Ensuring high quality, culturally appropriate, prenatal-to-kindergarten entry early childhood services to American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children is a critical policy and programmatic priority for tribal communities throughout the United States. Health care and education is considered a fundamental treaty right by many tribes. Programs like Head Start, child care, and home visiting are key resources for children and families in tribal communities. However, tribes often struggle to work across these traditionally siloed programs to build stronger early childhood systems to support their youngest and most vulnerable citizens in a seamless and coordinated way.
In collaboration with tribal communities and partners across the federal government, ECD is engaged in efforts to support and strengthen the implementation and coordination of early childhood programs and systems in tribal communities:
- Tribal Early Childhood Working Group
- This group of tribal leaders, tribal early childhood program administrators, and federal staff met three times in summer 2020 to discuss coordination issues impacting tribal early childhood programs. The meetings were held through a collaboration between ECD, the Administration for Native Americans, and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The Working Group resulted in a Summary Report and Blueprint for Action. (PDF)