8/1/2023 – 11/1/2023
$10,000
The Indigenous Montessori Network (IMN) serves as both a resource hub and advocacy center for Indigenous Education issues. Its members have founded language revitalization schools at both the early childhood and K-12 levels. IMN members have identified certain policies which adversely impact their programs’ ability to participate in early childhood public funding streams, get credit for culturally based professional development, hire fluent language speakers as teachers, and more.
The Montessori Public Policy Initiative is hosting an in person gathering of the IMN in September of 2023 in the DC metro area. One segment of the gathering will be a listening session attended by numerous government officials from AFC and the Department of Education, and representatives of prominent early childhood advocacy organizations including NAEYC, Childcare Aware of America and the Alliance for Early Success. This session will provide a platform for these Indigenous language and culture revitalization programs to directly share with both policy makers and organizations that advocate in early childhood the inequities of certain policies that impact their programs and highlight what needs to be changed.