issommotsiiy How we help each other in Rural

āissṗoōmmoǒtsiiyō • ṗ: How "we help each other" in Rural Montana and in Indigenous Communities Heather Denny, Montana Office of Public Instruction Nikki Hannon, Browning Public Schools

Creating State Specific Guidance Brochures and Posters Guidance for Substandard Housing Guidance for Assisting Students Impacted by Natural Disasters Military and Veteran Guidance - 10% of Montanans have served in the military

Shifting the Grant to follow the students Shifting funding from urban to rural/reservation communities Changing grant requirements - 50 identified students or 10% of population Simplifying grant application process Short answers Topics with guidance Rubric that weights scores to favor districts with high poverty rates Demonstration of need based on rural poverty issues

Supporting Liaisons in Indigenous Communities Looking at data - poverty and identification rates Learning about your tribal communities - read, talk to people, do research Recognizing historical issues (trauma, broken treaties) Persistent and Consistent Support - phone calls, emails,

My roots run deep in Montana Pine Tree Woman (b. 1798). . . my 4 th great grandmother pii • amissoo “Goes Up Far” was her father She and her sister, Iron Woman, married a fur trader, Augustin Hamel Armell

Blackfeet Reservation, Browning, Montana ● Blackfeet Reservation is 1. 5 million acres ○ 3, 000 square miles ● No “town” of Browning ● Population appx 12, 000 ○ Enrolled members appx 7, 000 ○ Add. l 8, 500 live off-rez Economy ○ 98% free and reduced lunch ○ 37% poverty rate

View from a Browning High School classroom ● 2019 -2020 Browning Public Schools ○ total enrollment #1942 ○ Mc. Kinney Vento #131 ○ Grandparents Raising Grandkids #144 ■ Severe underreporting ● 2018 Cohort Graduation Rate 58%

Factors that contribute to Homelessness ● Mental health issues ● Drug/alcohol addiction ○ Nearly 50% of babies born in Browning are drug-exposed ● Domestic/Family Violence ○ 2018 -2019 #90 children in Foster Care

Historical Trauma Systematic Genocide (assimilation) ● Removal & Relocation to Reservations ● Boarding Schools-breaking families and parenting skills; ○ Practice ended in ‘ 70 s ○ Only two generations ago…. grandparents traumatized ● Dependency on Government ○ What does home ownership even mean? ○ Generational homelessness ○ Extreme poverty and unemployment

Our greatest resources are our Relationships Grandparents Raising Grandkids When you know who your sixth cousins are, you always have somewhere to live. Blackfeet definition of homelessness--does not match up with federal definition~under-reporting

How we provide for youth with limited local resources ● Individual Sponsors for special events (ie. Toy Drive) ● Business* & Individual Sponsors for special events (ie. Prom) ● Blackfeet Tribal Business Council (winter apparel) ● Whitefish Soroptomist grant (young mothers and infants essentials); service club

2019 Back to School Store ● Mc. Kinney Vento grant ● Local donations from individuals ● Donations from: New Jersey, Indiana, California, Florida ● School District Parent Involvement fund

School Based Clothing Closets Thank you, Nichole Heyer @ Kalispell Heart Locker, Pastor Matt Nelson at Columbia Falls Lutheran Church and Coats for Kids (non profit)

School Based Food Pantries ● Cat vs Griz annual fundraiser (Thanksgiving canned food drive & cash raised) ● FAST Blackfeet (holiday food baskets) ● Montana Food Bank Network (weekend backpack program) ● Nourish the Blackfeet (fresh produce for weekend backpacks) ● Town Pump (convenience store) grant

āissṗoōmmoǒtsiiyō • ṗ

Contact Information Heather Denny State Coordinator for Homeless Education Montana Office of Public Instruction hdenny@mt. gov Nikki Hannon Homeless Liaison/Foster Care Point of Contact Browning Public Schools (Blackfeet Reservation) nikkih@bps. k 12. mt. us

Resources Delivering Hope to a Community - https: //vimeo. com/164270657