Turtle Talk: Collectively Raising Indige-babies

This series was conceptualized as a fun way to engage parents and families in thinking forward about how we collectively raise Indigenous children and babies in a contemporary and fast-growing technological, global Indigenous society.  Turtle talk refers to our animal relatives speaking with one another and with us. The play on Indigenous babies,  “Indige-babies for short,” in the title, calls us to look just over the horizon asking ourselves what will the world be like for our babies/children and families? How does being raised in the fast-evolving world and increasing demand of digital, technological, and cultural engagement impact our traditions and approaches to raising our babies?

The series was requested by Native parents, grandparents, and caregivers, across our IELC network, and because of that engagement, the identity of the series was co-conceptualized and will be co-implemented with our network of Native/Indigenous families/caregivers/ practitioners.

We are excited to open registration for our first 2024 Turtle Talk: Collectively Raising Indige-babies, a new BTC Family to Family Real Talk free virtual conversation series. Through conversations with families raising Indigenous babies and children, we will think together about what it is like to nurture children in our world today. This series explores the many ways in which families help their children grow their Native identities and connections with land while navigating diverse systems of care and learning.

The four-part series begins on Friday, May 24, 2024, and continues through October 18, 2024. Each webinar is 1 hour followed by a 30-minute Q&A session with our parent panelists. This series is convened through the Indigenous Early Learning Collaborative (IELC) with Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz, Ed.D., IELC Institute Director and Co-Founder and Principal Consultant at First Light Education Project.

Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz, Ed.D

IELC Institute Director and Co-Founder and Principal Consultant at First Light Education Project.

Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz, Ed.D., is co-founder and principal consultant for First Light Education Project, a consulting collaborative built on Indigenous principles with a mission to strengthen historically underserved educational communities of practice across the United States. Starting as a Toddler 2 teacher, Tarajean has built her career as a teacher, researcher, and nonprofit leader, guiding numerous tribal and national projects that have contributed to strengthening systems of care and learning within tribal and immigrant educational communities, centering change efforts within families, local communities, and early childhood leaders and systems.

With expertise in early childhood education, Native education, teaching and learning, and community-centered research, Tarajean also serves as Institute Director of the Indigenous Early Learning Collaborative, a national institute implemented in partnership with the Brazelton Touchpoints Center of Boston, MA.

Nick Terrones

Moderator

Nick Terrones is a descendant of the Chumash people in Southern California (Los Angeles Basin), as well as of Mexican heritage. These two identities have shaped Nick as an educator of young children propelling him to take on a social justice approach across multifaceted parts of his 18-year career and scholarly pursuits. Most recently Nick served as the program director of Daybreak Star Preschool, an entity of United Indians of All Tribes Foundation (Seattle, Washington).

Prior to his work at Daybreak Star, Nick specialized in toddler development and education at Hilltop Children’s Center (Seattle, WA). He currently works in the University of Washington’s College of Education as the Director of Community Relations overseeing the development of the Rainier Valley Early Learning Campus. Nick’s contributions to the field of early learning and development include serving as the Indigenous Early Childhood Collaborative’s 2024 IELC Community of Practice Contributor, and authoring a wonderful book, “Can of Worms: Fearless Conversations with Toddlers” published by Redleaf Press.

Nick’s passion for strengthening early learning is demonstrated by his emergent scholarship and recent completion and attainment of a Masters in Indigenous Education at Arizona State University in which he focused on Indigenous Resurgence through land-based curriculum and learning in early learning settings. 

Episodes will be on Fridays, 3 – 4:30 PM EST/ 12 – 1:30 PM PST

Episode 1: How Land Sustains Indigenous Families’ Cultural Identities in Urban Settings

May 24, 2024

The places we grow up in, live, work, and play all shape who we become. This also includes the landscapes in which we become attached and/or are ancestrally attached. Join us as we discuss how land influences identity, parenting, and Native cultural resurgence in urban settings. Our conversation will be guided by exploring how land influences Indigenous identity, raising babies and children in urban contexts. How does this influence the way we raise our children? How do Native parents engage with whatever land they are living on to nurture and sustain their cultural identities? What are the wonderful ways in which children find their Indigenous selves?

Heather Puri (Ama Gyet da Łguwaalksik)

Featured participant

Heather is a mother to two boys – Rihaan 8 and Maahir 6
 
Heather is focused on immersing her family and community in many areas of cultures indigenous to what is now Washington, Alaska and Canada’s Pacific Northwest; including bringing Native Youth Olympics to Seattle, performing with Tsimshian Haayuuk dance group, learning the Tsimshian language – Sm’algyax, and much more.
 
She has many years of marketing and fundraising experience working with large Art and Cultural Non-profits, including ACT Theatre in Seattle, Houston Ballet, Arts Club Theatre in Vancouver. Tired of helping to make art for mostly rich white people and having two small children to raise, she decided to take her years of non-profit management experience, including her MBA, and use her colonial skills and knowledge to allow her people (and all Indigenous and Descendants of Slaves) to achieve their goals. To reach this end she has started ‘Tseen LLC, a small business focused on bringing culturally relevant experiences to her community.

