PABLO – No amount of grass, berries, clover and honey can satisfy the rapidly expanding belly of the main character in “Bear Wants More,” much to the delight of 4-year-old Kooper Page.

She grabbed the children’s book as soon as it entered her home in St. Ignatius, and squirreled it away for herself.

Kooper and her little sister, 3-year-old Kason, do not lack for books. Reading is important in the Page household and the library is a regular stop. Their mother, Yolanda, an attorney with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, makes sure the girls are read to for 15 to 20 minutes each night.

The payoff will come down the road, according to Linda Clark.

“Connections in children’s brains are built through their early experiences,” Clark says. “When they’re exposed to books very early in life, it jump-starts the spiral of competencies and skills, and makes a huge different when children enter school.”

Clark directs a program for Hopa Mountain, a Bozeman nonprofit, called StoryMakers.

Its goal is to get books in the hands of parents and their preschool children in rural and tribal communities, and is the reason “Bear Wants More” is in the Page home.

Indeed, “Bear” is one of 10 books given to Kooper and Kason since StoryMakers began in 2007.

They also own – and have all but memorized – books such as “Owl Babies,” “Five Little Ducks,” “Eyes, Nose, Fingers and Toes” and “Guess How Much I Love You.”

Like a well-read paperback, “Owl Babies” shows the effects of use – it was obviously around when Kason was teething – but the board books were built to withstand their young readers.

“They’re sturdy, slobber-proof,” says Jeanne Christopher, director of Early Childhood Services for the tribes. “You can chew on them, spill milk on them, and still use them.”

Christopher and Malissa Morigeau, Health Services coordinator for Christopher’s department, are one of several “citizen teams” StoryMakers use to get a new slew of books in the hands of an average of 6,000 children in Montana every six months.

The latest delivery includes one called “Let’s Count,” in response to requests that StoryMakers include math as a focus for children 5 years old and younger.

“It’s got snappy, lively rhymes,” Clark says, “and little holes on each page that can be felt as someone counts them. You can add, subtract, count things that are alike, things that are different.”

The latest deliveries came with bookmarks that offer tips to parents on how to get the most out of the reading material. For instance, Clark says, any picture book can be used to develop math skills, whether you count apples in a tree, sheep in a field or flowers in a garden – whatever is pictured.

The books, she says, help with “early math, early literacy, early language skills. You can use them for learning sounds, logic, colors, shapes, sizes and sorting.”

Depending on how you look at it, the books can give children a leg up as they enter kindergarten, or put them on a level playing field with other kids who have had similar exposure to such material.

“But we never say we’re serving children directly,” Clark says. “We’re supporting parents. It’s parents who need the support, and parents who can make the difference.”

Christopher agrees.

“Buying books for your children in today’s economy, when people are struggling to keep the lights on, their houses warm, buy food … this gives them the opportunity to have something they can share with their child,” she says.

While the StoryMakers program is present on all seven Indian reservations in Montana, it is open to any parent of a child from birth to 5 in the 16 rural and tribal communities it serves (several of the communities are in counties with low populations on the Montana Hi-Line).

Likewise, there is no qualification based on income. The only necessity is a parent who wants his or her child to have the books.

StoryMakers uses community leaders, librarians, pediatricians, tribal colleges and tribal departments to get the word out. Here on the Flathead Reservation, there’s a citizen team at Salish Kootenai College because, Clark says, many students at tribal colleges are parents of young children.

Christopher and Morigeau, meanwhile, target Head Start programs and child care centers on the reservation, and StoryMakers got a good response at the recent Baby Fair sponsored by CSKT’s Early Childhood Services.

Four or five titles are selected every six months, purchased by the thousands through Hopa Mountain and given away. Most families will get one or two of the books, depending on the age of their child or children. Recently, the citizen teams have become more involved in the selection process.

“They’ve never had a book we have not liked,” Morigeau says, “but they listen to us. We said maybe there was not enough math involved, and they’re starting to address that, which is good, because early math skills lead to early literacy skills.”

Clark says studies show the impact of the education or training a person receives after high school is minimal compared to the impact of what they learn before they reach kindergarten, and that children entering school can be as much as two years apart in terms of their skill levels.

Where StoryMakers is available, no parent has to leave their child behind.

