In honor of Native American Heritage Month, we want to share a profile of some attendees to our Annual Conference, The Chickahominy Tribe of Charles City, Virginia. While it is important to learn about the past and refocus our lens through the eyes of those who experienced it; it is also critical to see the vibrancy of Native peoples and cultures today. They are a part of our communities and we want to shine a light on their program. I thank Susan Brown the Child Care and Development Program Director for the Chickahominy Tribe for letting us profile their program and attending our conference! To learn more please visit their website: https://www.chickahominytribe.org/
More educational resources from the National Museum of the Native American: https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/about/native-knowledge-360

Wingapo! (Hello) We are the Chickahominy Indian Tribe of Charles City, Virginia. Our name means People of the coarse pounded corn. We are both state and federally recognized. The Chickahominy originally lived in permanent villages along the Virginia river that still bears our name. The Treaty of 1646 displaced the Chickahominy people from this area and set aside land for them in the Pamunkey Neck area of Virginia. As the settlers prospered, they crowded the Chickahominy Tribe out of this area as well. The Chickahominy families began a gradual migration to the area called the Chickahominy Ridge, where they now reside. This area, between Richmond and Williamsburg, is only a few miles from one of our 1607 village sites. In 1901, the Chickahominy Tribe established Samaria Indian Baptist Church, which serves as an important focal point for our community to this day. We are an Algonquin people: one of the largest cultural and linguistic groups in North America. Like other Algonquins in this area, the Chickahominy are often called Powhatan Indians. However, our villages were always independent–never under the control of Chief Powhatan, known to his people as Wahunsunacock. Throughout the post-contact era the Chickahominy people have maintained their independence, while remaining close to other Native people in this area. Our tribe is currently governed by our 12 council members and our chief Stephen R. Adkins, Sr. We are still here!

About our subsidy program:
The Chickahominy Indian Tribe has a Childcare Subsidy program that receives funds from the Office of Child Care. These funds are for Native American children of Federally recognized tribes who meet eligibility requirements, to attend quality childcare programs. The program also will pay for relative care, which means for an aunt, grandparent or older sibling living in another residence to care for the child. To be eligible, the child, their parent or grandparent must be a member of a federally recognized tribe, meet income requirements, and live in the service area. The service area includes, Charles City, Chesterfield, Hanover, Henrico, , James City, King William, New Kent, Prince George, and West Point. The program will partner with all licensed childcare providers who are eligible to receive subsidy funds. Our partners are able to receive funds from our program to offset costs of day-to-day operations, For instance, funds for background checks and fingerprinting, educational supplies and consumables such as developmental toys, paper and art supplies etc. Additionally, the program can contract slots for Native American children where the provider will be paid to hold openings (age and amount predetermined in the contract between the center and Tribe) in the center for Native American children and the provider will be paid as if the child is already there. Currently, we have American Rescue Plan Act funds that Childcare centers may apply for. These funds can be used for a variety of things. Their primary purpose is for increasing availability of childcare and stabilization of childcare. Applications are available by email request. For more information you can visit www.chickahominytribe.org, or contact Vicki Holmes at ccdpasst@chickahominytribe.org (804) 291-8299 or Susann Brown at susann.brown@chickahominytribe.org (804) 661-0994.