Hankie P. Ortiz, Esq.

Deputy Bureau Director, Indian

Services

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Hankie.Ortiz@bia.gov

(202) 513-7640

1

First Nation People’s Equal First World Outcomes-Progressing

Indigenous Solutions That Matter

U.S. Department of the Interior

Bureau of Indian Affairs

2

3

TIWAHE INITIATIVE

4

Building Tribal programs that work

together to invest in children, youth,

and families, while preserving tribal

cultural values and traditions

INTRODUCTION TO TIWAHE

Tiwahe (ti-wah-heh) means family in the Lakota language.

• It symbolizes the interconnectedness of all living things and one’s personal

responsibility to protect family, community, and the environment.

• The Tiwahe Initiative focuses on the family, community, and tribal culture.

• It is a five year demonstration project that centers on interrelated problems which

are often a result of high rates of substance abuse, including child abuse and

neglect, poverty, family violence, unemployment and a high incidence of

incarceration in tribal communities.

• It includes program service coordination, interagency collaboration, and building

tribal capacity and infrastructure in key tribal programs.

5

TIWAHE PILOT PROJECT TIMELINE

• A Five-Year process, from 2015 through 2019

• Coordinated Team Approach - BIA, National Tiwahe Coordinator,

Tribal Family Advocacy Specialist working together; and each

Tiwahe plan will include three distinct phases

Year 1: Planning and Development Phase

Year 2: Service Delivery – Implementation Phase

Year 3: Reporting and Enhancement Phase

6

TIWAHE GOALS

• Help tribes build capacity and infrastructure for key tribal service

programs including Tribal Courts, Social Service programs, Indian

Child Welfare Act (ICWA), and Job Placement and Training Programs.

• Address barriers to success for Native youth and families.

• Create more effective interagency collaborations to pool scarce

human and material resources, share expertise among staff, expand

services, reduce duplication efforts, and exchange information about

family needs to formulate the most responsive approach.

7

TIWAHE OBJECTIVES

• Improve the delivery and access of services for tribal children, youth, and

families.

• Develop a tribally-driven, comprehensive approach in the delivery of

services to its tribal community that will:

Improve screening tools;

Create alternatives to incarceration via solution-focused sentencing;

Improve links to appropriate prevention, intervention and treatment

opportunities;

Improve case management and provide more home-based services

to children and families; and

Enhance overall partnerships between local, tribal, county, state and

federal

8

FOUR TRIBAL TIWAHE SITES-2015

Association of

Village Council

Presidents

Ute Mountain Ute

Tribe

Spirit Lake Tribe,

North Dakota

Red Lake Band of

Chippewa Indians,

Minnesota

9

FY 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Each Tiwahe Site received a 50% increase to their Social

Services funding, 50% increase to their ICWA FY 2014

Base Levels for 2015, and a pro rata increase in Job

Placement and Training Funds.

• Each Tiwahe site provided a Tribal Resolution confirming

the Tribes’ commitment, hired a Tiwahe coordinator, and

developed a comprehensive implementation plan.

10

ADDED TWO TRIBAL TIWAHE SITES-2016

Fort Belknap Indian Community

of the Fort Belknap Reservation

of Montana

Pascua Yaqui Tribe

of Arizona

11

12

FY 2016 ACTIVITIES

Funding: social services recidivism and tribal.

Will begin the Planning and Development phase for the

two new sites by the end of the year.

Selected a National Tiwahe Coordinator, pending

background check. Expected to be on board by the end of

the summer.

Secure a research and evaluation contract to assist the

Tiwahe sites with development of their goals, assessment

tools and service coordination/delivery. The procurement

package submitted to the contracting office on July 1.

13

FY 2016 ACTIVITIES CONTINUED…

Launched the Center for Excellence – a vehicle to provide social

services training to Tiwahe sites/staff and for tribes to share best

practices and lessons learned from implementation of Year 1 and Year

2 of the Tiwahe Initiative.

Online and in-person training related to the center has been

implemented. Full launch will occur prior to the final quarter of FY 17

Implementation Phase for the four original sites is ongoing.

As part of the Implementation phase, the BIA is providing technical

assistance to the tribes on implementing their Tiwahe plans.

Ongoing positive progress and collaboration of the BIA Tiwahe Team,

consisting of representatives from BIA Office of Indian Services, BIA

Office of Justice Services and the Office of Self Governance.

14

TIWAHE HIGHLIGHTS

AVCP – Focus on tribal court enhancement & training, community

outreach campaign on teen dating violence/violence against

women, implementation of the Healthy Families Program and job

training

Red Lake Nation - Alternatives to Incarceration program, Push to End

Suicide efforts, Native Community Development Institute, Family

Group Decision Making model, Tiwahe community outreach

awareness in coordination with local law enforcement and

development of welders training program

15

TIWAHE HIGHLIGHTS-CONTINUED

Spirit Lake Nation - Development of MOA which outlines coordination of all

local human services agencies, enhancement of tribal court system

through hiring of additional court personnel, development of Spirit Lake

Social Services Coalition (includes representatives from local human

services, court and behavioral health agencies)

Ute Mountain Ute - Development of “Tour de Ute” one stop center for

interventive/preventive services, production of youth film “Escape”

which outlines the daily struggles and stories of hope of youth at Ute

Mountain and development/participation in the Alternatives to

Incarceration program

16

FUTURE TIWAHE GOALS

• FY 2017: Plans will go into effect and base line court data process will

begin. Total number of Tiwahe pilot sites will total of 11 by end of FY 2017

• FY 2018: All pilot tribes will undergo an additional court assessment to

measure success. Baseline data should indicate Tiwahe sites have been

able to decrease the client to staff ratio of their social workers, increase

family services to their clients, increase job opportunities for their members

and increase the number of court personnel

17

FUTURE TIWAHE GOALS

• Funding and technical assistance will be diverse based on tribal

priorities. For example, one tribe will initiate a recidivism program, while

another tribe will focus on hiring additional court personnel, and a third

will prioritize hiring additional human services caseworkers

• Include more training opportunities through the Center for Excellence for

tribal and BIA social workers

• Evaluation criteria in place to measure the effectiveness of the Tiwahe

plans and the positive impact on their communities

18

FY 2017 TIWAHE OBJECTIVES

• Add 5 more sites and build capacity at existing Tiwahe sites (bringing total

sites to 11)

• Expand the pool of BIA and Tribal social workers to decrease client to staff

ratios

• Continue the Tiwahe evaluation and research contract

• Fund the Center of Excellence. The Center for Excellence will provide tribes

an opportunity to access training, share best practices, and provide tribes

an opportunity to partner with post secondary social work programs to

recruit and train social workers

• Increase funding for the Housing Program, Job Placement &Training , Tribal

Courts, and Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)

19

Office of Indian Services

Human Services

SOCIAL SERVICES

INDIAN CHILD WELFARE

Division of Workforce Development

JOB PLACEMENT AND TRAINING

Office of Justice Services

Tribal Courts

Detention

Law Enforcement

20

FOR MORE INFORMATION ...

Bureau of Indian Affairs website

www.bia.gov

21

THANK YOU!

22