World Forum Global Leaders Investing Early … Why It Matters

The Beginning… It all began in Hawaii at the World Forum on Early Care and Education in Thank you to Roger and Bonnie for your hard work and dedication to this project!

GLOBAL LEADERS Dallas Pettigrew – Cherokee Nation Kim Nall – Colusa Indian Community Marsha White – Cherokee Nation

What was our purpose? To educate tribal leaders about the importance of investing in early care and education and to influence policies and funding to increase access to high quality child care programs.

Successes Connections that were made Opportunity to join Commissions/Boards/Associations Advocating in Washington DC Educating others Introduced to many resources on our topic Venue to promote initiatives such as Farm to Pre-School, IMIL, Let’s Move

MUD DAY We joined forces with Bishu Bhatta in Nepal to provide Mud Day to the children at the Cherokee Nation Child Care Center. We also educated and encouraged all children in the Cherokee Nation to join in Mud Day!

Mud Day in Colusa Indian Community Children at Colusa Indian Community in California also joined Mud Day!

Who was invited? Principal Chief Deputy Chief Elders Council Parents Children

Investing Early Brochure ¨ Every dollar invested in quality early care and education saves taxpayers up to $13.00 in future costs; which include criminal justice and incarceration, health care, welfare and other subsidies ¨ Access to available and affordable choices of early childhood learning programs helps working parents fulfill their responsibilities ¨ More than 11 million children under the age of 5 are in some type of child care setting every week ¨ Research shows that 80% of the brain develops between the ages of birth and age 5 Obstacles that Early Childhood Programs face ¨ Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) has not been reauthorized since ▪Only 2% of this funding is set aside for Tribal Child Care ¨ Early Childhood teachers are among the lowest paid teachers nation wide. Their average salary is $7.25 per hour. This is less than a parking lot attendant ¨ American Indian students perform 2.4 grade levels behind their peers in reading by grade 4. Investing in quality early childhood programs could drastically reduce this margin ¨ American Indian students are 24% more likely to drop out of high school than their peers Call for Action: Embrace the vision of the Tribes to grow and nurture children ¨ Increase Tribal Child Care set aside funding to 5% ¨ Improve the Early Education workforce by providing adequate compensation and offer loan forgiveness to retain quality teachers ¨ Invest in our youngest children; they are our Future Tribal Leaders! The evidence is in: quality early education benefits children of all social and economic groups

Brochure distributed to… Tribal Leaders Office of Child Care Administration for Children and Families Tribal Head Start Tribal Child Care Association of California Board National Indian Child Care Association HHS Tribal Advisory Committee Members of Congress National Congress of American Indians California Department of Education-Child Development Division Early Childhood Association of Oklahoma Oklahoma Tribal Child Care Association The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

Sharing our Presentation

With… National Indian Child Care Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada Child Care Aware of America Conference (formerly NACCRRA) in Washington DC Oklahoma Indian Child Welfare Association (OICWA) Oklahoma Tribal Child Care Association

Advocacy

We advocated by sitting on Panels Served on Panel representing The Global Leaders and Cherokee Nation at the Child Care Aware of America Conference in Washington DC

We advocated… In Washington DC At meetings During conference presentations Locally within our own tribes and communities

Child Care Meet and Greet Tribal Leaders were invited to tour our Child Care Centers. We used this opportunity to discuss the importance of quality child care and the value of “Investing Early” in Early Childhood Education.

Making Connections… that’s what it’s all about!

Challenges Administrative changes within our own tribe The distance between our group The # of tribes within the US – challenging to reach them all

Continuation Develop marketing campaign Develop Advocacy 101 training Continue working with and improving conditions for children and families Write grants for improving and investing in Early Childhood Present at Tribal Conferences Advocate in DC with NICCA Keep brochure up to date Share brochure with new leaders

We thank you for the opportunity of being Global Leaders. We have all 3 gained a wealth of knowledge; have felt that we have educated leaders and have made a difference in the lives of children!