[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 55 (Tuesday, March 22, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16195-16196]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[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 
[email protected] with ``Tribal TA RFI'' in the subject line.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, please 
contact Moushumi Beltangady at [email protected] 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 (https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov), 
child care (https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ), and home visiting (https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ecd/tribal/tribal-home-visiting) 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)?
     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?
     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?
     What TA would be helpful to support tribal communities in 
effective

[[Page 16196]]

fiscal and administrative management of early childhood programs and 
grants?
     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?
     What TA would be helpful to support tribal communities in 
planning for, developing, building, maintaining, and improving 
appropriate early care and education facilities?
     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?
     What TA would be helpful to support tribal communities in 
implementing continuous quality improvement and evaluation initiatives 
in their early childhood programs and systems?
     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)?
     What TA would be helpful to support tribal early childhood 
programs in implementation of health, behavioral health, nutrition 
services, as appropriate?
     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)?
     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?
     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?
     What TA would be helpful to support tribes, when they 
desire, to collaborative effectively with states on implementation of 
early childhood programs and services?
     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?
     What are the strengths of the existing TA system?
     Where are the gaps in the existing TA system?
     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?
     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)?
     What are the best ways to ensure that federal TA is well-
coordinated?
     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?
     What are the best strategies for providing TA to tribal 
communities to implement coordinated early childhood programs and 
supports (e.g., universal, targeted, intensive)?
     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?
     Are there organizations or entities that are capable to 
serve as TA providers?
     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?
     How can the TA system build capacity without negatively 
impacting tribal communities themselves (e.g., by hiring away 
experienced staff)?
     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)?
     Larger tribal communities?
     Smaller tribal communities?
     Alaska Native communities?
     Urban Indian communities?
     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?
     What are the primary challenges or barriers?
     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