Strategic Planning and Building
TCU ECE Family Engagement
2020 – 2021
About The Program
The Strategic Planning and Building TCU ECE Family Engagement program involved a $200,000 grant that supported 7 TCUs with family engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as supported the development of a strategic plan for the next 1, 4, and 7 years of the American Indian College Fund’s Indigenous Early Childhood Education (IECE) programming.
TCU grantees demonstrated that the funding supported families and children during the pandemic through several family engagement activities:
- Virtual story time facilitated by community elders
- Trapping and harvesting demonstrations
- Crafting activities such as beading mask holders
- Cooking meals together
- Virtual workshops such as budgeting and couponing for parents
Grantees also used the funding to cover the cost of winter coats for children, gift cards for families’ emergent needs, and wellness and learning packages. The program also offered webinars to the TCUs on family engagement and faculty wellness.
The IECE strategic planning process recognized the changing social and economic landscape in our place-based institutions and the value of continued support of lifelong, intergenerational learning in tribal communities. Native families, children, and ECE teachers and students play a vital role in all of this. The College Fund’s IECE strategic plan was developed through consultants, and interviews were conducted with 19 TCUs, Early Childhood Education (ECE) funders, and College Fund Board members and staff.
The Strategic Planning and Building TCU ECE Family Engagement program was followed by a $100,000 food security grant to support Native families’ food needs. Families were given gift cards for groceries, distributed by the ECE programs of 26 TCUs.
Program Gallery
Grantees
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College
Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College
Little Big Horn College
Northwest Indian College
Salish Kootenai College
Sitting Bull College
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute
Related Blogs
Tribal College Students Embracing ECE Initiatives at NWIC
Things are moving fast at the Northwest Indian College and the Lummi community. For the last three and a half years of collaboration and planning on behalf of the Wakanyeja “Sacred Little Ones” Early Childhood Education Initiative by the American Indian College Fund, the leadership and partnerships have created many exciting new opportunities for families and children in the Lummi community.
NWIC Brings Family Engagement to Lummi Community
Our first Family Engagement activity was an Ey’ Snat Family Fun Night in September held in conjunction with Sacred Little Ones partner site Lummi Head Start. We wanted families to get to experience a salmon barbeque with salmon cooked in the traditional way.
College of Menominee Nation’s Ké’ Family Engagement
The College of Menominee (CMN) December Family Engagement Saturday morning activities were every bit as busy as Santa’s workshop would be on the 6th of the month! This semester the CMN Family Engagement grant staff along with our pre-service Teacher Education students designed, developed and delivered all aspects of College 4 Kids, our Saturday morning workshop for parents and their children.
SIPI’s Native Harvest Feast Creates Sharing, Community Bonds
Thanksgiving is a time of sharing and community bonding. The Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) Youth Development Incorporated (YDI) families engaged with one another during our Native Harvest Feast on November 24, 2014. SIPI YDI families and Wakanyeja “Sacred Little Ones”/Ke’ staff worked together to provide a Native inspired meal to share in honor of the “giving thanks” season.
