INDIGENOUS EARLY LEARNING COLLABORATIVE: Communities as Researchers

DENVER and BOSTON, March 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Indigenous Early Learning Collaborative (IELC), led by First Light Education Project (Denver, CO) and Brazelton Touchpoints Center (BTC) (Boston, MA), is a national ECE initiative designed for Indigenous communities to strengthen early childhood education and learning by developing their own critical questions and constructing local, relevant, sustainable solutions.

For many early childhood educational communities, research is one place to look for solutions to address local challenges. For Indigenous communities, little research exists that provides relevant solutions, let alone addresses locally-developed questions. Study findings by external researchers rarely make it back to Native communities, and often are of little value to communities making timely practice advances.

The IELC is driven by Community-Based Inquiry (CBI): "In CBI, community members are the researchers: they know the context and the questions that need to be studied, have access to relevant data, and generate critical ideas on how to implement solutions in practice," says Dr. Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz, Founder and Principal Consultant of First Light Education Project and Director of the IELC. "We provide ongoing support and training, ensuring that the inquiry starts and remains in the communities with which we work.

First Light Education Project and BTC have created an equitable partnership to lead this work. First Light Education Project is a Native-led organization built on Indigenous principles and implementing Indigenous practices, with expertise in early childhood education and building systems of care and learning. BTC is a leader in early childhood learning and development, with a long history of working in and strengthening communities in the US and around the world. 

"We have joined intellectual forces to create, conceptualize, implement, and support working with Native communities in the areas of early childhood education and research; in so doing, we have created a partnership that allows us to put into action our shared vision and philosophy for Native children, families, and communities," says Dr. Joshua Sparrow, Executive Director of BTC.

Learn more about the IELC from Dr. Yazzie-Mintz and BTC's Joelfré Grant at BTC's Virtual National Forum, March 29-31: https://www.brazeltontouchpoints.org/2022-national-forum/

For more information or to schedule an interview with Drs. Yazzie-Mintz or Sparrow, contact Ashley Gaddis, BTC's Director of Communications (phone: 857-218-4359; e-mail: [email protected]).

SOURCE Brazelton Touchpoints Center