Imagine growing up in a place that historically has been devoid of hope. A place that not only requires a sense of resiliency, but demands it in order to survive. A place where the school is literally the heartbeat of the community. Umóⁿhoⁿ (Omaha) Nation Public Schools recently planned and built a catalyst career & technical education center that not only provides opportunities for students but also creates a response to real needs for the Omaha Nation Reservation Community. In this session, we will explore how the issues faced by reservation and other remote communities can create real opportunities for school programming to create career tracks, services and amenities which then truly builds community resiliency by creating needed services and resources. The session will illustrate how embracing traditions and culture, often seen as obstacles, actually helps to foster hope and change. Learn how to include local tradecraft and community resources in an integrated approach to education. We will explore how the school administration redefined success for the modern native student through examining past data and facilitating new behaviour reinforcement through implementation science. The Umóⁿhoⁿ Against the Current Career Center facilitates daily needs and provides community resource spaces far beyond norms. We will explore how the facility faced challenges of working with a high risk population, culturally-based large scale outdoor education and curating tribal community and school activities in remote and rural settings. The success is astonishing, with graduation rates that not long ago were far below the norm now exceeding the state average. The future is so bright you will also be wearing shades!

Learning Objectives:

1. This session will explore holistic planning techniques that help solve local issues and create hope and resiliency for schools and their broader communities.
2. Learn about facility, educational programming, curriculum and pedagogy shifts that utilize positive reinforcement, implementation science and trauma-informed practices to shape behavior.
3. Discover the unique design solutions that arose from working with tribal elders, administration and the community to solve local needs while providing educational opportunities and ultimately creating an ecosystem of resiliency for the broader community.
4. Understand the unique challenges of working with an impoverished community and how to redefine success for safety, health and welfare within the scale of the school and for the larger community simultaneously.