“It’s helped tremendously with their learning and remembering,” says Yolanda Page of Kooper and Kason. “It’s nice for kids whose parents can’t afford to buy books. What I really like is the sense of belonging. When they check a book out of the library they really like, they have to give it back, but these books are theirs.”

Reporter Vince Devlin can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at vdevlin@missoulian.com.

Hopa Mountain has completed a three-day expanded statewide gathering of rural and tribal educators, parents, and early learning program administrators for its StoryMakers program. Primarily serving rural and tribal communities throughout Montana, the StoryMakers program is an early learning initiative that supports parents of children ages 0-5 in creating home environments that give their children the best chances for success in school.

The workshop, entitled “Reaching Families with Key Early Learning Messages,” was sponsored by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. Workshop sessions focused on helping rural and tribal citizen leaders throughout Montana develop personalized public service announcements, posters, and exhibits to promote the importance of reading, singing, laughing, and talking with babies and preschoolers everyday. Key early learning messages will be shared by these citizen leaders in their home communities through everyday conversations, local radio and television announcements, and programs for young families to promote daily attention to early childhood learning in homes.

“Children have a much greater chance of success in school if they hear many positive words spoken and read to them by parents or grandparents every day during their first several years of life,” said Linda Clark, StoryMakers program director at Hopa Mountain.

StoryMakers community teams work in 16 rural and tribal communities in Montana and currently serve nearly 6,000 children and their families. The StoryMakers program helps parents assume active roles in preparing their children to enter the K-12 system ready to learn, especially with the pre-literacy skills needed to become proficient readers.

“The Foundation’s support of Hopa Mountain and its StoryMakers program is a reflection of our core mission to transform lives and strengthen communities,” said Susan Coliton, vice president of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. “We have a longstanding history of supporting nonprofits in Montana and those who are working to address the critical needs of tribal communities – whether it is improving their access to economic resources, promoting greater educational opportunities or honoring traditional cultural forms.”

Extensive research confirms that early skills with sounds and words and family conversations build a solid foundation for reading and writing. Children who become successful in school and life hear their parents read and talk about books and pictures, tell family stories, explain what they are doing or thinking, say where they are going and why, sing favorite songs, and name their hopes and dreams.

To support parents in creating home environments that lead to their children’s success in school, StoryMakers community teams offer:
• Parent-friendly summaries of relevant current research and guides for getting maximum interactive fun and learning from reading and talking to and with babies, toddlers and preschoolers
• High-quality, age- and culturally-appropriate, children’s books for use in fostering healthy social-emotional and cognitive development in babies, toddlers and preschoolers
• Support for local early learning trainings
Last year, these local community teams in 16 StoryMakers communities throughout Montana distributed more than 12,000 children’s books and early literacy materials to parents who often lack such resources. StoryMakers early literacy materials are free to all families on the Hopa Mountain Web site, and new materials will be available in the coming weeks at www.hopamountain.org/storymakers.

“Investing in parents and citizen leaders committed to improving early learning opportunities leads to children’s success in learning throughout all their years ahead,” said Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, executive director of Hopa Mountain. “With support from leading foundations, like the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, we are able to expand support to Montana families with young children each year.”

Hopa Mountain invests in rural and tribal citizen leaders, adults and youth, who are working to improve education, ecological health, and economic development. For more information, please visit www.hopamountain.org or call (406) 586-2455.

On Friday, Oct. 23, the Bozeman School District will offer a local lunch featuring Montana-made products.

The menu includes bockwurst and potatoes out of Whitehall, and apples from Fromburg.

Volunteers with Gallatin Valley Farm to School, suited up in fruit and vegetable costumes, will be at most schools to help serve students and promote healthy eating with local foods.

Bozeman School District’s Food Services is working with Gallatin Valley Farm to School to increase the amount of local foods offered in their cafeterias.

Gallatin Valley Farm to School, a project of Hopa Mountain, strives to connect children with their food. For information contact Aubree Durfey at 581-8209.

Six Bozeman-area schools — Whittier, Irving, Longfellow, Hawthorne, Morning Star and Gallatin Gateway — have teamed up with Gallatin Valley Farm to School program to sell healthy, Montana-made foods and gifts as a fundraiser.

Parent organizations of the six schools performed skits for kids at school and wore vegetable costumes to promote the fundraiser, which continues through next week.

Most schools have a deadline of Oct. 23 to sell the products, which include roasted cereals and granola, specialty lentils and barley, fresh herbed delicacies, huckleberry preserves, syrups and honey, fresh winter produce, and greeting cards.

