CRTCW

Center Projects (Current & Past)

Current Projects
Child Welfare Scholars Program

With help from Title IV-E federal child welfare training funds is to strengthen staffing in public child welfare agencies. The Department of Social Work at UMD has become a partner in fulfilling this purpose through our Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare Studies. We have undertaken The Center initiatives in the areas of American Indian Projects, distance education, and curriculum development.

"What does it take to raise healthy Anishinaabeg children?” A Research Study funded by The Otto Bremer Foundation

Beginning in 2003, the Center has been asking the question “what does it take to raise healthy American Indian children?” With the help of a grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation, the Center completed a three-year research study asking tribal elders how to raise healthy American Indian children. The Center has produced several national and state-wide presentations, a poster, and online training related to this work. Currently, the Center is expanding this research to the Twin Cities, and Duluth to begin to ask the question “what does it take to raise healthy American Indian children in the city?” 

“Summer Institute in American Indian Child Welfare”

The Summer Institute is an opportunity for Tribal child welfare workers and administrators to spend a week together developing new practice skills, sharing collective experiences, and learning with other Indian child welfare professionals and scholars in a Tribal context. The Center’s hope is that this free training can emerge as the premier opportunity for Tribal child welfare workers in the state and continue to be provided for years to come.

Evaluation: Leech Lake IV-E Child Welfare Services

As a result of 2005 Minnesota state legislation, the Leech Lake Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe is participating in a state funded demonstration project which gives the band greater control and responsibility over the child welfare services provided to its members. The University of Minnesota Duluth’s Center for Regional & Tribal Child Welfare Studies and the American Indian Projects program have been asked by the Leech Lake Band to assist in developing and carrying out a program evaluation of these newly created IV-E child welfare services.  While the Minnesota Department of Human Services has its own system for evaluating outcomes, there was a feeling at Leech Lake that there is a need for a comprehensive evaluation, one that considers historical realities, community needs and strengths, and the barriers Leech Lake employees face while serving enrolled kids and families.

Evaluation: SAMHSA Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Center of Excellence—White Earth Band of Ojibwe

The Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare Studies has been contracted as the evaluator for this federally funded program designed to improve the diagnosis and intervention efforts on behalf of children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and their families. UMD’s involvement includes the development of a needs assessment prior to the beginning of the project, the creation of an evaluation, and technical assistance throughout the scope of the project.

American Indian Student Support
American Indian Projects provides support services to American Indian students in the Master of Social Work program at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Assistance is available beginning with the application process and follows through a student's entire MSW education. At least once each semester student support meetings are held. At these meetings students are given the opportunity to connect with one another and American Indian Projects faculty and staff to discuss the educational process. Students are provided with opportunities to attend local, regional, and national conferences to further their professional development. The American Indian Projects staff are available to assist students in filling out financial aid forms, following degree programs, registering for classes, purchasing textbooks, finding housing, navigating through the Master’s Project options, and finding appropriate cultural services in the local area. The American Indian Projects staff are also available to help students locate employment after graduation. A UMD American Indian MSW Alumni Association is in currently in the planning stages.

Learning Circles
Learning Circles presents both a curriculum and a process. Participants make a commitment to work on their own cultural competence through bi-monthly activities and reflection. Students have expressed the need for greater skill and for the experiential dimension of cultural competency. This decision to introduce Learning Circles to our faculty, staff, and student body represents the department's commitment to respond to this need. We hope to make a significant impact on the cultural competence of our own program and institutionalize cultural competency within the UMD Department of Social Work.

Challenging Dialogue Sessions

In 2007 both faculty and students expressed a desire to “practice” having difficult conversations around issues of oppression and cultural competence in a safe setting. As a result, the Social Work Department created and implemented a series of small-group dialogue sessions co-facilitated by faculty members and recent graduates from the program. These sessions utilized the film "Skin Deep" as the basis for discussions.   

Community Outreach and Advisory Boards

Over the past decade American Indian Projects has conducted extensive outreach activities with the northern Minnesota Ojibwe Tribes. The AIP American Indian Community Advisory Council has been active for 9 years. The Council meets quarterly to guide the American Indian Projects. The eight members represent each of the seven Minnesota Tribes: Bois Forte, Fond du Lac, Grand Portage, Leech Lake, Mille Lacs, Red Lake, and White Earth; as well as an elder who serves as the group’s spiritual leader.  Additionally, AIP has facilitated several “critical issues in Indian child welfare” discussions with Tribal human services leaders in Minnesota to help the Social Work Department implement projects that fit the needs of Tribal communities in the area.

Past Projects

Child Welfare Curriculum and Field Enhancement
(CW CAFE)

This $400,000 grant ($100,000 per year for four years) was provided by the US Department of Health and Human Service's Children's Bureau from 10-1-04 to 9-30-08 to support Child Welfare Scholars. In addition, it funded further child welfare curriculum development and training for child welfare field supervisors.

Minnesota Anishinaabe: Nations and People—An Information and Resource Manual

This manual was produced collaboratively by the American Indian Projects with assistance from the Human Services Division of the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission. Project coordinators and authors were Dr. Priscilla Day and Dr. Anne Tellett. The goal of the project was to serve as an introduction to the Anishinaabe Tribes and people of Minnesota.

Conference: "Impact of Methamphetamine on Children and Families, Research and Community Response"

Concerned about the impact that Methamphetamine was having on families and service providers in the region, the Social Work Department convened a conference in February of 2006. The organizers brought two prominent national researchers to the campus: Wendy Haight, associate professor at the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and James Black, an M.D. and neuroscientist from Southern Illinois University. The conference also offered several local organizations to share their experiences. The conference was co-sponsored by the Center for American Indian and Minority Health and the U of M Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment and the Life Sciences.
                                        
Rural Child Welfare Conference:"Making a Difference: Unique Challenges for Tribal and Rural Child Welfare Practice"

"Invisible Wounds of Oppression" Presentation and follow-up with Dr. Kenneth Hardy- "Not Quite Home" Article

Culture & Language Institutes

In 2000-01 and 2001-02 American Indian Projects staff offered four seasonal, two day Culture and Language Institutes at various Anishinaabe reservations throughout northern Minnesota.

American Indian UMD MSW American Indian students, faculty, staff and human service providers learned about the federal government's social policies that affect
American Indians, traditional family support networks, teachings about traditional child
rearing practices, Ojibwe language, and seasonal activities. AIP learned a great deal and
helped to establish tribal social work networks that still remain strong today.

American Indian Child Welfare Certificate Program:

This collaboration between UMD's MSW program, American Indian Studies, Anishinaabe tribes in northern Minnesota and the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) was funded by the Bush Foundation. The project explored developing an educational pathway for tribal social workers including establishing a tribal child welfare certificate. This certificate is now offered through NICWA. AIP established it's community advisory boards during this project to provide guidance to project activities and established a framework for the educational pathway.