U.S. SENATE – On Wednesday, February 26 at 2:30 PM EST, Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) will preside over his first U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing as Chairman.

At the oversight hearing the Committee will hear testimony from the Administration as well as from community leaders who are operating early childhood programs in Indian Country. In addition, the Committee will receive testimony from a Duke University epidemiologist who studied the impacts of income supplements on Native youth.

The testimony will focus on early childhood programs and the effectiveness of these programs. The federal government operates a myriad of early childhood development and education programs throughout the federal structure, with most of these programs being housed at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This hearing will identify these programs and determine if there are legislative solutions to improve the continuity of education and the coordination of federal resources.

DETAILS

WHAT: A Committee oversight hearing on early childhood education in Indian Country

WHEN: 2:30 PM, Wednesday, February 26, 2014

WHERE: 628 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Live video and witness testimony will be provided at indian.senate.gov.

WITNESS LIST

Panel I:

MS. LINDA K. SMITH, Deputy Assistant Secretary and Inter-Departmental Liaison for

Early Childhood Development, Administration for Children and Families, U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC

Panel II:

MS. GINGER GOES AHEAD, Program Manager, Crow Head Start Program, Crow

Agency, MT

MR. DANNY WELLS, Executive Officer, Division of Education, Chickasaw Nation,

Ada, OK

MS. BARBARA FABRE, Chairperson, National Indian Child Care Association; and

Director, Child Care/Early Childhood Program, White Earth Ojibwe Nation, White

Earth, MN

MS. JACQUELYN POWER, Superintendent/Principal, Blackwater Community School,

Coolidge, AZ

DR. E. JANE COSTELLO, Associate Director for Research, Center for Child and Family

Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC

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