Shawna Brenner, fundraising chair for Gallatin Gateway Partners in Education, said it’s a great opportunity to raise money for local schools while supporting Montana businesses. Last year’s pilot fundraiser at Gallatin Gateway and Irving schools sold more than $18,000 of nutritious and Montana-made foods.

Gallatin Valley Farm to School was created by parents and community members to increase whole and local foods in schools and support local farmers, community citizenship and environmental awareness. It is a project of Hopa Mountain, which invests in citizen leaders to improve education, ecological health and economic development.

For more information, call Aubree Durfey, AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer with Gallatin Valley Farm to School, 581-8209.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 Glacier Reporter

“What is the scientific name for yarrow? How do you say it in your tribal language? What is it used for?”

Students from the Blackfeet Native Science Field Center (BNSFC) recently shared the answers to these questions with people from two other Native communities at the Luccock Campground in the Paradise Valley, just outside Yellowstone National Park in Montana. Earlier this month, 27 students, three staff members and four community members from the Blackfeet community joined over 75 other students, staff and community elders from the Pine Ridge and Wind River Native Science Field Centers for the 2009 Native Science Field Center Summer Gathering.

Each Field Center had spent a number of weeks prior to the Summer Gathering, engaging their youth in field experiences that integrate traditional knowledge, language and Western science methods. This culminating event provided the opportunity for students from all three communities to share what they learned throughout the summer and to make new friends in a place that was familiar territory for the Blackfeet, Lakota and Shoshone tribes. The focus of this year’s summer gathering, “Sacred Plants Sacred Places,” gave students the realization that their communities are some of the richest in the world, regarding culture and knowledge.

The 2009 NSFC Summer Gathering opened with a sweet pine smudge. Youth were invited to stand up, introduce themselves and to “say what you have to say with strength and confidence, and let people know who you are and where you come from.” This year students learned Blackfeet, Lakota and Shoshone words, played traditional games like Double Ball, and shared cultural stories and foods with the group.

With the help of Lakota community elder Patricia May, some of the Lakota NSFC students cooked a traditional dinner of tinpsila and papa soup, chokecherry wojapi, fry bread and buffalo ribs. Calvin Weatherwax and Pauline Matt helped facilitate the students in putting up and taking down lodges at the Summer Gathering site, and also shared their knowledge of traditional native plants with medicinal qualities, such as natural antibiotics, fluoride and even plants for lactose intolerance. Students were taught to identify them as well as the importance of respecting these plants for the medicines that they provide. Additional activities included plant identification in the Shoshone language, led by Reba Teran from Wind River, and traditional stories told by Lakota elder Wilmer Mesteth.

Lakota community member Gus Yellow Hair emphasized the importance of these teachings to the students by saying, “You young people here today will carry on these teachings. Whatever you take from here today, you will walk with it and take it on your life journey. So try to keep in mind all of what you are learning today. You are learning two cultures, and you are going to walk with those. And our people are going to be strong again. We are not going to be strangers in our own country. We are going to get our rightful place back, and we are going to work with our white brothers and sisters and teach them what we know.”

The opportunity for youth from the Blackfeet, Pine Ridge and Wind River communities to spend time together sharing their culture with other Native communities helps students realize they can all work together. Native communities are facing many of the same battles, and spending time together allows the students to make friends who will become support systems to network with throughout their lives as they develop their leadership skills, pursue their education, and learn to problem solve in their own community.

The Blackfeet Native Science Field Center (BNSFC) runs seasonal programs for youth, ages 8-18. The informal science education project was started three years ago and is currently directed by Helen Augare with the help of Project Assistant Rachel Wippert and Activities Coordinator Melissa Little Plume.

The main objective of BNSFC is to engage youth in learning science, math, engineering and using technology. The project aims to reconnect students to the ecosystem that their ancestors were so in tune with, and to teach students about their environment by having them look through a cultural lens. By teaching Blackfeet language, stories, songs and history and engaging students in learning informally about their natural surroundings throughout the traditional territory, students are encouraged to consider formal STEM academic fields and career paths. By instilling Blackfeet ways of knowing, BNSFC hopes that participants will become leaders with a balanced sense of being and awareness, will make thoughtful decisions and will always acknowledge life in every sense.

