Ihduwiyayapi: Advancing Indigenous
Early Childhood Education
2021-Ongoing
About The Program
The Ihduwiyayapi: Advancing Indigenous Early Childhood Education program partners with tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) to build the capacity of their early childhood education programs and improve teacher education through family and community outreach, enhanced child developmental pedagogy, pathways development, enhanced capacity, and engagement in national conversations about ECE best practices and lessons learned.
The program piloted in 2021 through $600,000 and $350,000 grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Heising-Simons Foundation, respectively. The Bezos Family Foundation has since committed a $5.3 million grant over four years of a broader $11.3 million program plan.
Ihduwiyayapi can be translated from Dakota to “they are getting ready.” Its meaning conveys that those involved in the programming are preparing themselves and their programs for what will come next, they are preparing a foundation for the advancement of Indigenous Early Childhood Education.
Indigenous Early Childhood Education Blogs
Articles and success from the College Fund programs team.
Finding the Trail Left for Us
How do we reclaim what Indigenous education is in our communities? This is the question that Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College Child Development program is pursuing. Here are four lessons we have learned along the way. A post by Govinda Budrow, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, Ihduwiyayapi Project Administrator.
Professional Learning Community Supports Graduating Students
Author: Kim Owen, Graduation Coach Co-Author: Nahrin Aziz, Project Director For the past academic year, eight graduates-to-be and Northwest Indian College’s (NWIC) Graduation Coach, Kim Owen, met once a month to provide support toward successful course completion and...
Grantees
Thank you to our Grantees for supporting this program.
2021-2022 Pilot Cohort
Blackfeet Community College
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College
Little Priest Tribal College
Northwest Indian College
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute
Stone Child College
2022-2023 Cohort
College of Menominee Nation
Diné College
Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College
Little Priest Tribal College
Navajo Technical University
Stone Child College
Sitting Bull College
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