Notice2022-05962
Request for Information: Technical Assistance Needs and Priorities on Implementation and Coordination of Early Childhood Development Programs in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
March 22, 2022
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services DepartmentChildren and Families Administration
Abstract
Through this Request for Information (RFI), the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), seeks to further the development, implementation, and coordination of early childhood development programs in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities, by soliciting information and recommendations from a broad array of individuals and organizations with knowledge and expertise around the context and needs of tribal communities and early childhood programs. ACF will analyze information received from this RFI to support the development, improvement, and implementation of technical assistance (TA) (i.e., information, tools, training, and other supports) efforts and strategies to support tribal communities and programs in carrying out and coordinating early childhood services and initiatives.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 55 (Tuesday, March 22, 2022)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 55 (Tuesday, March 22, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16195-16196]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-05962]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
Request for Information: Technical Assistance Needs and
Priorities on Implementation and Coordination of Early Childhood
Development Programs in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities
AGENCY: Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.
ACTION: Request for public comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Through this Request for Information (RFI), the Administration
for Children and Families (ACF), in the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS), seeks to further the development, implementation,
and coordination of early childhood development programs in American
Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities, by soliciting information
and recommendations from a broad array of individuals and organizations
with knowledge and expertise around the context and needs of tribal
communities and early childhood programs. ACF will analyze information
received from this RFI to support the development, improvement, and
implementation of technical assistance (TA) (i.e., information, tools,
training, and other supports) efforts and strategies to support tribal
communities and programs in carrying out and coordinating early
childhood services and initiatives.
DATES: Send comments on or before April 5, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Submit questions, comments, and supplementary documents to
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5f101c1c0b2d363d3e331f3e3c397137372c71383029"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="541b171700263d363538143537327a3c3c277a333b22">[email protected]</span></a> with ``Tribal TA RFI'' in the subject line.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, please
contact Moushumi Beltangady at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a5e8cad0d6cdd0c8cc8bc7c0c9d1c4cbc2c4c1dce5c4c6c38bcdcdd68bc2cad3"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1b56746e68736e767235797e776f7a757c7a7f625b7a787d35737368357c746d">[email protected]</span></a> or 202-
260-3613.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Invitation to Comment: HHS invites comments regarding this notice.
You do not need to address every question and should focus on those
where you have relevant expertise or experience. In your response,
please provide a brief description of yourself and your role or
organization before addressing the questions. To ensure that your
comments are clearly stated, please identify the questions you are
responding to when submitting your response.
1.0 Background
Ensuring high-quality, culturally appropriate, birth-to-age 5 early
childhood services to children from AI/AN communities has long been a
critical priority for Native communities throughout the United States.
Health care and education are considered a fundamental treaty right by
tribes, and the fact that AI/AN populations experience disparities in
health and well-being relative to other population groups highlights a
significant need for targeted services. Building on neuroscience
findings indicating that interventions in the first few years of a
child's life have significant impacts on their lifelong health and
well-being, tribal early childhood programs show promise in mitigating
disparities. Programs like Head Start (<a href="https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov">https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov</a>),
child care (<a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ">https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ</a>), and home visiting (<a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ecd/tribal/tribal-home-visiting">https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ecd/tribal/tribal-home-visiting</a>) are key resources for
children and families in diverse tribal communities. In addition, in
recent years, there has been growing recognition of the need to support
collaboration across these and other programs and develop more
coordinated early childhood systems in AI/AN communities.
The federal government has increased its focus on supporting the
implementation and coordination of tribal early childhood programs over
the past year through various efforts to bring together and learn from
tribal communities and highlight innovative and promising practices, as
well as significantly increased funding to tribes through the American
Rescue Plan Act. In addition, there are current collaborative federal
efforts in place to promote collaboration and coordination of TA for
tribal programs. There is also the potential for new or expanded early
childhood programs to be implemented in tribal communities in the
coming years, making a focus on supportive effective implementation and
coordination of programs even more.
2.0 Request for Information
Through this Request for Information (RFI), ACF is seeking input
from tribal leaders, tribal program administrators, service providers,
current federal and non-federal TA providers, potential TA providers,
national organizations, researchers, philanthropy, families and
community members, states, and others about the TA needs and priorities
of tribal communities around implementing and providing early childhood
services (including Head Start, child care, home visiting, preschool,
and early intervention and special education), as well as needs around
coordination of services and supporting stronger early childhood
systems at the tribal level.
Responses to this RFI will inform ongoing and future efforts to
provide training and TA to tribal communities. We are not only
interested in feedback about current TA needs and priorities, but also
the needs, capacity, and potential of the system to support
implementation and coordination of any new or expanded early childhood
initiatives. This RFI is for information and planning purposes only and
should not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the
part of ACF or HHS.
3.0 Key Questions
3.1 In your opinion, what are the key topics or areas where tribal
communities want or need TA or support to effectively implement or
coordinate tribal early childhood programs (e.g., Head Start, child
care, home visiting, preschool, early intervention, and special
education)?
<bullet> What TA would be helpful to support tribal communities to
implement their priorities around integration of language and culture,
including language preservation and maintenance, in their early
childhood programs and systems?
