Volume 7 Number 1
October 1967

Lyal E., Holder

Indian initiative for community effort to alleviate reservation problems has found so few outlets for so long, many people have convinced themselves it no longer exists. The Community Action Program portion of the Economic Opportunity Act (Title II-A) of 1964 provides for emergent community leadership to initiate, plan, and implement community self-help programs.

Fulfilling the intent of the EOA requires that the people of a community recognize their needs, identify the priority of needs, prepare proposals requesting funds to carry out a work program locally designed to meet their needs, and then implement that program.

The seven Indian tribes of Montana and the two in northern Wyoming have long recognized their needs. They also have desired to take the initiative in solving their own problems. Some reservations have had the human, natural and financial resources to do this. The majority have not. The most successful projects have been those conceived, planned and implemented by the Indians, or with Indian involvement. However, the usual pattern has been for the non-Indian to do things to and for the Indian. Most of these efforts have been well intentioned, but many have not been successful.

Some reservations have had programs under the EOA, such as Headstart. However, most of those funded on reservations during 1965 and the first half of 1966 were initiated, planned and implemented by existing agencies in the same age-old pattern. Even where the tribal council was listed on the CAP forms as the applicant agency, they were merely going through the motions of helping secure project funds. Projects so devised and funded were not "grass roots" programs.

The sensitivity of the Division of Indian Services at the University of Montana to the desire of the Indians to be able to develop programs under the EOA, resulted in Dr. James Thrasher, Dean of the School of Education at the University, preparing a proposal for a training program for reservation residents in Community Action Planning and Implementation. The proposal was submitted to, approved and funded by the University of Utah under a consortium grant from the Office of Economic Opportunity for training and technical assistance to Indian reservations.

Upon the recommendation of the Indian members of the Advisory Council of the Division of Indian Services, the program participants were to come to the campus of the University. This would provide a neutral environment, avoiding the impression that someone was again coming onto the reservation to do something to or for the Indians. Participants were to be selected by tribal councils, the elected representatives of the Indian people. The only criteria suggested was that those selected be persons who could benefit from the training program and subsequently become the motivating force in the planning and implementation of community action programs on their respective reservations.

Letters were sent to each tribal council in Montana and Wyoming, making them aware of the availability of the training program and requesting them to select two participants. The State OEO Coordinator and his assistant followed this up with personal visitations to each reservation with a verbal explanation. All but two of the eight reservations encompassed in the proposal were represented, as well as the non-reservation group in Great Falls, Montana.

The 18 trainees represented a very heterogeneous group. They ranged in age from about 24 to 65 years of age. There were five college graduates as well as those with very little formal education. The common denominators were Indian ancestry, the sacrifice of eight weeks away from home, and a desire to learn how to help their people to help themselves.

The general objectives of the training were to develop within the trainees a knowledge of community action planning necessary to take advantage of the Economic Opportunity Act for their Indian community, to stimulate their thinking about how such community action planning can assist in the long-range goal of fighting poverty on the reservation, and to help them gain the confidence in themselves necessary to carry out community planning once they returned home. The curriculum of the training program was designed to accomplish six specific objectives. Student behavioral growth would be the first observable evidence that the objectives of the program could be met. Thirteen behavioral goals were established as guidelines for the learning experiences to be organized and implemented in the instructional program.

It was assumed that for a person to be successful in motivating others in the development of locally initiated, planned, and implemented programs, he would have to evidence a certain amount of self-confidence in his understanding of the necessary performance tasks. To secure an objective measurement of student growth, and yet maintain an informal and non-austere atmosphere, a pre- and post- "inventory of understanding" was developed rather than an achievement-type instrument. The 14 items required the respondent to assess on a four-point scale his understanding of his ability to accomplish a behavioral objective. Provision also was made so the respondents could make any comments they wished about the questions.

Every effort was made to present an informal learning atmosphere. The class was housed in one of the conference rooms at the Student Union building instead of one of the regular classrooms. The book store down the hall provided opportunity for securing some of their personal needs. The proximity to the cafeteria enabled the group to bring their food trays and eat in the conference room. In the early portion of the program break materials were catered by the Food Service.

The usual teacher-student relationships were modified. The instructor requested to be called by his first name. To further remove any preconceived teacher-student barriers, the instructor shared with them the following incident, as an example. Upon being introduced on one occasion, it was readily apparent that the person did not believe that the last name could be Holder. In order to clarify it, the explanation was given that it was Holder, just like in pot holder. Five minutes later he was introduced as Mr. Pot. The ice was broken. From this point on, the instructor was not only affectionately called Mr. Pot, but also was privileged to enjoy the rare quality of Indian humor.

With few exceptions members of the group had not met each other prior to the opening session. The class approach was structured to work with them in a way comparable as possible to the one they could use upon their return to the reservation as emergent leaders. The first learning experiences were organized to mold the aggregation into a cohesive group able to identify and agree upon a common purpose. The availability of basketball tickets made possible the assignment of the following problem to the group by the use of the overhead projector:

"Each person can plan to attend two of the five home games listed according to his preference. Select the two games preferred and prepare a list of those to attend on a given date. Designate a person to be responsible for picking up the tickets prior to a game." The group was told the instructor would be physically present in the room but was to be considered as absent since he would not respond to questions until the group had carried out the challenge given to them and then ask that he be present. This was their first introduction to the informal approach to learning taken during this training program.

