Intergenerational Poverty and Mobility Among Native Americans in the United States Proceedings of a Workshop (2023) / Chapter Skim
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2 A Conversation with Community Leaders on Intergenerational Poverty
2 A Conversation with Community Leaders on Intergenerational Poverty
Pages 3-12
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From page 3... ...
. The session was designed to engage these tribal leaders so they could: • offer a landscape view of intergenerational poverty and mobility in their communities and among the populations they work with; • discuss key barriers and obstacles they see affecting Native Ameri can families that are reducing the chances their children will grow up to be happy, healthy, and prosperous adults; • discuss any promising tribal efforts, including programs, models, and community-led responses, that support upward economic m obility for families and the next generation; and • shed light on the resilience and strengths of Native American com munities to address intergenerational poverty.
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From page 4... ...
It is important to work within the frame of the resources of the community, he said, but also to redefine, rethink, and reimagine how economics can work while keeping health, educa tion, and welfare front and center. ROLE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT The committee hosting this workshop, said Hobot, is tasked with focusing on federal efforts to reduce intergenerational poverty.
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From page 5... ...
However, there has been chronic underfunding of health care; the impact of this underfunding was reflected in the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on Native populations. In addition to the need for the federal government to recognize treaty rights for Native people wherever they live, LeBlanc said that the federal government should provide support for Native communities in accessing capital.
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Given that the infrastructure issues are so deep and so challenging, she said, the federal government has an obligation to create safe and secure environments based on choice and restorative practices. When looking at a federal program, she urged the committee to consider whether the program creates an environment where there is the opportunity to disrupt the lack of mobility or the lack of prosperity.
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From page 7... ...
Unfortunately, said LeBlanc, the federal government is not fulfilling its responsibility to Native communities, and philanthropists have had to step in to meet their needs. For example, LeBlanc recently helped facilitate a meeting funded by philanthropists in which Native birth workers -- doulas, doctors, and nurses -- discussed the need to make traditional ways 1 American Indian College Fund.
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Rather, they want to be able to take care of themselves and their families, to take care of cultural responsibilities, to have the safety of a home, and to have access to health care. These things, she said, are not about mobility but are about quality of life and being "able to see ourselves in seven generations the way our ancestors saw us seven generations ago." The path for mobility, said Crazy Bull, must include a comprehensive approach to building an economic foundation for communities, as well as education that is culturally rooted in the community's identity and the individual's needs.
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From page 9... ...
Decision makers should take this reality into consideration when crafting policies and programs and should ensure that the federal government is meeting its responsibility both to help the youth and to help the nation help itself. "We have all the tools, we have all the ideas," he said, but the work requires a partnership that incorporates healing into economic policies.
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From page 10... ...
" His response to this question is that the system is performing exactly as it was intended to perform. That is, it was never meant to lift Native Americans up into embracing sovereignty as critical thinkers; rather, it was meant to "create citizen widgets within this fictitious, prefabricated American culture." These new, Native-led learning spaces represent a return to the past and to "how we know we learn best."
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From page 11... ...
3 The recommendations may be found in American Indian College Fund, Creating Visibility and Healthy Learning Environments for Native Americans in Higher Education: Declaration of Native Purpose in Higher Education: An Indigenous Higher Education Equity Initiative (Denver, CO: 2019)
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