Transcript Native Children’s Agenda

Native Children’s Agenda- A Shared Vision
Healthy Lifestyles, Successful Students,
Safe Environments, Stable Communities
15th Annual Summer Public Health Research Videoconference on Minority Health,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, June 9, 2009, www.minority.unc.edu
What is the Native Children’s Agenda?
 The Native Children’s Agenda (NCA) is an initiative
of the National Indian Education Association (NIEA),
the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI),
the National Indian Child and Welfare Association
(NICWA), the National Indian Health Board, (NIHB),
and the National Council of Urban Indian Health
(NCUIH), to set forth specific recommendations to
improve the social, emotional, mental, physical,
and economic health of children and to improve
their learning capacity and developmental potential.
Guiding Themes of the NCA
 Healthy Lifestyles
 Successful Students
 Safe and Supportive Environments
 Stable Communities
Healthy Lifestyles
Our children must have the resources
they need to develop strong self esteem
and the life skills needed to usher them
into adulthood. One of these resources
is good health. Children who are
physically and emotionally healthy are
more able to play, learn, and work.
Successful Students
Children who are healthy, safe, and
nurtured achieve to the best of their
abilities. Our children need skilled
teachers, sound curricula, and family
involvement so they can gain the
abilities they need for present and
future fulfillment.
Safe and Supportive Environments
Children who have their basic needs
met, including love, shelter, food,
clothing, and play, are children who are
more likely to go on to thrive, explore,
learn, and dream. Our children must be
protected from unsafe environments and
supported by our communities.
Stable Communities
In order to invest in children and the
community structures that support them, tribal
governments must have options for economic
development and flexibility to channel tribal
and federal funds into programs that best
support their members. The objective is to
foster economically self‐sufficient communities
which can support community programs that
provide basic support for children and families.
State of Native Children’s Health
“The American Indian and Alaska Native people
have long experienced lower health status when
compared with other Americans. Lower life
expectancy and the disproportionate disease
burden exist perhaps because of inadequate
education, disproportionate poverty,
discrimination in the delivery of health services,
and cultural differences. These are broad quality
of life issues rooted in economic adversity and
poor social conditions.”
- Indian Health Service Fact Sheet
www.http://info.ihs.gov/Disparities.asp
State of Native Children’s Health
•
American Indian and Alaska Native infants die at a rate of
nearly 12 per every 1,000 live births, as compared to 7 per
1,000 for the U.S. all races population (2002-2004 rates).
(IHS)
•
American Indians and Alaska Natives born today have a life
expectancy that is 9.6 years less than the U.S. all races
population (67.3 years to 76.9 years, respectively) (NIHB
Budget Formulation Team)
•
American Indians and Alaska Natives die at higher rates than
other Americans from tuberculosis (750% higher), alcoholism
(550% higher), diabetes (190% higher), unintentional injuries
(150% higher), homicide (100% higher) and suicide (70%
higher). (IHS)
State of Native Children’s Health
•
13% of Indian deaths occur in those younger
than 25, a rate 3 times higher than the U.S.
population. (NIHB)
•
Suicide is ranked as the second leading cause
of death for AI/ANs aged 10 to 34 as reported
by the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention’s National Center for Injury
Prevention and Control. (CDC)
American Indian and Alaska Native
Students Background Information
•
There are about 624,000 American Indian and Alaska
Native students in the U.S. K–12 system (U.S.
Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics 2005b).
•
About 90 percent of all American Indian and Alaska
Native students attend regular public schools, and 7
percent attend schools administered by the U.S.
government’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) (U.S.
Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics 2005b).
American Indian and Alaska Native
Students Background Information
•
Studies indicate that American Indian and Alaska Native
students often experience difficulty establishing
relationships with their teachers and other students;
additionally, they are often subject to racist threats and
frequent suspension (Clarke 2002; U.S. Commission on
Civil Rights 2003).
•
Studies suggest that the cultural discontinuity between
the average public school and the American Indian
communities it serves is partially to blame for the gap
between American Indian and white students’ academic
achievement (Reyhner 2001).
American Indian and Alaska Native
Students and U.S. High Schools
•
The national graduation rate for American Indian high school
students was 49.3 percent in the 2003–04 school year,
compared to 76.2 percent for white students. (EPE Research
Center 2007)
•
Only 44.6 percent of American Indian males and 50 percent of
American Indian females graduated with a regular diploma in
the 2003–04 school year. (EPE Research Center 2007)
•
American Indian and Alaska Native high school students who
graduated in 2000 were less likely to have completed a core
academic track than their peers from other racial/ethnic
groups. (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for
Education Statistics 2005b)
The Dropout Crisis
 About 1.2 million high school students drop out of
high school every year—or 7,000 students every
school day.
