Teach Them Well and Let Them Lead the Way: Catawba Indian Head Start Program

       As the Catawba Indian Nation transitions into an era of self-reliance, operational government and cultural preservation take center stage. Triumphant changes abound. Current leadership cannot govern eternally, but the effort to reestablish strength can be sustained through following generations. This is not lost on Catawba leaders. Therefore Head Start has been a welcome organization in the Catawba Nation since 1998.


       Head Start is a federally funded program designed to educate children through comprehensive curriculums, family participation and support. All Head Start programs focus on physical health, early childhood education, advocacy, and disability detection and support. But it is unique to Indian Nation Head Start programs to focus on language revitalization and American Indian heritage. Through collaboration with the Catawba cultural center, the Catawba Indian Head Start integrates the Catawba language into their curriculum and also provides cultural exploration through craft projects, community visitors, storytelling and organized play. Staff from the cultural center visit the school regularly, teaching language and drumming to the children, ages 3-5 years. Because the center also severs non-tribal children and families, the center cannot teach Catawba dancing. However, the cultural center offers summer camps to tribal children that focus exclusively on Catawba traditional dances, pottery, drumming and language. This summer program in cooperation with the school year Head Start cultural curriculum makes cultural education accessible year round, enveloping Catawba children in their spiritual and artistic heritage.

       The Catawba Head Start program is offered for free to Catawba children, children living in tribal households and non-Indian children living in the local area. As of 2010 this small program, run out of a gymnasium, serves 80 children and their families, 45 of which are tribal members. The center has two family service workers who have a case load of 40 families each. Angie Brown the center’s director recognizes the importance of the task at hand, but she believes in her staff and their capacity to meet the challenge, “We are a small program and so we [staff members] wear many hats, but we are like a family here”. Angie asserts that the center has no turn over, “the staff is very close and no one wants to leave”, they are committed to the process, the children and one another. Six of the twenty people on staff are also tribal members. This fact brings both pride and relief to a nation that embraces the quote, "Whoever controls the education of our children controls our future..." Every day the Catawba Nation refreshes and refines with future generations in mind and hopes that future generations will continue the good work.


By: Domeka Parker


Resources:
Angie Brown, Catawba Indian Nation Head Start Center Director (telephone interview 5/20/10)
sc-headstart.org/Indian_Nation_Head_Start.html
http://www.catawbaindiannation.com/content.php?title=Head%20Start
http://www.nhsa.org/