Comments

122 First Ave Fairbanks, AK 99701 907-452-8251 TESTIMONY OF TANANA CHIEFS CONFERENCE TO THE OFFICE OF CHILD CARE REQUEST FOR INFORMATION TITLED: MEETING THE CHILD CARE NEEDS IN TRIBAL NATIONS December 28, 2023 The Taa Chiefs Conference (TCC) appreciates the opportunity to submit comments for the Office of Child Care (OCC) request for information regarding the “Meeting the Child Care Needs in Tribal Nations.” Taa Chiefs Conference (TCC), organized as Dena’ Nena’ Henash, or “Our Land Speaks,” is a sovereign Tribal consortium with forty-two Tribal members across Interior Alaska, including thirty-seven federally recognized Tribes and two Alaska Native associations. TCC is also an Alaska Native non-profit corporation organized under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (“ANCSA”) to provide health and social services for the more than 18,000 Alaska Native people in the Interior Alaska region. TCC provides services for the interior 42 tribal communities, including 37 federally recognized Tribes. The TCC service area spans about 235,000 square miles, slightly smaller than the State of Texas, consisting of the Middle Yukon and Upper Yukon drainages, the Koyukuk and Taa drainages, and the Upper Kuskokwim drainage. The majority of TCC communities are inaccessible by road and can only be accessed by boat, snow machine, or airplane. TCC communities face natural disasters, high unemployment and poverty rates, limited housing, and extremely high energy and food costs. There is limited technological and communications infrastructure, which hinders access to education, workforce development, and job opportunities. TCC’s P.L. 102-477 plan (477 plan) consolidates a wide range of education, employment, training and development, wellness and prevention, and related supportive services into an integrated and comprehensive service delivery that allows us to provide wrap-around services to meet tribal members in their various life situations, build their skills and support them overcoming challenges to reach their self- determination goals. The 477 plan goal is to support tribal members to be safe, thriving and empowered. The four focuses of the plan are education and self-sustainability, ongoing support, wellness goals, and cultural identity. This holistic approach recognizes in order to reach economic sustainability, an individual must be healthy, educated in both traditional and western knowledge, feel safe, have ficial flexibility through employment and supportive services, and understand themselves and their culture. TCC’s 477 Plan incorporates OCC’s Child Care Development Funds (CCDF) to ensure families have access to child care services on their journey to self-sustainability. TCC has a number of comments to share how to meet the need and increase access to high-quality child care services in our service area. 122 First Ave Fairbanks, AK 99701 907-452-8251 Triennial Child Count and Service Area Within the TCC region, all communities have less than 50 children under the age of 13 and participate in our consortium for child care services, with the exception of Fairbanks, our hub community. Therefore, every three years, TCC must get authorization from its 37 Tribes and two native associations to receive CCDF funding on their behalf and provide child care services. OCC should recognize and respect tribal sovereignty of Tribes to self-determine how they want to authorize a tribal consortia to receive CCDF funds on their behalf. TCC Tribes submitted letters authorizing TCC to receive CCDF funds on their behalf with wordings that the “authorization shall remain in effect unless rescinded through written notice by the Tribe…(and) prior to application for future funding under the CCDF, TCC shall notify the Tribe in writing as to the intent to apply…and provide a copy of the plan for services.” Though Tribes have given this authorization, OCC staff have interpreted the CFRs that authorization must be received every three years in accordance with the renewal of CCDF plans every three years, and required TCC to resubmit updated letters of authorization in 2023. TCC wants to emphasize that the 45 CFR 98.80(c)(1) does not specify that Tribes must give a tribal consortia authorization every three years. It is an interpretation of OCC since CCDF plans must be submitted every three years under 45 CFR 98.17(a), that Tribes must receive new authorizations every three years. TCC does not agree with this interpretation. Additionally, this interpretation is against the purpose of the PL 102-477 law. The 477 law is to facilitate integrating programs “consistent with the policy of self-determination, while reducing administrative burden, reporting, and accounting costs”1 Requiring Tribes and tribal consortia to receive authorization every three years after authorization was already given increases administrative