UNicorn Grant: NAYAADAMAAGEJIG launches new truancy prevention efforts
Five-year grant brings flexible funding to address barriers affecting school attendance
By Vivian LaMoore, Inaajimowin Editor
Nayaadamaagejig is pleased to receive an Early Intervention Grant from the State of Minnesota to support family preservation and proactive measures that assist families facing challenges or barriers linked to poor school attendance or truancy. The goal is to address these issues early - before they escalate into child protection cases.
According to Jamie Rancour, HHS Strategic Initiatives Coordinator, staff and social workers within Nayaadamaagejig have consistently identified high truancy rates within the child protection cases they oversee. "The focus shifted to finding ways to decrease the risk of truancy before it becomes an actual case, and to help families who already have active truancy cases get back on track," she said.
The Early Intervention Grant is a five-year award providing $128,000 per year. "This grant can help families in very magical ways. I call it a 'unicorn grant,'" Rancour said. "We have a truancy focus within a family-preservation model. We're able to hyper-focus on issues and fund areas we're not typically able to fund. We never get this type of flexible funding. We can help families with whatever their needs are — as long as it connects back to school attendance. We can help families in beautiful and magical ways."
The grant allows Nayaadamaagejig to work with families who are currently at risk of truancy or who already have an active truancy case.
For this school year, Judi Helmin, HHS Child Protection Supervisor, and her team of social workers are leading the grant objectives. As required, they are gathering letters of support from surrounding schools.
"I'm reaching out as far as I can — Pillager, Cross Lake, online schools, Mid-State, Milaca, Hinckley, Onamia, Isle, and Nay Ah Shing are the ones that come to mind right now," Helmin said. "We are able to serve not only enrolled members, but first descendants as well."
Families must complete a needs assessment form, either on paper or digitally. The assessment gathers information about housing, transportation, and participation in extracurricular activities. "We can help with registration fees, equipment, or similar costs - anything that relates back to school attendance. That is pretty exciting," Helmin said.
The grant can also assist in other supportive ways. For ex-ample, if a family has several school-aged children struggling with attendance and has a newborn at home, the grant can help with diapers or formula. Supports like these ease stressors within the household, reducing the risk of truancy.
"We have a lot of flexibility with this grant. We just need to keep open communication with parents and families," Rancour said.
A portion of the funding could support a newly created truancy officer position. Currently, two social workers are splitting the truancy caseload in addition to their child protection duties. Hiring a dedicated truancy officer would allow the team to focus fully on child protection while the new position focuses solely on truancy.
Helmin emphasized the grant's program's flexibility. If a student or family is not comfortable talking directly with their school, they can contact Nayaadamaagejig instead. "Families who would like help completing the assessment can reach out to us or to their schools. We can also fill out the form together during a conversation. We want things to be as comfortable as possible for families," she said.
Rancour noted that HHS is the primary stakeholder of the Early Intervention Grant. "That means we don't have to go through other programs like Aanji to access funding and services. We can get services started right away — we don't have to wait."
The grant will also support cultural events within Nayaadamaagejig, and the staff plans to collaborate with other HHS teams. Surveys will be sent to families to help identify program strengths, areas for improvement, and suggestions for future services.