 Only 70 percent of all students graduate on time
and with a standard high school diploma.
 The percentages are far worse for many racial
and ethnic minority groups. In 2004…
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58 percent of Hispanic students,
53 percent of African American students, and
49 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native
students graduated on time.
Native Children’s Agenda Policies and
Strategies
•
Develop programs to recruit and train Native people
in health professions and to attract skilled health care
practitioners to tribal communities, especially in rural
and remote areas.
•
Incorporate wellness programs in health clinics and
facilities. While health care is often used to refer to
disease prevention and treatment, wellness
encompasses daily lifestyle choices, environment,
emotional and spiritual well‐being, and health
education. Through wellness promotion, the
incidence of health problems can be reduced, along
with long term health care costs.
Native Children’s Agenda Policies and
Strategies
•
Improve outreach services and health education. For
example, a tribal diabetes patient education program, which
focuses on teaching people how to manage their disease on a
daily basis, is an important tool for reducing diabetes‐related
complications. These programs can also be directed to
helping children manage their diabetes from an early age.
Similarly, community outreach services can help educate
people about the availability of health benefits and teach
children to make healthy choices early in life.
•
Develop school‐based health clinics. Students perform better
in class when they are healthy and ready to learn.
School‐based health centers bring the doctor‘s office to the
school so students avoid health‐related absences and get
support to succeed in the classroom.
Native Children’s Agenda Policies and
Strategies
•
Develop culturally relevant school‐based counseling programs
to provide schoolchildren with immediate access to mental
health services. School counselors should be trained in crisis
intervention, provide general counseling services, and be
equipped to refer students to other providers for more
in‐depth treatment. Other school employees and child care
professionals should also receive appropriate training.
•
Ensure that community food programs, especially youth
breakfast and lunch programs, incorporate healthy food
choices and locally produced or traditional food options.
•
Construct community water and wastewater systems in tribal
communities. Ensure that water and wastewater systems are
consistently and properly operated and maintained.
Native Children’s Agenda Policies and
Strategies
•
Work to ensure that schools in Native communities provide
comprehensive physical education and organized sports
opportunities. Elementary schools should be required to
incorporate at least 30 minutes a day of physical activity
and should be prohibited from using recess as a form of
punishment or reward.
•
Construct sidewalks, community playgrounds, and sports
facilities to help increase overall physical activity and
organize youth sport leagues in Native communities.
•
Recruit, train, and retain qualified teachers in tribal
communities. A key tool to recruitment and retention is to
offer financial incentives, housing assistance, and student
loan repayment programs to those deciding to teach in
Indian Country.
Native Children’s Agenda Policies and
Strategies
•
Develop educational degree programs, teacher certification
programs, and educational research projects at tribal
colleges and universities.
•
Develop Indian Head Start and Early Head Start centers to
offer federally assisted early childhood education in Native
communities.
•
Encourage partnerships between Head Start programs and
tribal colleges for teacher certification and graduate higher
education programs to ensure that adequate teacher
training is available.
•
Promote strong parent involvement and active school board
participation in all schools that tribal students attend,
including tribal, public, charter and parochial schools.
Native Children’s Agenda Policies and
Strategies
•
Ensure that teachers are qualified in both subject matter
competence and knowledge of tribal traditions and beliefs.
If possible, engage elders and other cultural experts to
assist in the classroom.
•
Integrate Native content into curricula– including
contemporary tribal issues and information on local tribes.
•
Work on the development of tribal curricula and standards.
School curricula should ensure that the unique cultural and
educational needs of Native students are met within tribal
and local schools.
•
Improve classroom buildings and dormitories to bring them
up to current standards. Regularly check to make sure that
textbooks, lab equipment, computers and other supplies are
kept up to date.
Native Children’s Agenda Policies and
Strategies
•
Ensure safe bus routes are available for children to
get to and from school, including construction,
maintenance, and repair of roads where buses travel.
•
Construct, maintain, and repair sidewalks and
crosswalks on roads frequently used by children.
Employ crossing guards during school hours.
Contact Information
Lillian Sparks, Executive Director, NIEA
[email protected], (202)544-7290
National
National
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Indian Education Association- www.niea.org
Congress of American Indians- www.ncai.org
Indian Child Welfare Association- www.nicwa.org
Indian Health Board- www.nihb.org
Council of Urban Indian Health- www.ncuih.org