nez Perce Tribe
  

• Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
  
  
• Upper Midwest American Indian Center
  

• Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

Eight Tribes have been funded to implement substance abuse programs for Head Start families, as follows:

• Colville Confederated Tribes
  
  
• California River Indian Tribe
  
  
• Nez Perce Tribe
  
  
• Milles Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians
  

• Taos Pueblo Tribe
  

• Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
  
  
• Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
  

• Seneca Nation of Indians

The Navajo Nation has a major transition grant from the Bureau to facilitate the transition of Head Start children to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and public schools. Other transition activities have been funded with the Crow Tribe, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, and the Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma.

The Head Start Bureau, in collaboration with the Administration on Native Americans, will fund two native language projects with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Nisqually Tribe.

AIPB has sponsored eight Tribal consultation meetings around the country to provide elected Tribal leadership an opportunity to offer input and feedback on current regulatory and policy issues related to Indian Head Start. AIPB, in collaboration with ACYF/ Child Care Bureau, recently sponsored a joint Child Care-Head Start conference in Denver.

In addition to the above accomplishments, and in keeping with the decrees of the report on Head Start quality, the following have been accomplished by the AIPB:

• Developed internal systems to target Tribal community needs, track grantee activities, and partnership with grantees to assist them better, using a "team" approach;
  
  
• Enforced quality standards requiring the replacement of a grantee. This was accomplished with minimum disruption of services to children and families;
  
  
• Revised an environmental health code for Indian Tribal grantees, including EHS regulations and reporting systems;
  
  
• Established five regional, geographical training clusters to better assist grantees in training and technical assistance. The geographical areas are California, South Dakota, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Minnesota;
  
  
• Increased the Indian consulting base to reflect the diversity of the grantees, and developed more sophisticated systems to better determine each consultant's qualifications and knowledge of Indian cultures;
  
  
• Developed a calendar specifically for AIPB programs;
  
  
• Grantees have all been reviewed within the past three years;
  
  
• The Navajo Nation, AIPB's largest grantee, completed its OSPRI review. Their first Education and Administration Institute at the Navajo College had over 470 staff attending and was a success. The institute focused on Navajo culture, curriculum, and education principles; and
  
  
• Expanded the annual Tribal conference to encourage Tribes to identify new issues and evaluate other issues, such as the topic of sovereignty, and encourage collaboration between the Tribes.

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