burden and takes away staff time from providing direct services. TCC requests for OCC to amend its interpretation of 45 CFR 98.80(c)(1) and to respect tribal sovereignty on how Tribes authorize a tribal consortia to. It is not CCDF’s authority to disregard the sovereignty of a Tribe and how they want to provide authorization to tribal consortia to receive and provide services under CCDF. If the interpretation cannot change, TCC recommends that 45 CFR 98.80(c)(1) language to be: The consortium adequately demonstrates that each participating Tribe authorizes the consortium to receive CCDF funds on behalf of each Tribe or tribal organization in the consortium, and Tribes have the self-determination on the length of authorization. Child Count TCC believe the triennial child count undercounts the number of children in the TCC region. It is difficult to receive 39 child counts as a tribal consortia. TCC puts a lot of administrative burden on our Tribes, especially the Tribal Administrators. We put the burden on the Tribes to provide these numbers, whom are small Tribes in the TCC region and overwhelmed with day to day work. Without doing a proper survey that dedicates time and funding to get an accurate number, the child counts are mere estimates, and undercounts the number of children. For example, the 2020 census said that there were 28 children in the community under 14. The Tribe stated in 2022 that they had 13 children. In one community, TCC is 1 Pub. L. 102–477, § 2, Oct. 23, 1992, 106 Stat. 2302; Pub. L. 115–93, § 3, Dec. 18, 2017, 131 Stat. 2026. 122 First Ave Fairbanks, AK 99701 907-452-8251 potentially being undercounted over 50% of the children, which affects our base funding. TCC suggests that OCC provides additional time and funds that are dedicated to the child count, so Tribes can get an accurate count of children. Also, consider the time of year the child count is due. The 2022 child count was due July 1. Summer time is prime time of gathering and subsistence harvesting for Tribes. Tribes are not only managing the day to day but ensuring their tribal employees have time out on the land to continue their way of life and prepare for winter. Putting away fish species is a major activity in the summer time that causes families to go out to fish camps. It is not the best due date or time to be before summer activities begin. Tribal CCDF Plan TCC would like to commend Michael Kulbida, TCC’s Regional Program Specialist. During the renewal of the TCC 477 Plan, Michael provided comprehensive comments and worked in partnership with TCC to address the comments, ensuring we were meeting OCC regulations, while having flexibility to meet TCC needs and self-determination. Discretionary Base Amount TCC does not believe that the discretionary base amount has increased in equivalent to inflation that happened in the past three years. In order to recruit child care providers in rural communities, TCC must provide competitive wage that meets minimum wage. There are a limited supply of individuals that would meet background check requirements, and often times these individuals are in positions with higher pay or better benefits in the community. In TCC’s current 477 plan, we have adjusted our rates for relative and approve providers to receive minimum wage to promote child care providers as a viable job. Additionally, the State of Alaska is currently experiencing a child care crisis. The State is conducting a market survey and has recommendations on benefits for child care providers that includes creating sustainable wage subsidy to support a living wage in Alaska, develop health insurance options, and subsidize child care for child care employees2. With the increase in costs of child care to ensure there is a supply of high quality child care providers, the current discretionary base amount is deficient. At the current rates, TCC is underfunded and will likely run out of funding for child care services. TCC on average pays out $250,000 a month for child care services. We will have to start implementing processes that reduce our child care services, such as implementing waitlists. Additionally, the lack of funds limits the ability for staff to conduct outreach to ensure everyone that qualifies for child care services can receive child care services. Overall, the current discretionary base amount decreases the availability of child care services in the TCC region. Direct Services Minimum TCC does not have a current barrier to the direct services minimum. TCC believes that OCC should provide flexibility for the Tribal Lead Agencies and count funds spent on projects and activities that would expand child care service spending towards direct service minimum. 2 https://ddaalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/PDF-FINAL-TFCC-Master-Recommendations- 11.15.23.docx.pdf

Comment ACF-2023-0004-0029