Questions, problems and projects were devised to motivate and direct group energy towards the accomplishment of the student behavioral objectives. The instructor served as moderator and director of the class activities capitalizing upon the teachable moment. The principal question asked was, "Why?" At the beginning the principal answer was, "I don’t know."

A thorough study was undertaken of the Community Action Program (CAP) Guide. The instructor played a less and less conspicuous role in the finalizing of answers to CAP related questions, as his deliberate attempt to have the group become independent in their use of the CAP Guide became more successful. At first they were reluctant to rely upon the consensus of the group in drawing inferences from the CAP Guide in finalizing answers. It was not long, however, until individuals were eagerly seeking out CAP Guide statements from which inferences could be drawn to reach group consensus in finalizing answers to questions raised.

The CAP Guide is an excellent example of administrative policy. It interprets and clarifies the information necessary for an applicant agency to meet the requirements of the law. However, none of the OEO materials presents a logical format for the systematic development of a component proposal. Such a reference source was developed during the conduct of the training program. It grew from one of the hypothetical, open-ended problems given the group, paralleling reservation situations, yet avoiding the problem of emotional myopia so often contracted when working with a familiar setting. Its humor was intentional, the factual assumptions realistic. It was titled the Shoeless Problem because it took place on the Barefoot Reservation where a Community Action Planning and Implementation trainee had just returned and was making his report to the Trouble Council. The handbook provided not only a format and procedure for component development, but the sowing of ideas for meeting the need for a well-developed work program, meaningful and definitive supportive statements, and a definite plan for communication with and widespread participation of the reservation residents. The Program Development Component also illustrated provision for a nonfederal share contribution, and the services of a delegate agency.

Running parallel to, and to the extent possible congruently with, the study of OEO related materials, was an investigation of and laboratory experience with the disciplines of group dynamics, communication, attitudinal change, decision making and community leadership.

At first the group was uncomfortable with and resistant to the open-ended questions and problems. However, once they had realized the sheer joy of learning individually and as a group with the freedom possible under this approach, they were hard to keep up with. It was a real joy to see the members of the group jockey for the leadership position, maneuver to draw the reluctant into the group process, utilize group friction to its utmost short of disintegration, and bask in the accomplishment achieved by their concerted effort.

One of the functions of a community action program is to coordinate the antipoverty activities of existing agencies. This is no small task. Previous Indian experience with existing agencies has not always been a rewarding one. Buck passing is a favorite bureaucratic pastime. Indians have been unwilling participants. However, to be successful these people must go back and provide the leadership in evaluating the present antipoverty role of existing agencies, their limitations in meeting the identifiable needs, and coordinating their efforts. The Indians must learn to communicate with existing agency administrators. They must learn to recognize the plausibility of the responses received to certain types of inquiries. They must learn to persist in securing meaningful answers to their questions.

Thirteen representatives of existing agencies on the local, state and national level were invited to meet with the group on campus. At first the trainees were encouraged to formulate questions to be asked to ensure more productive use of the resource people’s time. This procedure was discarded by group consensus when they felt it was no longer needed. The field trips conducted off-campus accounted for 21 additional such contacts. Not only did the group gain confidence in themselves, both individually and as a group, but they also became recognized throughout the state as a knowledgeable and productive group worthy of their earned respect. All CAP conferences held since have requested that the Missoula trainees, as they had come to be called, be represented.

Field trips were taken to observe not only the need for community action programs, but also the successful implementation of programs to meet identified community needs. These field trips provided the opportunity to talk with tribal chairmen and council members, CAP directors and their staff, and workers trained under community action programs, as well as prospective recipients. By this time individual members of the group were making contacts with additional resources on their own, securing written as well as oral information and getting tentative commitments for future assistance. Independence was being achieved.

The last portion of the training program was devoted to the development of component proposals which the individual trainees had identified as being desirable to meet some of the identified reservation needs. Those who did not have a specific component to work with were encouraged to utilize the Shoeless Problem and develop their own assumptions. The "inventory of understanding" was administered at the close of the training session to obtain an objective measure of student growth during the training period. The inventory attempts to assess the trainee group’s level of confidence for successful achievement of performance tasks. The 14 items which sampled the student behavioral goals were of two types: (1) those directly related to the OEO, and more specifically, CAP materials, procedures and programs, and (2) the human relations skills vital to success in an emergent leader role. The inventory utilized a four-point scale to assess the level of confidence in performing the stated goals as perceived by the participants with intervals of none or nothing, very little, sufficient, and considerable.

In evaluating the results of the program as determined from the "inventory of understanding," it was assumed that for a person to be successful in providing leadership for the development and implementation of community action programs, he would need to have sufficient or considerable confidence in his ability. The results showed significant gains in all areas sampled but greater gains in the OEO related objectives than in those which dealt with the human relationship skills. However, the initial self-perception in the latter area gave less room for a change in attitude.

The following, conclusions concerning the extent to which the on-campus training program had been successful in accomplishing the stated student behavioral objectives seem justified by the results from the two administrations of the "inventory of understanding," the professional judgment of the instructor, and the comments of the resource people in regard to the understanding and perceptive questioning of the function of the agencies they represented and their relationship to community action programs.

Follow-up one year after the on-campus experience has borne out the validity of the assumption that such a group could provide a noticeable ripple effect. The only real deterrent to widespread Indian involvement in community action programs in Montana and Wyoming will be the lethargy of their governing bodies. The leaven is now there.