NORTHERN CHEYENNE RESERVATION YOUTH AND FAMILY ECONOMIC/PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND INTERPERSONAL SKILLS TRAINING.

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: SERD GRANT
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0210963
• Grant No.: 2007-47002-03840
• Proposal No.: 2007-02677
• Project Start Date: Sep 1, 2007
• Project End Date: Aug 31, 2009
• Grant Year: 2007
• Program Code: [NK]- Extension Tribal College Program

Recipient Organization
CHIEF DULL KNIFE COLLEGE
1 COLLEGE DRIVE, P.O. BOX 98
LAME DEER,MT 59043

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
Chief Dull Knife College is located in southeastern Montana on the Northern Cheyenne reservation. Although the geography of the reservation is beautiful, the economic and educational prospects for the residents are bleak. Average unemployment is nearly 60% and the average per capita income is $7,736. 50% of students drop out of high school before graduating. With nearly 50% of the population under the age of 20, an Extension Special Emphasis project in the scope of youth and family development will address and assist in meeting the needs of the youth and families among the Northern Cheyenne people The purpose of Chief Dull Knife College's Extension Special Emphasis project is to assist the Northern Cheyenne reservation community in creating the financial visioning and personal development processes necessary for the people and leader to build their communities by producing strategies to enhance financial independence and individual wellbeing. The project will help young individuals and families strengthen their competencies to become healthy, productive, financially secure and responsible members of society. Youth and family development is targeted to improve the management of financial resources and to encourage leadership and personal goal achievement through workshops and activities. The project seeks to continue build individuals and families to help improve the quality of life through the building of assets, achievement of entrepreneurial and educational dreams, and personal encouragement and development.

Animal Health Component

100%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

100%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
903	6099	3020	100%

Knowledge Area
903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery;

Subject Of Investigation
6099 - People and communities, general/other;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;

Keywords

money management

financial education

youth development

ida

summer programming

credit counseling

Goals / Objectives
Objective 1. Provide money management educational workshops to help individuals and families strengthen their competencies to become productive, financially secure and responsible members of society. Objective 2. Organize and offer a special CDKC Summer Enrichment program for youth ages 6-18 with workshops in bead working, theater arts, physical activity, nutrition, gardening, entrepreneurship and leadership. Objective 3. Provide debt management counseling to assist tribal and non-tribal members, as a pilot project with Montana Consumer Credit Counseling Services. Objective 4. Continue to increase community members awareness of the importance of savings plans through an IDA program and SAVES campaign project. Objective 5. Provide personal development opportunities for youth to strengthen their competencies to become productive and responsible members of society.

Project Methods
Obj 1: Staff will offer money management workshops, using existing curricula, targeting youth, adults and families. Topics covered will include creating and working with budgets, investing, entrepreneurial guidance for improved local economy, and credit use. The financial management workshops will be offered quarterly to families in the form of a family fun night for a targeted audience of 25 individuals. Workshops targeting 10 youth (each session), ages eight to eighteen, will be offered monthly (9) in either one of the schools or the Youth Services Center. Five adults in tribal departments or local businesses will be targeted bimonthly for money management workshops. A total of 220 participants will have been involved in a financial education component. Obj 2: Youth, ages 7-18, will participate in a summer program designed to include entrepreneurial, nutrition, and gardening projects. The program will lead youth through a business plan for marketing and selling fresh produce which the youth will sow and tend in local gardens. Other workshops will involve theatre exposure, leadership development. Local artists will share knowledge and practice and events will encourage physical activity and nutritional health. Each workshop will target five participants with a total of 50 participants. Obj 3: This project will provide individual credit counseling and debt management through a partnership with First Interstate Bank and Montana Consumer Credit Counseling Services. A local CCCS office will be established and appointments will be scheduled with tribal and non-tribal members to rebuild credit. Obj 4: Dull Knife Saves will be incorporated into all financial education workshops to encourage saving and wealth building. The savings goals will be coupled with the Individual Development Accounts (IDA) program or First Interstate Mini Bank program for the appropriate participants. The IDA program will target five families for involvement and will be a demonstration project to showcase to the community. Each family will be required to attend and participate in workshops, set savings goal, set timeline and meet with a mentor as outlined and developed by IDA collaborators. Obj 5: In cooperation with Chief Dull Knife College, local schools, Northern Cheyenne Youth Services, and local youth programs, staff will offer workshops and opportunities for youth, ages 7-18, in leadership, vocational programs awareness, international relationship and educational opportunities. Workshops and meetings will occur bimonthly throughout the school months and will target 10 youth each time.

