In many Indigenous cultures, winter is the season of storytelling: to educate, to remember, and to share with the next generations. Honoring traditional cultural cycles in our practices, the Indigenous Early Learning Collaborative (IELC), led by First Light Education Project (Denver, CO) and Brazelton Touchpoints Center (BTC) (Boston, MA), is telling its story in this winter season, through the creation of a project website, publication of written reports, and the release of a documentary film.
On Tuesday, January 24, at 5 PM ET / 2 PM PT, the IELC will premiere the film, Indigenous Early Learning Collaborative: Advancing Community-Based Inquiry and Equitable Early Learning Opportunities for Native Children & Families, in which the IELC communities share their stories of implementing Community-Based Inquiry (CBI). You can join the video premiere virtually on BTC’s Zoom platform or view it later on the IELC website.
The IELC is a national initiative designed for Indigenous communities to strengthen early childhood education by generating their own critical questions and constructing local, relevant, and sustainable solutions. Community members are the researchers, using CBI to ask questions, develop methodologies, analyze data, and take immediate action to address issues of importance in early childhood education.
The initial four IELC communities are, from east to west:
• Wiikwedong Early Childhood Development Collaborative (L’Anse, MI)
• Wicoie Nandagikendan Immersion Program (Minneapolis, MN)
• Daybreak Star Preschool (Seattle, WA)
• Keiki Steps (The Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture, Hawai ’i)