2006.
Alternative Sentencing Program | Tulalip Tribes.
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Born out of a need to create a judicial system that Tulalip citizens can trust and that also helps offenders to recover rather than just throwing them away, the Tulalip Tribal Court Alternative Sentencing Program supports the development of a safe, healthy, and law abiding community. Focusing on the mental, physical, and spiritual health of offenders, the Program melds indigenous and therapeutic jurisprudence, going beyond just placing offenders in jail. Beginning with the Tulalip Alternative Court and now backed by the entire Tulalip justice system, the nation's strategies for implementing Tulalip law now better reflect the sentiments of one of its traditional sayings, “To pull that canoe, you have to pull together.”
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Explore Interactive Exhibit
2006.
The Hopi Child Care Program | Hopi Tribe.
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The Hopi Child Care Program facilitates parents' access to high quality child care when demands of work or educational pursuits require them to be away from home. Understanding the importance of early childhood development coupled with the need for culturally appropriate care, Hopi citizens now have the ability to better provide for their families. The Program gives parents the security of knowing their children are safe, while providing affordable and accessible channels to ensure their wellbeing. As the Hopi Tribe affirms, “Children are our greatest resource. How they are treated as young children impacts the future of the Hopi Tribe.”
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2006.
Indian Child Welfare Services | Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians.
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For years, the state of Maine lacked appropriate procedures for identifying Native children in child welfare cases. Contrary to the intent of the Indian Child Welfare Act, Maine also failed to recognize Native nations' sovereign rights in such cases. Seeking to assert the tribe's right to help determine its children's futures, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians formed a Department of Indian Child Welfare Services. In turn, the Department developed a strategy to gain the respect of state child welfare authorities and to establish collaborative working relationships. In 2002, the Band and State signed an MOA establishing their partnership. Today they both make appointments to a Child Protective Team that manages placements and services for Maliseet children. Through culturally and family appropriate solutions, the team's work has drastically reduced the number of children in out-of-home-care situations. Together, the Houlton Band's programs, policies, and intergovernmental collaboration support families, improve government-to-government relations and reclaim the tribe's future its children.
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2006.
Navajo Nation Methamphetamine Task Force | Navajo Nation.
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Navajo community leaders describe the methamphetamine phenomenon as a tidal wave that is overwhelming the entire community. The Navajo Nation police force estimates that 60% of all crimes committed on the reservation are methamphetamine related. In 2006, national news focused on the Navajo Nation as three generations were arrested together for use, distribution, and manufacturing of methamphetamine. Taking a proactive stance on policy issues, options, and recommendations in the areas of prevention, treatment, and/or enforcement, the Methamphetamine Task Forces actively combat the tidal wave of destruction within their communities. Drawing upon education, community involvement, cultural philosophies, and collaborations to address the burgeoning crisis, the Task Forces incorporate participation from elders, youth, recovered addicts and current users, law enforcement, health officials, and policy makers to embrace ‘The Beauty Way of Life,’ to systematically fight what many view as the most dire crisis in recent history.
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2006.
Task Force on Violence Against Women | National Coalition of Native Nations & Organizations Affiliated through the National Congress of American Indians.
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Recognizing and acting upon the belief that safety for Native women is among their highest priorities, leadership from Native nations joined with Native and non-Native grassroots coalitions and organizations over 500 entities in total to create an ongoing national movement educating Congress on the need for enhancing the safety of Native women. Formalizing their affiliation through the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the coordinated efforts led to the 2005 re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The Act includes financial resources and protection for Native women, a first in the history of the VAWA. Now, tribal governments are better situated to combat the scourge of domestic violence present in Indian Country and mark a return to more traditional modes of honoring family and community.
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The opportunity to see a medical professional when needed is something that many people living in the United States take for granted. For those living in rural Alaska however, visiting a medical professional is rarely easy. Communities are isolated, medical needs are significant, and patients' cultural and linguistic backgrounds can affect diagnoses and treatments. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium has taken on these challenges by educating village residents to serve as the primary medical providers within the state's tribal health care system.