“We are trying to provide our youth with a balance between learning western science and the value of our cultural knowledge,” said director Helen Augare. “This will give them the courage to step out of the box, experience new things and think for themselves so that they can be successful, confident and strong leaders when they make decisions for our community in the future.”

One important way the students learn at BNSFC is by listening to community elders who have local knowledge of native plants and animals and know the Blackfeet language, and the cultural and historical significance of local places. This encourages local traditional knowledge to be passed down to youth while students learn the ecology and geology of their environment at the same time. In addition, studies have shown that incorporating tribal knowledge, principles and language into education increases Native student academic success.

Community members such as Marty Blue and Diana Bird have been lead presenters for BNSFC in traditional knowledge, language and culture. Other members of the community who have been a great help to the Blackfeet Native Science Field Center are Gala Upham, Terry Tatsey, Leah Whitford, Carol Murray, Ed Connelly, Joe Jessepe and Anthony Yellow Owl. The Blackfeet Native Science Field Center staff is grateful to all of the parents for their patience, support and encouragement throughout the institute. Activities this summer included an eight-mile round trip hike to Grinnell Glacier above the Many Glacier Valley and a day of service-berry picking. Other locations the students explored this summer include All Nations Buffalo Jump, Running Eagle Falls, Virginia Falls and St. Mary Lake.

The National Science Foundation, Bush Foundation, Blackfeet Community College and Hopa Mountain, a nonprofit organization in Montana that works to support Native community organizations, provide support for the field center. The existing field centers will act as a models for expanding the number of NSFCs that will serve other Native communities in the future through training, mentoring and resource sharing.

Though enrollment space in the Blackfeet Native Science Field Center Summer Institute is currently limited due to transportation restraints, BNSFC is always looking for community members to participate and share their invaluable knowledge with Blackfeet youth. They welcome new ideas for cultural presentations, places to visit on or off reservation and any information that will benefit their program. The BNSFC Summer Institute is one of several institutes that are held throughout the year. Fall, winter and spring Institutes are also conducted, and if you would like to participate with and contribute to the education of Blackfeet youth at any time, please contact Helen Augare at Blackfeet Community College at (406) 338-7755, ext. 753, or email her at Helen_augare@ bfcc.org.

The Governor’s Office of Community Service and Hopa Mountain, a Bozeman-based non-profit organization, announce the availability of competitive grants for Youth Leaders in Service. This Learn and Serve America grant program is designed to engage rural and tribal youth, ages 11-17, living in Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation, in leading service activities that create healthier communities.

Youth program directors are invited to work with youth leaders to determine a meaningful community service project and apply for grant support to implement their youth-led initiative throughout the 2009-2010 school year. The application deadline is September 30, 2009. The request for proposals can be found at www.hopamountain.org.

Eleven grantees will be chosen in a competitive application process to receive up to $15,000 in funds. Funds must be matched 1:1 in cash or in-kind support by grantee organizations. Rural and tribal communities with populations under 35,000 are eligible to apply. Preference will be given to participating organizations that serve a high percentage of children through free and reduced lunch programs.

Hopa Mountain’s mission is to invest in rural and tribal citizen leaders, adults and youth, who are working to improve education, ecological health and economic development.

“Through Youth Leaders in Service, rural and tribal youth will have the opportunity to design and implement innovative service projects in cooperation with local community partners,” said Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, Executive Director of Hopa Mountain.

Hopa Mountain will provide ongoing training and technical assistance to selected youth program leaders and teen citizen leaders throughout the Northern Rockies.

“We are so pleased that more teens in rural and tribal communities will now have an opportunity to put into action service projects to contribute to their own community,” said Jan Lombardi, Director of the Governor’s Office for Community Service. “Hopa Mountain’s commitment to engaging youth in service learning and building community leaders is good for our youth and good for Montana.” Lombardi said.

Learn and Serve America, a federal program administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service and Hopa Mountain are partnering to engage young people in service-learning projects that simultaneously support student development and meet community needs in areas such as health and education.

Learn and Serve America helps over one million students every year make meaningful contributions in their communities while building their academic and civic skills and establishing a lifelong commitment to service.

The Corporation for National and Community Service engages more than four million Americans in service each year through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America.

The Governor’s Office of Community Service (serve.mt.gov) was created to expand service opportunities for all Montanans.