Progress 09/01/07 to 08/31/09

Outputs
Chief Dull Knife College's Tribal College Extension Service Program assists the Northern Cheyenne Reservation community in creating the financial visioning and personal development processes necessary for the people and leaders to build their communities by producing strategies to enhance financial independence and individual wellbeing. The project has helped young individuals and families strengthen their competencies to become healthy, productive, financially secure and responsible members of society. Youth and family development was targeted to improve the management of financial resources and to encourage leadership and personal goal achievement through workshops and activities. Northern Cheyenne community members were able to explore and learn about their finances, assets, credit reports, and work towards fulfillment of short and long term goals of financial independence. Youth were given opportunities to encourage their personal development to become confident, savvy and skilled members of society. This project has helped community members identify their needs and hopes for their community. The methods and activities helped strengthen personal finances, teach lifelong interpersonal and resource management skills, and contributed to the creation of a healthier economy with healthier members. The project sought special emphasis consideration to continue improving the quality of life through the building of assets, achievement of entrepreneurial and educational dreams, and personal encouragement and development. This foundation step will help develop a financially thriving community of valued youth. The Extension Service Special Emphasis program offered the financial education workshops which gave the opportunity to explore and learn more about finances, assets, credit use and reports, and the fulfillment of long and short term goals to achieve financial independence. A broad savings campaign called Dull Knife Saves is the umbrella program that encompasses a debt management credit counseling pilot project as well as the Individual Development Accounts project which emphasized the importance of savings. The credit counseling project is in cooperation with Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Montana and First Interstate Bank Systems and provided for the training of two CDKC Extension Staff to be accredited financial counselors in order to serve the community with credit and debt management counseling. The Individual Development Accounts project included community members who committed to monthly savings while attending money management workshops and meetings with a case manager. Youth programming provided the chance for community youth to be involved in interesting, varied, and educational activities that allowed them to experience and learn new things while exploring their leadership potentials, entrepreneurial abilities, and personal skills. Continued reliance on and support from MSU Extension allowed for increased family development and resource management. PRODUCTS: A variety of brochures, worksheets, a toolkit and organizer were developed and distributed as support materials for workshops and activities. A monthly flyer was written and posted around the college with different financial management and economic information. OUTCOMES: Through participation in numerous budgeting workshops, 130 adults and 50 youth gained financial management knowledge and skills. Attendees had increased awareness of the need to budget and make plans. Skills in money management were increased by participants' practice with workshop materials and take home products for use with home finances. Through leadership activities and specific skills programs, 141 youth gained experience in personal and leadership development, and entrepreneurial skills. Participants were able to use the take-home knowledge gained as well as materials provided in order to begin the creation and utilization of a spending plan and to concentrate ideas and energies on entrepreneurial skills and ideas. Youth detention inmates explored personal identity and goal aspirations. The Dull Knife Saves Individual Development Accounts pilot project continued into its second year and participants continued to gain knowledge in financial management. The motivation needed to sustain participation was lacking and involvement decreased. However participants did change attitudes towards money management and savings and began to make wiser decisions. Ten community members benefited through CDKC Extension's credit counselor project from the use of information referenced and the referral of resources. The impact of this locally focused program is improved local economy and community pride. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: Press releases, flyers, posters, and newsletters were created and distributed for the purpose of disseminating information about programming announcements and successes. FUTURE INITIATIVES: The Chief Dull Knife IDA project will continue with a changed emphasis from families to youth. The policies will be changed accordingly but will remain basically the same.

Impacts
Topics offered and content presented in financial education workshops will continue to be updated and rotated so that the most relevant and important information is taught. Organizations around the country are constantly creating and improving curricula for low income and rural communities which we utilize in order to provide the best programming available. The late state of the national economy has created a flood of information and advice for frugal living which have been continual themes in our community. Many resource materials are considered and drawn from in order to create the best package for our particular community's needs. The Native American Credit Counselor debt counseling program as an ongoing pilot program will continue to engage staff in trainings so that the highest quality counseling is offered to the community. Staff members are now accredited financial counselors and are nearing the end of the initial training phase. This program has the potential for long term positive impact on the social and economic condition of the community through local and culturally aware services. Youth programming resulted in students understanding financial management and improved self esteem and confidence with personal skills as well as money management.

Publications

• No publications reported this period