WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our descendants the inherent sovereign rights of our Indian nations, rights secured under Indian treaties and agreements with the United States, and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the laws and Constitution of the United States, to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve Indian cultural values, and otherwise promote the health, safety and welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and submit the following resolution; and
WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was established in 1944 and is the oldest and largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Head Start (OHS) administers the Head Start Program, which is a national program that promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social, and other services to enrolled children and families; and
WHEREAS, few national programs have improved the health, well-being, and school readiness of American Indian and Alaska Native children as well as the Head Start program; and
WHEREAS, Head Start programs operated by tribes today are subject to over 1,700 performance standards established by regulations, in addition to numerous contract terms and conditions, information memoranda, program instructions, and the broad discretion of program specialists and other OHS personnel in the conduct of Head Start programs; and
WHEREAS, the standards, contract terms and conditions, information memoranda, program instructions, and guidance and direction provided by OHS personnel have created a tremendous administrative burden on tribes, causing tribes to focus more of their attention on policy development, compliance, and monitoring, and much less attention on preparing children and families to tackle the challenges of today and tomorrow; and
WHEREAS, the American Indian –Alaska Native Head Start programs have for years expressed great concern over the inability of the OHS to provide training and technical assistance support that is both expert in the requirements of the Head Start Act and also understands the unique legal, political, and cultural environment in which these programs must operate; and
WHEREAS, the additional and unfunded burdens placed on tribes include: (a) the disallowance of Indirect Costs for late Indirect Cost Agreements, even though those agreements are finally secured within the federal fiscal year; and (b) that organizational structures of tribes comply with the requirements of the OHS; and
WHEREAS, although the OHS has done a tremendous amount of good in Indian Country, its recent policy decisions and practices undermine the spirit and intent of executive orders and memoranda, and create undue and unfunded administrative and financial burdens on tribes.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that NCAI hereby respectfully requests the OHS to ensure its actions align with the tribal consultation policies of the Administration for Children and Families and the Department of Health and Human Services; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NCAI hereby respectfully requests the OHS to reduce the excessive number of performance standards that create unfunded administrative and financial burdens on tribes; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NCAI hereby respectfully requests the OHS to implement the promised program to allow tribes through self-governance to assume greater control over their programs and to design program standards that would be most effective for their own communities; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NCAI hereby respectfully requests the OHS to implement indirect cost rate adjustments to allow programs to use a prior year’s indirect cost rate to assure continuity and funding; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NCAI hereby respectfully requests the OHS to provide training and technical assistance support by a provider who has experience in working with Native communities and tribal governments, including restoring the tribal college and university-head start partnership program, and restore the website dedicated to Alaska Native/American Indian programs; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of NCAI until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.
CERTIFICATION
The foregoing resolution was adopted by the General Assembly at the 2012 Mid-Year Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held at The Cornhusker Hotel from June 17-20, 2012 in Lincoln, Nebraska, with a quorum present.