Family Strengthening in Indian Country
A research and advisory project for the Annie E. Casey Foundation

In an effort to investigate the role that families play in improving child and community welfare among American Indian communities and to deepen and raise the dialogue about family strengthening in Indian Country, the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development (Harvard Project) launched an eight-month project focused on family strengthening in Indian Country. The project, titled "Family Strengthening in Indian Country," began in December 2002, and consists of three sets of activities:

1. Undertaking a series of mini-case studies on family strengthening efforts among tribal programs that have won an Honoring Nations award;
   
   
2. Working with the Annie E. Casey Foundation to organize and host a meeting that brings together a small group of leading experts and practitioners to discuss strategies for family strengthening and to provide guidance on how the Foundation should move forward; and
   
   
3. Producing an initial "white paper" designed to identify and frame the dimensions of the challenge of family strengthening in Indian Country, with an eye toward advising AECF as to future directions and setting terms of reference and focus more broadly across the parties and institutions with roles to play.