– Northern California American Indian Elder, Oakland Intertribal Friendship House
PONCA CITY, Okla. – While helping a lady who is lost, Charmaine Billy finds the place she was intended to be.
Billy was leaving work at the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma and encountered a lady who was lost in the parking lot. The lady was trying to find a meeting for the 7th Generation Mentoring Program for Court-Involved Youth. Billy helped her find the meeting and decided to stay and listen. Months later, Billy continues to attend the meetings and is now a mentor for the program.
“I always figure when something like that happens it’s an opportunity,” Billy said. “I pray I can follow God’s will.”
The 7th Generation Mentoring Program for Court-Involved Youth aims to curb juvenile delinquency by helping American Indian and Alaskan Native youth age 10-17 connect or reconnect with their culture and community while avoiding the temptations of truancy, substance abuse and criminal activities. Each juvenile is referred to the program by their area tribal court. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The Education Development Center (EDC) helps implement the program and provides support to the five tribes currently involved in the initiative.
“The program is based off of a previous tribal mentoring program that allowed youth to select their own mentors. It was a successful model but had not been continued,” Anne Wang, EDC associate project director/evaluation specialist, said. “We also have a relationship with White Bison and felt that their Sons and Daughters of Tradition program could be easily adapted to serve as a group mentoring component to the program.”
In addition to the Sons and Daughters of Tradition curriculum, which utilizes traditional instructors to aid youth in developing a cultural identity so ultimately positive choices are made, the program also implements the Strong Circle of Relatives strategy. Strong Circle of Relatives is one-on-one mentoring based on tribal kinship relations and focuses on teaching the history, culture and values of the tribe.
As a mentor, Billy said she is glad she stumbled into the meeting and grateful to be given an opportunity to help a young person. She said the program is geared to bringing more positive people into the lives of their youth. Billy works for the Ponca Tribe language department.
The five tribes participating are the Oglala Sioux Tribe in Pine Ridge, S.D., Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Indians in Minneapolis, Minn., Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians in Red Lake, Minn., Organized Village of Kake in Kake, Alaska, and the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma in Ponca City, Okla. A tribal resolution for a sixth tribe has yet to be finalized.
“We chose tribes that we had relationships with through the Tribal Youth Program that were interested in implementing a mentoring program and prepared to do so through their existing Tribal Youth Program,” Wang said. “We also selected based on geographic area choosing sites in each of the six tribal regions.”
Nellie Roughface is the Ponca Tribe Youth Program director and the coordinator for the tribes’ 7th Generation Mentoring Program.
“This is a really good program,” Roughface said, acknowledging that not all adolescents have positive role models in their lives, and many live in single parent homes or with their grandparents.
Roughface said the tribe has been talking about the program for three years and was approved to begin participating in 2009. She then began finding mentors and letting the tribal court know about the program. She was given an initial list from the court of 20 juveniles; however some have since been placed in a detention center or have turned 18. She found 14 mentors and continues to look for more.
In total, the 7th Generation Program and the six tribes can pair-up 180 American Indian and Alaskan Native youth with 180 American Indian and Alaskan Native mentors.
Roughface said she previously served as a mentor in another program and is familiar with the do’s and don’ts and how to develop a relationship with the youth. Each mentor has to complete an application and pass a background check. They attend training, are given a handbook and meet with their youth at least twice a month.
Billy said the handbook covers confidentiality and explains how far a mentor can go into a child’s life; how they can’t be more than their parents. The only concern she had was seeing if the child and her family were receptive toward her.
“I don’t want to feel like I’m imposing myself on the family … and it’s not your child so you have to respect that and be a good role model and let them know you’re interested in their life,” Billy said. “I think Nellie did a good job of recruiting. The group has different representatives from tribal life.”
Billy also enjoys visiting and learning from the other mentors. She said they bounce ideas around and said they’re “a good think tank.”
Roughface said she pairs the youth with a mentor who is the same gender. A group for the boys and one for the girls meet once a month and some of the topics to be discussed are prevention of teen pregnancy, alcoholism, drug abuse, suicide and understanding family systems. Soon the mentors will have CPR training. So far the groups have been bowling and had a dance. They hope to put together a handgame in December.
Roughface said the funding for the program lasts two years, and she hopes they receive funding again unless the tribe is able to sustain the program on its own. She said feedback from the youth has been positive, and she is currently gathering information and preparing a report that will track the progress of each juvenile.
Wang said the EDC was recently awarded funding for five more tribes to participate. She said some tribes have been selected but there is still room and she is happy to speak to anyone who is interested. Tribal representatives can e-mail her at
Anyone interested in becoming a mentor for the Ponca Tribe may call Roughface at (580) 765-2774.
“I’m glad I’m part of it,” Billy said. “It sort of fills in a gap … it’s just one more backup to hold tribal wellness.”