Erasing tags

By MIKE GERRITY Chronicle Staff Writer

Between crass limericks scratched on bathroom stalls and sloppily spray-painted faces staring at drivers from alleyways, graffiti remains a daily encounter for everyone.

On Friday, several teenage volunteers with Hopa Mountain leadership program helped scrub off some tags on a grain building behind Ale Works on Main Street and around Lindley Park, work they intend to continue throughout the summer.

Before their work began, the volunteers learned about the “broken-window” theory of criminal activity in the inner city, said Liz Mack, HOPA Mountain’s youth progress coordinator.

“One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing,” James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling wrote in an article entitled “Broken Windows” in The Atlantic magazine in 1996.

Wilson and Kelling theorized that disorder attracts more crime and, if not dealt with quickly, can create hotbeds for dangerous activity,

This same theory is being applied to graffiti in Bozeman.

“The areas that have a lot more of it attract more than the areas that have less,” Mack said. “If you get it within 24 hours, you’re less likely to see it again.”

Last year, after a rash of tagging sprees in Bozeman’s historical district, the city assembled a Vandalism and Graffiti Task Force. David Ferguson, a city police officer who works with the task force and the Downtown Bozeman Partnership, estimated that cleaning up vandalism easily costs the city more than $1,000 each year.

The pressure-washing methods often used to remove graffiti are also hard on the building materials of historical structures, adding to the cost, he said.

“You gotta look at the cost of not only materials but the labor it takes to get it off,” Ferguson said.

Acknowledging that graffiti art has a place in modern culture as a form of artistic expression, some communities set aside designated spaces, or “free walls,” for artists to use for more positive and artful murals or other designs.

Bozeman had such a wall in Lindley Park.

Steve Lowery, 16, a HOPA Mountain volunteer, helped cover the wall with gray paint Friday. He thought some of the graffiti had potential as something more than petty tagging and “stupid lines.”

“There was actual art there,” Lowery said.

But the problem was that over time, the wall was covered with sloppy tags, profanities and gang signs, according to Chris Naumann, executive director of the downtown association.

Naumann said maintaining free walls often becomes a liability for law enforcement as it draws more unsightly and offensive graffiti that can create an environment for petty crime. Consequently, many communities are drawing back on their support for free wall projects.

“It’s sort of a mixed message,” Naumann said.

But Naumann admitted that the crime cesspool scenario characterized in the broken-window theory has not materialized in Bozeman, as far as he has seen.

“But we’d also prefer to not find out,” he said.

Hopa Mountain gets $150,000 grant

By AMANDA RICKER Chronicle Staff Writer

Bozeman nonprofit Hopa Mountain Foundation has received a $150,000 grant to help parents and educators in rural and tribal communities teach young children to read.

The grant was awarded to Hopa Mountain last week by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, based in Seattle, and will go toward expanding the StoryMakers program. The program distributes books and reading resources to families living on Montana’s reservations and in surrounding rural communities.

Hopa Mountain started the StoryMakers program in 2006. It now serves about 6,500 children across the state.

“Especially in this economic climate, we are extremely grateful for (the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation’s) trust in us,” said Linda Clark, program director for StoryMakers.

Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, executive director of Hopa Mountain, said research has shown that every $1 invested in childhood reading proficiency yields a $17 to $18 return in adulthood.

Hopa Mountain invests in rural and tribal citizen leaders who are working to improve education, ecological health and economic development in their hometowns.

The Paul G. Allen Foundation awarded $1.9 million in grants to 27 nonprofits throughout the Pacific Northwest. Paul G. Allen co-founded Microsoft.

Hopa Mountain was one of two grant recipients in Montana. Mainstreet Uptown Butte received $45,000 for the National Folk Festival.

This January Bozeman Magazine did a feature on Hopa Mountain and the ways we are investing in Bozeman citizen leaders who are woking for positive change.  To view the complete article please click here.

Strengthening the Circle, an eight-month Native American Nonprofit Leadership training program, is designed to give Executive Directors and Board members the tools, skills, and technical support needed to successfully develop and strengthen nonprofit organizations working with youth in Indian Country. This fall, Hopa Mountain and Chief Dull Knife College in Lame Deer, Montana, hosted the fourth Strengthening the Circle gathering. With participants arriving from Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico and California, we all learned how to expand and rethink nonprofit leadership and funding possibilities for our changing future.  Click here for the full story.