Success Stories
First Nations
O'Chiese First Nation - Alberta Early Childhood Development Program
The O'Chiese First Nation, located northwest of Rocky Mountain House in central Alberta, is a relatively small community with a total registered population of 687 people. Being small, the O'Chiese community has limited prospects for employment within the reserve community often forcing its members to seek employment off the reserve, resulting in high travel costs and a barrier to long-term employment.
In 1998, under the National Child Benefit, the O'Chiese First Nation initiated the customized Early Childhood Development Program, in conjunction with Red Deer College. It is designed to educate participants using a holistic approach to early childhood development and has led to the establishment of a day care centre at the O'Chiese First Nation.
The goals are to enhance parental skills and to qualify participants for college programs or for employment at the O'Chiese Day Care Centre. The program involves an early childhood development course offered at a daycare facility where 10 participants are presented with practical situations for an integrated and sustainable learning experience. They also learn and are able to practise day care licensing policies and procedures. An instructor from Red Deer College was hired for the first year to provide the training. She is also administrator for the O'Chiese day care and provides hands-on training within the day care.
The program also aims to establish community networks where other potential work placements may occur and to implement an evaluative system to identify needs and to measure the program's effectiveness in addressing these needs. As the training progresses, the long-term goal is to implement a home-based Aboriginal Head Start- type program as well as other parental programs.
The Early Childhood Development Program is available to low-income parents who have experienced difficulties in sustaining long-term employment. At the end of the first year of the program, 90 percent of the participants were employed while the other 10 percent were attending college full time. Other achievements included overwhelming community support and heightened self-esteem for the participants and their families.
This program is about the community's future. It is part of a cycle of empowerment that is on-going and exists throughout other programs offered in the community. All the community's programs are interconnected and interdependent of each other. For example, the success rate of the Early Child Development Program opens doors for people within the community and will lead to the establishment of other projects.
The Early Child Development Program has become a catalyst for community development and program planning.
Learn about First Nations NCB programs