The safety and well-being of children is vital to a Native nation’s future. For years, tribal and state agencies in Alaska have taken different approaches to the needs of vulnerable families, leading to large numbers of children being adopted outside their home communities. With the goal of securing better outcomes for tribal families, the Sitka Tribe reached out to its state child protection counterparts to build more collaborative relationships to benefit tribal families. The Sitka ICWA Partnership is breaking new ground through brave communication, joint case management, and cooperative staff training.
Colonization dramatically altered the lives of Alaska Native peoples, and the intergenerational pain – the historical trauma – caused by these changes deeply affects Alaska Native communities today. Among the Yup’ik of the Yukon Kuskokwim delta region, for example, rates of mental and behavioral health problems are extremely high. Calricaraq, a program hosted by the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation, seeks to improve individual and community wellbeing using the traditional philosophies that have guided Yup’ik life for generations. This approach is succeeding where Western approaches have failed.
Working parents face a dilemma when a child falls ill. Staying home to provide care or finding a relative or friend to help can be a major challenge, especially for single parents, two-worker families, and employees whose jobs offer limited flexibility. The Chickasaw Nation Sick Child Care Program offers a safe and nurturing place for mildly ill children to spend the day and gives working parents the assurance that their children are receiving proper care.
Situated in the “most unhealthy county in the state of Montana” and confronting staggering indicators of poor health among their people, the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation decided their children deserved better. The tribes made a bold move that is as simple as it is logical: they established and staffed full service health clinics in the schools on their reservation. Financed largely through Medicaid reimbursement, the high quality health care now available to tribal youth includes dental care, mental health services, nutrition counseling, and medical care. The School-Based Health Centers are not only an outstanding example of self-determination but are also a powerful reminder that having healthy citizens is critical for building strong nations.
For decades Tohono O’odham elders in need of skilled nursing had to move far away from family and friends to receive care, or stay home and forgo long term care services. However, with the opening of the Archie Hendricks, Sr. Skilled Nursing Facility, O’odham elders can now remain in the community. Combining today’s latest technologies and world-class clinical care with traditional values, the nursing home has become one of the finest elder care facilities anywhere in the United States.
Although the state of Oklahoma has one of the largest prison systems in the US, it provides released prisoners with little post-incarceration support. Many struggle to find their way on the “outside” and are eventually re-incarcerated. In the early 2000s, the Muscogee Nation set out to tackle this problem. The Nation’s Reintegration Program works with tribal citizens before and after they leave prison, paying attention to everything from jobs and housing to counseling and spiritual needs.
In the Ramah Chapter of the Navajo Nation — as in many parts of Indian Country — late detection of breast cancer leads to disproportionally high rates of breast cancer mortality. Ramah Navajo’s Pine Hill Health Center devised a creative response: it launched a series of “Mammo Days,” educational and social outings designed to encourage Navajo women to get regular breast cancer exams. Highly popular, Mammo Days meet a critical need in a culturally sensitive and medically effective way.
“It is not cool to hit or be hit” is the straightforward motto of Project Falvmmichi, a school-based program of the Choctaw Nation designed to tackle the problem of domestic violence. The program teaches elementary school students positive ways to deal with anger and resolve conflicts. Today, more than 300 teen mentors work with second graders in over thirty public schools. Violent behavior harms the Choctaw Nation’s citizens, families, and future — but through Project Falvmmichi, the Nation is building intolerance for violent behavior from the ground up.
In 2000, two Mississippi Choctaw citizens organized the Choctaw Community Injury Prevention Program to combat the reservation community's rising level of preventable injuries and accidental deaths. In hopes of significantly reducing emergency room visits, their efforts as well as the efforts of other volunteers inspired by their example have introduced thousands of Choctaw children and adults to safety education and resulted in the distribution of hundreds of child safety seats and bicycle helmets. The Choctaw Community Injury Prevention Program proves that the programmatic efforts of concerned individuals can make headway against one of Indian Country's most pervasive and daunting problems.