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
ECE Programs Spotlight: For the Wisdom of the Children Year 2 Convene
How can we ensure that the work being done at tribal colleges through the American Indian College Fund’s Early Childhood Education (ECE) programming continues to grow and sustain itself?
The Way to Reawaken Indigenous Language is to Nurture Speakers
Amanda LeClair-Diaz and Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz review research literature that demonstrates Tribal Colleges and Universities’ (TCUs) efforts in Native language revitalization. The review focuses on research of Native language revitalization opportunities in early childhood education and development.
Interactive Sensory Garden Featuring Flora That Is Indigenous to This Land
Northwest Indian College’s Early Learning Center innovated an Interactive Sensory Garden helping preschool children to engage in experiential STEM education.
Little Big Horn College Works with Families and Communities in STEM Activities
Under their For the Wisdom of the Children project, Little Big Horn College held a seminar in July for pre-service and classroom teachers to develop a thematic science/math unit with a culminating Parent Night activity.
