Recipient Organization
STONE CHILD COLLEGE
RR1, BOX 1082
BOX ELDER,MT 59521
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Project Director and Affiliated Organization: Mary Ruth St. Pierre, Stone Child College Title: Stone Child College NIFA Tribal Colleges Extension Program: Capacity The areas the project will be addressing are: Agriculture, Tribal Youth and 4-H , Leadership Development , Family and Consumer Science, Health and Nutrition, Economic Development. Primary project need or strategy area/goal used (check all that apply): Scholarship/fellowship Instructional delivery system X Curricula design Faculty development Student recruitment/retention X Teaching methodology or student experiential learning X Instrumentation for teaching Primary Farm Bill Priority Area targeted by the project (check all that apply): Plant Health and Plant Production Animal Health and animal Production X Renewable Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment X Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health X Agriculture Systems and Technology X Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities X Primary project discipline or field of study targeted: (May list from above) PRIMARY FIELD OF STUDY: Student Recruitment/retention Total anticipated number of students to be served by the project: Include those participating in a learning opportunity, using the developed curriculum or instrumentation, scholarship/fellowships, etc. TOTAL NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 34 More than 50% of the population of the Rocky Boy Reservation are young, with 45% under the age of 19, compared with 25% of the total Montana population (Source: 2010 Census). There are alarming statistics on Rocky Boy youth in almost every risk area: 28,000 Native American youth are believed to be at risk for child maltreatment with 98% of this figure relating to substance abuse. (Source: National Indian Child Welfare Association) 34% of American Indian children live in families whose income is below the poverty level (Source: National Center.With over !5% (Source: Chippewa Cree TANF Program) of the community grandparents raising grandchildren,the grandparents have requested training in the raising of grandchildren in the 21st Century, especially in the areas of communications, technology, new child rearing practised, discipline, etc.In a 2012 report by the National Prevention Council, it was estimated that 14-27 percent of all Native American youth have attempted suicide at lease once. (Source: Surgeon General's Report: National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, 2012). While men age 20-24 have the highest rate of suicide amongst Native Americans,suicide is the second leading cause of death amongst all Native Americansage 10-34 (Source: SurgeonGeneral's Report: National for Suicide Strategy for Suicide Prevention, 2012.)While men age 20-24 have the highest rate of suicide amongst Native Americans, suicide is the second leading cause of death amongst all Native Americans age 10-34. (Source: Surgeon General's Report; National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, 2012
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
During the project period of September 15, 2014 to September 14, 2018 continue to implement a Reservation-wide Extension Prograam to the enrolled members of the Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation as measured by the number of participants receiving services, participation in the program, and evaluation results.During the same project period, the Stone Child College Reservation Extension Program will provide a comprehensive extension education program by further developing, coordinating and providing supportitive activities for, and aggressively promoting membership in the Mi-Wah-Si-N 4-H Community Club as measured by an increase of at least 10% in club enrollment each program year, utilizing sign-in sheets for activities, participation, and evaluation results. During the same project period, the Stone Child College Reservation Extension Program will provide a comprehensive extension education program for Grandparents, Parents and Cattlemen as measured by the establishment of a cooperative, training for a minimum of 30 Indian parents a year in Positive Indian Parenting and 20 Grandparents in techniques in raising grandchildren per year.