Karissa Keir-Ficken

Featured participant

Karissa is of the Bald Eagle clan and a member of the White Earth Nation, living in Minneapolis. She is the mother to one beautiful little girl who is almost three years old.

Karissa graduated in 2021 with a Bachelor of Art in Ojibwe Language and Indigenous Studies and a minor in Social Justice. She is currently enrolled in a program at Fond Du Lac Tribal College, seeking a degree in Early Childhood Education. In addition to being a student, Karissa is a preschool teaching assistant in an Ojibwe Immersion classroom at Wicoie Nandagikendan.

Episode 2: The Mana in Wholistic Early Learning

September 13, 2024

What happens when children and families are authentically engaged in teaching and learning that is empowering and reciprocal? Join us for a conversation with our relatives across the Pacific from Keiki Steps as we delve into their journey of creating an early learning environment that centers traditional Native Hawaiian teaching and learning through land and language immersion. We’ll explore the power and impact when parents/guardians are embraced as full participants in an early learning space.

Jordan Kalaipohaku Ho-Martin

Featured participant

Born and raised on Oahulua. Graduated from Hawaiian immersion: Halau Lokahi. Makuakāne (father) to 3 keiki: 11y/o, 4y/o, 2 y/o. Currently growing our ‘ohana them full time in Kapolei.

Kalehua Kamohaliʻi Caceres

Featured participant

Kalehua Kamohaliʻi Caceres is an ʻŌiwi of Māʻili, Waiʻanae, Oʻahu a Kākuhihewa. Together with her husband Mana, they have raised their four children, Makoa, Kamaehu, Hiehie and Kamana in the ʻāina pulapula of Honouliuli. She is honored to take on her newest kuleana of Puna as the grandmother of Kānaioa.

Kalehua has spent the past 20 years in Hawaiian language immersion and Hawaiian practices-focused early childhood education. She is the Keiki Steps Director at the Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture (INPEACE). She is also a mālama iwi kūpuna practioner, a haumāna of Halealoha Ayau and a member of Hui Iwi Kuamoʻo, a group focused on the care, protection and repatriation of Hawaiian ancestral remains.

Episode 3: Parenting, fostering, and adopting – Affirming our roles in raising Indigenous babies

September 27, 2024

The meandering journey of raising children, through all of the peaks and valleys, is a unique and often collective experience for every caregiver, parent, teacher, and community. Within Indigenous communities, we celebrate the concept of kinship, which affirms the significant and diverse roles that each of us play in the life and well-being of a child. In this episode, we explore the lived experiences and insights of families raising Indigenous children, and we highlight the deep cultural connections and responsibilities that come with their important roles. Join us as we affirm our collective roles in raising Indigenous babies!

Justin and Jennifer Keogh

Featured participant

Justin and Jennifer Keogh are foster and adoptive parents in Seattle, WA. They became more involved with the Native community in fostering and adopting their eldest daughter, who is Lakota Sioux and Little River Band tribe Ottawa. 

Kathryn Sharpe

Featured participant

Kathryn Sharpe is a youth development educator with the University of Minnesota Extension Department of Youth Development, and more importantly the mom of a radiant 4-year-old son through an open adoption. As the non-Native mother of an Ojibwe and Dakota child, she recognizes the tremendous honor and responsibility to keep him connected with his birth family, language, culture, and tribes. They are working, along with his birth family, to weave these together in a good way. He attends an Ojibwe immersion preschool, Wicoie Nandagikendan.  She and her son love exploring nature, participating in Nibi walks, and being firefighters, plumbers, rabbits, astronauts, vets, or whatever his imagination invents.

Jewell Arcoren

Featured participant

Described as a “Change Agent” and community activist, Jewell Arcoren is Dakota and Lakota and is enrolled with the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate. Jewell has a strong interest in behavioral health as it relates to recovering our spirits and transcending intergenerational historical trauma in the American Indian community as well as in the non-Native communities.  Ms. Arcoren is a former Executive Director for Wicoie Nandagikendan and currently works in Behavioral Health as a clinician.  

Episode 4: Honoring Neurodiversity – A Look Through an Indigenous Lens

October 18, 2024

Join us for an exploration of neurodiversity, with a focus on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), through the lens of the Maori concept of Takiwatanga, meaning “in his/her own time and space.” This webinar will delve into the diverse experiences and unique perspectives of individuals on the autism spectrum, emphasizing the importance of understanding and respecting the individualized nature of their journeys. Together, we will discuss how cultural concepts like Takiwatanga can shape our understanding of neurodiversity, fostering inclusivity and empathy in our communities.

Kim Swanson

Featured participant

Kim Swanson has over 30 years of experience in early childhood education, serving in various roles such as home visitor, mentor teacher, and most recently, Director and Lead Teacher of KBOCC Little Eagles (Migiziinsag) Great Start Readiness Program. In this state-funded preschool on the Baraga County Reservation, she is dedicated to preparing at-risk preschoolers for kindergarten. Kim is also a member of the Wiikwedong Early Childhood Development Collaborative, where she works with her team to integrate Indigenous culture and traditions into local tribal early childhood programs, fostering a culturally rich learning environment for the children and families they serve.

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