<bullet> What TA would be helpful to support tribal communities in
conducting needs assessments and strategic planning activities to
support effective and coordinated early childhood programs and systems?
<bullet> What TA would be helpful to support tribal communities in
effective
[[Page 16196]]
fiscal and administrative management of early childhood programs and
grants?
<bullet> Given existing challenges with recruiting, hiring, and
retaining qualified tribal early childhood program staff, what TA would
be helpful to support tribal communities in building, supporting,
strengthening, and maintaining an effective early childhood workforce?
<bullet> What TA would be helpful to support tribal communities in
planning for, developing, building, maintaining, and improving
appropriate early care and education facilities?
<bullet> What TA supports do tribal communities need or want around
data collection and management, data systems, and data sovereignty in
their early childhood programs and systems?
<bullet> What TA would be helpful to support tribal communities in
implementing continuous quality improvement and evaluation initiatives
in their early childhood programs and systems?
<bullet> What TA would be helpful to support tribal communities
directly implementing high-quality early childhood programs and
services (including evidence-based, developmentally appropriate
practices, as well as infant and toddler programs and services to
children with disabilities)?
<bullet> What TA would be helpful to support tribal early childhood
programs in implementation of health, behavioral health, nutrition
services, as appropriate?
<bullet> What TA would be helpful to support tribal early childhood
programs and communities in effectively engaging families, elders, and
community members and promoting family leadership (i.e., empowering
families to have a voice in program planning, implementation, and
evaluation and advocate for their children)?
<bullet> What TA would be helpful to support tribal communities in
developing, implementing, and overseeing (1) subsidy and certificate
programs, (2) licensing programs, and (3) grants and contracts for
early childhood services?
<bullet> What TA would be helpful to better support (1) tribal-
level coordination and integration of early childhood programs and
supports and (2) development of early childhood systems?
<bullet> What TA would be helpful to support tribes, when they
desire, to collaborative effectively with states on implementation of
early childhood programs and services?
<bullet> Are there any other key topic areas where TA would be
helpful to support tribal communities in implementation and
coordination of early childhood programs and systems? Are there any
specific considerations around implementing possible new child care or
preschool programs?
3.2 In your opinion, what is the ability and capacity of the
current federal early childhood TA system to support tribal communities
in the areas where TA is needed?
<bullet> What are the strengths of the existing TA system?
<bullet> Where are the gaps in the existing TA system?
<bullet> What existing resources could be more fully leveraged or
tailored to be responsive to tribal early childhood programs and the
needs of tribal communities?
3.3 In your opinion, what is the ideal structure of a TA network to
provide support to tribal communities around implementation and
coordination of early childhood programs and systems?
<bullet> What is the ideal overall organization of a federal tribal
early childhood TA system (e.g., national coordinating centers,
regional-specific centers, topic-specific centers)?
<bullet> What are the best ways to ensure that federal TA is well-
coordinated?
<bullet> What are the needed skills, background, capacities,
experiences, and resources of entities and individuals providing TA to
tribal communities implementing early childhood programs and systems?
<bullet> What are the best strategies for providing TA to tribal
communities to implement coordinated early childhood programs and
supports (e.g., universal, targeted, intensive)?
<bullet> What are the ideal methods for providing TA to tribal
communities on early childhood programs (e.g., written resources,
tools, webinars, trainings, meetings, site visits, peer learning and
collaboration, coaching)?
3.4 If new or expanded TA supports are needed to support tribal
early childhood program implementation and coordination, in your
opinion, in what ways can the field (including TA providers) build
capacity to provide the needed TA to tribal communities?
<bullet> Are there organizations or entities that are capable to
serve as TA providers?
<bullet> Is there a pool of people who have the skills and
experience necessary, including understanding the context of tribal
communities, tribal sovereignty, culture and language, and tribal early
childhood programs, to provide the TA that is needed?
<bullet> How can the TA system build capacity without negatively
impacting tribal communities themselves (e.g., by hiring away
experienced staff)?
<bullet> How could potential new TA investments be integrated into
the existing network of federal tribal early childhood TA providers?
3.5 In your opinion, do different types of tribal communities have
different TA needs and priorities (topics, methods, strategies)?
<bullet> Larger tribal communities?
<bullet> Smaller tribal communities?
<bullet> Alaska Native communities?
<bullet> Urban Indian communities?
<bullet> Tribes that are consolidating child care into their 102-
477 employment, training, and related services plans?
3.6 In your opinion, what are key challenges and lessons learned in
providing effective TA to tribal communities to implement coordinated
early childhood programs and systems?
<bullet> What are the primary challenges or barriers?
<bullet> For entities that have provided TA to tribal communities
on these topics, what are some key lessons learned?
Authority: Section 511, Title V of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 711); Head Start Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 9801 et seq.); CCDB
Act of 2014, as amended (Pub. L. 113-186).
Katie Hamm,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development
Administration for Children and Families U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services.
[FR Doc. 2022-05962 Filed 3-21-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-74-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on March 22, 2022.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.