Project Methods
SCC is firmly committed to providing the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation with a high quality extension program based on the needs of our community. Thus, the Reservation Extension Agent (as well as the SCC Board of Regents) has identified the following activities which will be built upon previous Extension and Special Emphasis projects. 1. Continue to provide the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation with a full-time Extension Agent to provide extension related services. 2. Maintain a steady participation in the Positive Indian Parenting Curriculum by promoting the positive and healthy attributes of participation utilizing all local media outlets as the conduit. There are currently twelve (12) participants. 3. Provide the youth of the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation with a healthy and wholesome experience as members of a 4-H Club, by participating in activities such as woodworking, animal care, food & nutrition, leather-crafting, farm animal care, sewing, sport fishing, and gardening. 4. Collaborate with appropriate programs at the Rocky Boy and Box Elder Schools and the Boys and Girls Club of the Bears Paw. 5. Coordinate and sponsor an annual farmer's market/arts and crafts fair each fall. 6. Coordinate various educational field trips for youth such as visiting the MSU Agricultural Experiment Station.Distribute a quarterly newsletter which will provide community members with a calendar of upcoming Extension related events, recipes, gardening tips, nutrition and health tips, Tee Pee Fever, Farmers Market, and other relevant events. 8. Provide training to grandparents who are raising grandchildren. Our activities and approaches are quite simple: take what we have learned over the previous fourteen years and provide tribal members with the activities and services they have continually requested and are allowable through this program. In addition, we will prioritize increasing the participation and activity level of our Positive Indian Parenting curiculum utilizing an aggressive media blitz campaign carried out through all available local media outlets. Our major activities are further defined in our work plan presented later in this application. Our major strategies will include continuous outreach through our quarterly newsletter, bringing in experts in various fields (as-needed) to provide 4-H workshop facilitation and training, more aggressive youth-oriented activities through coordination with the two school systems and the Positive Indian Parenting as the conduit for engaging parents and grandparents. Finally, the program will continue to provide and increase the types of services in which community members currently show an avid interest in. We will continue to provide technical support to our cattlemen by bringing in experts in the cattle business. Like most Reservation Extension programs, our program will continuously provide innovative approaches to get community members actively involved in taking full advantage of the services we provide. Some of the methods we will employ include commissioning tribal members to facilitate workshops on Chippewa Cree Arts and Crafts, Native recipes, and the Native philosophy regarding "Mother Earth." Another focus will be toward the education of tribal youth through volunteer and agricultural related activities. We will be the advocate of community related projects such as our community gardens and our proposed annual farmers' market/arts and crafts fair. We will also provide technical support to our cattlemen in helping them meet the ever changing requirements for raising cattle, horses, and other livestock. With the large number of grandparents raising grandchildren, we plan to offer different workshops on child rearing in the 21st century--i.e., new technology their grandchildren are using such as monitoring the Internet and games, communication devices their grandchildren are using (e.g., instant messaging, social media, cell phones, texting, etc.), and keeping abreast with the "good parenting practices." (Source: Center for Indian Child Development). Finally, our major unique approaches will be to reach the youth by further development of a successful Positive Indian Parenting curriculum on the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation during our four-year project period. The SCC Indian Extension Project has identified certain materials which we will acquire which are considered essential to the success of the planned activities proposed in this application. Some of the items include, but are not limited to, supplies for the following activities: small engine work, woodworking, animal care, food & nutrition, leather-crafting, farm animals, sewing, photography, and gardening. Although many of the activities proposed herein require tools and materials, the only "technology" that we will utilize is the Internet for research, materials, and interaction with the MSU Extension Service in Bozeman. As mentioned previously, training for participants will be provided in areas such as small engines, woodworking, animal care, food & nutrition, leather-crafting, farm animals, sewing, photography, parenting, and gardening. Though not training in the traditional sense, the community newsletter will education readers in a variety of subjects. These quarterly Narrative Stone Child College - NIFA Tribal Colleges Extension Program Page 7 newsletters will be overflowing with useful tips on a variety of subjects including crafts, gardening, nutrition, and more. Finally, the staff for this Extension Project will receive training on effective implementation of the project both through the National Reservation Extension meetings and through collaboration with MSU-Bozeman. Some of these collaborations are technical assistance with cow/calf and herd management, bookkeeping for ranchers, along with updated information on new processes, their effectiveness and how they can fit into current rancher processes and procedures. Techniques perfected by such training will serve to further enhance the Extension services offered on the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation.