Category: Maternal & Childhood Programs
History of Childhood is Sacred
Since 2012, ITCMI has been working with Tribes and Tribal Citizens across Michigan to erase the silos across services and programs that serve children 0-8 and their families. From community discussions to strategy innovation and implementation, everyone involved has been working to elevate the role of our early childhood providers, support parents and be more effective and efficient with existing resources in each community.

Healthy Start/Home Visiting
Learn more about Healthy Start and the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan’s Home Visiting Network.
Head Start/Early Head Start
Head Start is a federal program that promotes the school readiness of children ages birth to 5 from low-income families by enhancing their cognitive, social and emotional development.
Honoring Our Children
The WKKellogg Foundation committed funds to identify Tribal priorities for children 0-8 in Education, Health, and Community Safety. This work included community discussions and family summits with tribal citizens from the 12 Federally Recognized Tribes in Michigan and in urban areas like Detroit and Grand Rapids. During this time, tribal families and leaders created a vision for children.
Notable briefs and presentations from this work includes:
- Michigan Native Children Report
- 2012 (Final 2012 by David Cournoyer) -forwarded in the email.
- HOC Planning Phase Report on website already
- TBCAC Cultural Adaptation Article on website already
- MCMCH GreatStart Sandbox presentation on website already
- HeadStart digital story link
Tribal Early Learning Initiative (TELI)
Through supplemental Tribal Home Visiting funding from the Administration of Children & Families, a core group of early childhood providers and families from five Tribes (BMIC, KBIC, LTBB, LVD, NHBP) continued the work of HOC by strategizing to increase collaboration and integration across community services and programs for children 0-5 years.
Historically, many of the various early childhood programs and services have worked in isolation. This effort focused on developing a more collaborative network. During this time, a Tribal wide Young Child Wellness Committee was formed with representatives from Tribal Home Visiting, HeadStart/Early HeadStart, and Child Care both at the Tribal, State and Federal level.
LAUNCH
The TELI project identified a gap in mental health supports for children and in 2016 LAUNCH was funded by SAMHSA to better serve the cultural, social, emotional, physical, and psychological needs of youth ages 0-8. Aiming to reduce leadership and policymaking silos, the project seeks to foster collaboration between health care, behavioral health, early childhood education, social services, and other programs servicing Native youth and their families.
The Project Has 4 Goals
- Strengthen Tribal Communities through the promotion of resources grounded in community language, culture and teachings.
- Increase community workforce capacity to address child and family mental health.
- Strengthen systems integration of community programs that support child and family mental health.
- Increase community efforts to engage in public education and awareness activities.
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Maternal & Childhood Programs
Tribal Home Visiting
The Partnership for Anishnaabe Binoojiinyensag

The Tribal Home Visiting Program Partnership for Anishinaabe Binoojiiyensag (PAB) project seeks to address persistent disparities in maternal, infant, and early childhood health and social indicators among the American Indian (AI) population through delivery of home visiting services. The project aims to expand the capacity of an existing network of services, furthering progress toward a comprehensive, high-quality early childhood system.
PAB Project Goals
Strengthen and further develop tribal-community based capacity to support and promote the health and well being of American Indian families;
Ensure the development of healthy, happy and successful American Indian Children and their families;
Expand the evidence base around home visiting in Native communities;
Support and strengthen cooperation and linkage between programs that service American Indian children and their families.
The Partnership for Anishinaaabe Binoojiiyensag project began in 2013 supporting home visiting services in six tribal communities and one urban Indian area. The 7 tribal partners who began implementation of the program include (1) the Bay Mills Indian Community, (2) Nottawaseppi Band of Huron Potawatomi, (3) Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, (4) Lac Vieux Desert Indian Tribe, (5) Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, (6) Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Potowatomi Gun Lake Tribe, and (7) the American Indian Health and Family Services of Southeastern Michigan.
The Partnership for Anishinaaabe Binoojiiyensag project began in 2013 supportiIn 2013/2014 with funds supported by the State of Michigan, the program expanded to included 3 additional tribal partners (1) the Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians,(2) Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, and (3) The Grand Traverse Band of Odawa Indians.
Then in 2014/2015 the Ingham County Health Department’s Native American Outreach
Program partnered with ITC of Michigan to become part of the PAB project.
Combined, our programs provide home visiting services through 9 tribal, 1 urban partner and 1 County Health Department with a service area spanning 49 counties in Michigan and reaching over 400 families per year. Services are provided for prenatal families and families with children age 0 through 5 yrs. (Two additional tribes provide home visiting supported by HRSA Healthy Start funding up to age 2 yrs.)
Coordinated Services
Collaboration is important to our programs at Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan. Within the ITC Maternal Health and Child Service Division this can be seen specifically between The Tribal Home Visiting program “Partnership for Anishnaabe Binoojiiyensag” (PAB project) and the “Maajtaag Mnobmaadzid – The Start of a Healthy Life” Healthy Start program. These two programs within ITC have joined forces as individual pieces of an overall, inter-tribal network of programs and services coordinated by the Inter-tribal Council of Michigan in partnership with Michigan tribes. The two programs as one,-are often referred to by staff as the “Healthy Start- Family Spirit” home visiting program. The development of the Healthy Start-Family Spirit Home Visiting program is one key aspect of our comprehensive, coordinated early childhood system with both programs using the Family Spirit curriculum as a basis for providing home visitation services. In addition the programs share client-friendly referral procedures, using common assessments, collection of common data elements, cross-training of staff, and cross-program case management/case conferencing. This allows for a seamless transition between programs for home visiting clients.
Location & Contact Information
American Indian Health and Family Services
4880 Lawndale St, Detroit, MI 48210
Healthy Start/Family Spirit office: 313-846-6030 ext. 1300. http://www.aihfs.org/maternal_child_health.html
Bay Mills Indian Community
Ellen Marshall Memorial Health Center
12140 W. Lakeshore Drive, Brimley, MI 49715
Healthy Start/Family Spirit office: 906-248-8360
Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians
Benodjenh Center
2605 N. West Bay Shore Dr., Peshawbestown, MI 49682
Healthy Start/Family Spirit: 231-534-7650
Hannahville Indian Community
Hannahville Health Center
N15019 Hannahville B-1 Road, Wilson, Michigan 49896
Healthy Start (serves up to age 2): 906-723-2544
Ingham County Health Department
Native American Outreach Program
5303 S Cedar St, Lansing, MI 48911
Jaclynn Lloyd: 517-272-4130
http://hd.ingham.org/Home/OtherServices/NativeAmericanOutreachProgram.aspx
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community
Donald A LaPointe Health & Education Center
Keweenaw Bay Department of Health & Human Services
102 Superior Avenue, Baraga, MI 49908
Healthy Start/Family Spirit: 906-353-4546
Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
Lac Vieux Desert Child Development Center
23950 Choate Rd., Watersmeet, MI – 49969
Family Spirit: 906-366-7018
Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians
Mina Mskiki Gumik Health Services
1250 Lears Road, Petoskey, MI 49770
Healthy Start/Family Spirit: 231-242-1614
http://www.ltbbodawa-nsn.gov/Health/HealthDept/CommunityHealth.html
Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Potawatomi Indians
MBPI Health & Human Services Department
2880 Mission Dr.
Shelbyville MI 49344
Healthy Start/Family Spirit: 269-397-1760 x 1110
Notawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians
Northern Health Center Southern Health Center
311 State Street S.E. 1474 Mno-Bmadzewn Way
Grand Rapids, MI 49503 Fulton, MI 49052
1-888-662-2808 269-729-4422
http://nhbpi.com/health/general-health-clinic/
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians
Pokagon Health Center
32652 KNO Rd. ,Dowagiac, MI 49047
Healthy Start/ Family Sprit: 269-462-4406
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe
Nimkee Memorial Wellness Center
7070 E. Broadway, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858
Healthy Start (Serves up to age 2): 989-775-4629
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians
Sault Tribe Health & Human Services
2864 Ashmun, Sault Ste. Marie, MI 49783
Healthy Start/Family Spirit: 906-632-5200 ext. 23201 or ext. 23150
Maternal & Childhood Programs
Healthy Start

Maajtaag Mnobmaadzid, “The Start of a Healthy Life”
Healthy Start is a national infant mortality prevention initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Our project is one of about 100 federally-funded projects around the country, and includes 10 sites: Bay Mills Indian Community, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Hannahville Indian Community, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Little Traverse Bay Bands, Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians,and American Indian Health & Family Services of Southeast Michigan. Healthy Start focuses on access to and use of health services for women and their families, strengthening local health systems and increasing consumer input into these systems of local care. Each year, we provide personalized, supportive case management to between 600 and 700 people, and community outreach and education services to over 4,000 people in 14 counties in Michigan.
Core Strategies: Healthy Start features evidence-based practices and innovative, culturally informed community-driven interventions. Beginning with direct outreach by community health workers to pregnant and postpartum women, we ensure that mothers and infants have ongoing sources of primary and preventive health care and that their basic needs (housing, psychosocial, nutritional and educational support) are met. Following risk assessments and screening for perinatal depression, case managers provide linkages with appropriate services and education. Most services are delivered through home visiting. Mothers and infants are followed from entry into prenatal care through 2 years after delivery. The project has strong collaborative linkages with State programs including Title V MCH Block Grant, Medicaid, State Child Health Insurance Program, and with local agencies and services.
Success: Since the introduction of Healthy Start in 1997, we have seen a steady downward trend in American Indian infant mortality within the project area, with the disparity gap narrowing between White and American Indian infants. Other trends include a marked increase in first trimester prenatal care, lower prematurity rates, an increase in those securing a medical home, increased screening for pregnancy and postpartum health risks, and increased use of culturally competent elements in policies, guidelines and trainings.
Maternal & Childhood Programs
Mental & Social Emotional Health

Depression Among American Indian and Alaska Native Women in Michigan
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