The Sesame Street in Communities website has hundreds of bilingual multimedia tools to help families enrich and expand their knowledge during a child’s early years from birth through age 6. There are many resources available for community providers, such as Coping with Incarceration, Helping Kids Grieve, and Autism, that use research-based resources to improve child and family well-being.
October 2, 2017 By
Resource: Sesame Street Training Videos
September 2, 2017 By
Back-to-School Webinars and “Office Hours”
*Info from School House Connection.
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August 30, 2017 By
Video of our WKKF Oral Health Eval Work with UCSF!
“There had to be a better way.” Native Americans suffer from the poorest oral health of any population in the United States, with staggering rates of untreated tooth decay among children. Valerie “Nurr’araaluk” Davidson, commissioner at the Alaska Health and Social Services, shares how dental therapists have helped a new generation receive better oral health care.
Watch video online here: https://www.facebook.com/KelloggFoundation/videos/1462807733784493/
August 20, 2017 By
Understanding American Indian and Alaska Native Early Childhood Needs
Understanding American Indian and Alaska Native Early Childhood Needs: The Potential of Existing Data
This report describes preliminary work in support of an early childhood needs assessment for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children prenatal to age five. The report uses existing data to describe the population of AI/AN children and families and their participation in early childhood services.
*Listen to and Download PDF of report here
July 28, 2017 By
Funding opportunity from the Office of Minority Health
Empowered Communities for a Healthier Nation Initiatives
The Office of Minority Health (OMH) is accepting applications for a cooperative agreement to reduce the impact of significant health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities and/or disadvantaged populations by implementing evidence-based strategies. The program aims to serve residents in communities disproportionately impacted by the opioid epidemic, childhood/adolescent obesity, and serious mental health disorders. OMH expects to fund as many as 16 cooperative agreements with up to $350,000 per year for up to three years.
Application Deadline: August 1, 2017
May 5, 2017 By
Connections That Create Health, Wellness and Security
At the heart of 
Iḷisaġvik College’s Restorative Teachings project is the desire to nurture and support meaningful connections between early childhood students, their families, and the community as a whole. It is through these connections that knowledge of language and culture, love, respect, and compassion are passed from one generation to the next.For the Iñupiat, an ancient people who have inhabited the northern regions of Alaska for thousands of years, potlucks are an opportunity to build and maintain strong connections.It is a time to gather with friends and kin, share highly prized subsistence foods, and revel in aġġi, the holding of traditional drumming and dancing, which are always accompanied by warm conversation and laughter.
On a cold, dark winter afternoon in Utqiaġvik (Barrow, Alaska), the staff of Uqautchim Uglua Learning Center escorted nine of their two- and three-year-old children and 14 family members to Aimaaġvik Assisted Living Center to celebrate the season with a potluck held for the elder residents. Aimaaġvik, loosely translated as “a place for home,” is one of Uqautchim Uglua’s community partners, along with its parent organization the Arctic Slope Native Association (ASNA). Joining the celebration were staff members from Aimaaġvik, representatives from ASNA, and members of Iḷisaġvik College administration including Iḷisaġvik College President Pearl Brower. Forty-five participants celebrated and shared the abundance of locally harvested foods such as tuttu (caribou), maktak (bowhead whale blubber), pivsi (dried fish), and aġvik quaq (frozen raw whale meat).
The cooperation of many hearts and hands contributed to the success of the potluck. Because of the community members’ compassion and willingness to share, this gathering created meaningful connections across generations. From the sounds of children laughing to the Iñupiaq language flowing from elders, it is these connections that are necessary for true health, wellness and security.
During subsequent visits, the children of Uqautchim Uglua Learning Center returned to Aimaaġvik Assisted Living Center to entertain the elders with holiday songs and traditional dancing. In January 2017, they also returned to celebrate and welcome the New Year with their “adopted” aakas and aapas (grandparents) from Aimaaġvik.
by Kimberlee Brent, Iḷisaġvik College, Assistant Professor of Education, and Heidi Ahsoak, Uqautchim Uglua Learning Center, Center Manager
April 24, 2017 By
Grant Opportunity for Native Child Nutrition Programs
Deadline is May 5, 2017
First Nations Launches New “Nourishing Native Children: Feeding Our Future” Grant Program
LONGMONT, Colorado (April 12, 2017) – First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) today launched a new grant program called “Nourishing Native Children: Feeding Our Future” thanks to generous funding provided by the Walmart Foundation. The effort will provide grants to Native American communities interested in expanding nutrition resources for existing programs that serve American Indian children ages 6-14. First Nations plans to award up to 10 grants of up to $15,000 each to continue or expand existing nutrition efforts.
The deadline for all online grant applications is May 5, 2017. The grant period will commence June 1, 2017, and end January 31, 2018. The full Request for Proposals and the application link can be found at http://www.firstnations.org/
April 12, 2017 By
Kids Art Contest!
We see it when we believe it. Each one of us has a choice: to focus our energy on obstacles or opportunities. To fixate on our problems, or focus on solutions. We can harp on what’s wrong with the world (see most news media), or we can cultivate what’s right with the world. What we focus on grows.
That’s why the Life is Good community shares one simple, unifying mission: to spread the power of optimism.
*Learn more!
March 5, 2017 By
TIPS FOR RESEARCHERS: Strengthening Research that Benefits Native Youth
American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth deserve our very best. Although the phrase Native youth may hold different meanings for different audiences, use of the phrase here is meant to indicate AI/AN children and youth from the prenatal period to the age of twenty-four. Youth are a large and growing sector of AI/AN communities, making up 42 percent of the AI/AN population nationally and over 50 percent of the AI/AN population in some states like South Dakota. They are also growing up in contexts that are culturally, economically, environmentally, and technologically different from that of their parents and grandparents. Their notions of health, success, and identity are often distinct from those of other generations.
