White Earth Nation Receives Grant to Improve Early Learning and Child Development Coordination

A new coordinated, streamlined data system is in the works at the White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians’ Home Health, Child Care and Head Start programs. A new grant from the Administration for Children and Families will help the tribe take systems that typically operate in silos and combine them in order to enhance goals. 

ACF is partnering with White Earth Nation, one of four tribes selected to participate in a new initiative — the Tribal Early Learning Initiative (TELI) — to improve the coordination of early learning and development programs.

“Our key goal is to streamline our data system across Home Health, Child Care, and Head Start,” said Cyndi Anderson, a consultant to White Earth Nation, which oversees a community 20,000 in northwestern Minnesota.  “By streamlining the data, we can eliminate any duplicate efforts while ensuring there are no gaps in service to our families.”

White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians, along with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Confederate Salish & Kootenai Tribes in Montana and Pueblo San Felipe in New Mexico, received $31,500 supplemental grants on Sept. 29.

All four tribes participate in ACF’s Head Start, child care, and Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (TMIECHV) programs. 

ACF will work closely with White Earth Nation to:

• Facilitate peer learning sessions
• Identify obstacles that block efforts to build and maintain partnerships
• Develop strategies and solutions to address obstacles
• Make sure strategies adhere to tribal community values, traditions and priorities

“The goal of all the collaborative programming elements will be to enhance value to families and to create more a family-friendly, culturally relevant service continuum,” said Anderson.