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| Benefits Highlights |
Reaching Out and Connecting with Native American Communities.As with most things in life, there is no cookie cutter approach that is guaranteed to be the one right way for Benefits Planning Assistance and Outreach (BPAO) providers to form relationships with American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians in order to better serve them. This is very understandable given that there are 562 federally recognized tribes, an additional number of state recognized tribal groups, and nearly 300,000 Native Hawaiians in the Hawaiian Islands. Each American Indian tribe and Alaskan Native village has its own government, language and customs. Native Hawaiians also have their own language and customs. In addition to the communities mentioned above, American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians can be found in nearly every urban, rural and frontier area. AIDTAC’s Technical Assistance on Native American Culture project is designed to provide assistance to BPAO Benefits Specialists. They have released a new issues Brief, Strategies for Reaching Out to and Connecting with Native American Communities This issues brief offers some strategies that have worked for the AIDTAC American Indian Disability Technical Assistance Center as they have provided assistance to Native American communities across the country. These strategies may prove useful when reaching out to and connecting with intertribal groups in urban Indian centers or in small rural settlement areas. For more information visit AIDTAC’s Technical Assistance on Native American Culture project website. |