Active Grants in Native Languages - Preservation and Maintenance
Active Grants in Native Languages - Preservation and Maintenance
The Native American Languages — Preservation and Maintenance (P&M) program provides grant funding to ensure the survival and vitality of Native American languages through community-driven projects that preserve and increase the use of Native American languages.
Below are P&M grant recipients across ANA regions:
Alaska Region
Alaska
Recipient: Beaver Village
Project Title: Gwich’in Dictionary and Land-Based Language Education Project
Project Description: The Gwich’in Dictionary and Land-Based Language Education Project aims to revitalize the Gwich’in (Dinjii Zhuh K’yaa) language by increasing available resources and building teacher capacity. A lack of cohesive Dinjii Zhuh K’yaa language material availability creates a barrier to learning. Immersion programs and individual trainees do not have the language-learning materials necessary to learn Dinjii Zhuh K’yaa from novice to superior proficiency. This project will produce the first-ever comprehensive bilingual Dinjii Zhuh K’yaa/English dictionary online app, paying special attention to the Gwich’in people’s relationship to the water and land. The app will offer 30 units/lessons that teach 500 land- based words. Project managers will track the language app analytics to help identify the words in which users are having the most difficulties and determine the app use frequency. The Gwich’in Dictionary and Land-Based Language Education Project will be the cornerstone of Gwich’in language revitalization efforts positively impacting 217 currently enrolled Gwich’in students at six schools in the Yukon Flats School District.
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Location: Beaver, AK
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ANA T/TA Region: Alaskan
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 09/30/2021 to 06/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $294,875
Recipient: Cheesh’na Tribal Council
Project Title: Upper Ahtna Language Preservation: “As it has Always Been; There will Always Be” Project
Project Description: The Upper Ahtna Language Preservation: “As it has Always Been; There will Always Be” Project will consolidate best practices from past preservation efforts while actively engaging Cheesh’na elderly and youth. Athabascan people have lived in the Copper River Region for over 14,000 years. Today, the Ahtna language is critically endangered. There are only two fluent speakers of Upper Ahtna dialect, both are over 80 years old; an advanced speaker who is in his 70’s; and two apprentice speakers working towards fluency. This project will provide access to up-to-date Upper Ahtna language resources and offer the opportunity to take language courses. An estimated 40 or more Cheesh’na participants will have the ability to participate in language preservation events which will likely increase their language fluency. The goal of this project is to engage instructors and learners in language preservation activities, implement technology-based strategies that provide continuous access to language resources, and support youth and Elder interactions.
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Location: Gakona, AK
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ANA T/TA Region: Alaskan
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 09/30/2021 to 06/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $263,965
Recipient: Chilkoot Indian Association
Project Title: Tricky Raven Language Initiative
Project Description: Chilkoot Indian Association’s Tricky Raven Language Initiative will increase the language fluency of five families in order to increase their area’s language capacity. To date, 52% of their community’s families do not use any Tlingit language in their homes. By offering opportunities to implement language in the home and broader community, the capacity for building Tlingit language fluency and usage will increase. Five Chilkoot families are anticipated to be the direct beneficiaries of this opportunity. Ultimately, this initiative strives to establish a vibrant Tlingit Language Program that supports language learning within their community of Haines (Deishu).
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Location: Haines, AK
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ANA T/TA Region: Alaskan
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Program Area: Preservation and Maintenance (P&M)
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Project Period: 07/01/2022 to 06/30/2025
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FY 2023 Award: $300,000
Recipient: Doyon Foundation
Project Title: Doyon Foundation Mentor-Apprentice Program
Project Description: Doyon Foundation Mentor-Apprentice Program will build an immersive environment in which fluent speakers connect to Native language learners. The 2020 Interior Alaska Language Revitalization Survey found that 37.3% of Doyon shareholders under the age of 40 reported their understanding of Native language as moderately well or better but only 4.1% reported they speak their Native language moderately well or better. This project will work to serve all Doyon Shareholders who want to learn to speak one of the ten languages in the Doyon region. The long-term community goal of this project is to ensure that the Alaska Native cultures and languages of the Doyon region are taught, documented, and easily accessible to the more than 20,243 Doyon shareholders who live in Alaska and throughout the United States.
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Location: Fairbanks, AK
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ANA T/TA Region: Alaskan
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 09/30/2021 to 06/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $298,336
Recipient: Kenaitze Indian Tribe
Project Title: Training System for Dena’ina Language Instructors
Project Description: The Kenaitze Indian Tribe will develop scaffolded Dena’ina language-learning materials for language instruction. The Kahtnuht’ana Dena’ina (“People of the Kenai River” — Kenaitze) have primarily relied on oral tradition to transmit knowledge from one generation to another. Today, only five speakers demonstrate some level of Dena’ina proficiency. This project will employ a context- based, “storied” approach connecting new words and linguistic concepts to culturally authentic situations to increase the number of future language teachers. The Kenaitze Indian Tribe will design, test, and refine 20 sequenced, scaffolded instructional modules of a verb-based Dena’ina language training system using the Context-based Optimized Language Acquisition (COLA) approach. The project goal is to develop a sequential, extensible training system—including methods, techniques, assessments, progress monitoring, and coaching tools—for teaching Dena’ina language instructors. Enhancing efforts to preserve cultural identity will ensure the continued survival and vitality of Kahtnuht’ana Dena’ina language.
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Location: Kenai, AK
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ANA T/TA Region: Alaskan
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 9/30/2021 to 6/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $300,000
Recipient: Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak
Project Title: Niuwacirpet Anirturluku Kodiak Alutiiq Language Master Apprentice Program
Project Description: The Niuwacirpet Anirturluku Kodiak Alutiiq Language Master Apprentice Program will prepare a Fluency Pathway from novice to advanced proficiency in addition to preparing teachers for language immersion education. Currently, there are only two active intermediate instructors of the Koniag Alutiiq dialect stretched thin between four current immersion teaching positions. This project will address the high demand for expansion by piloting a master apprentice program focused on building second language fluency and teacher certification. The Niuwacirpet Anirturluku Kodiak Alutiiq Language Master Apprentice Program is designed to help sustain program components by offering fellowships to recently credentialed Alutiiq language speakers. The overlying goal is to develop Kodiak Alutiiq instructors to help increase the capacity to deliver sustainable language curriculum.
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Location: Kodiak, AK
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ANA T/TA Region: Alaskan
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 09/30/2021 to 06/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $296,233
Eastern Region
Connecticut
Recipient: Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation (MPTN)
Project Title: Nupeeqátôtooa´ = I speak Pequot
Project Description: The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation (MPTN) will increase access to language resources by increasing the amount of language instruction available to the Pequot community. Currently, there is one Language Instructor who is not capable of meeting the ever-growing language learning needs of the community. Nupeeqátôtooa´ = I speak Pequot project will develop language curriculum and instruction for one hundred youth: fifty curricula for each age range of ages (0-5) and (6-14). A focus of this project is to revitalize the Pequot language by strengthening resource availability to Pequot youth. The goal of the Nupeeqátôtooa´ = I speak Pequot project goal is to develop language instructors to increase access to the language for the Pequot community.
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Location: Mashantucket, CT
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 09/30/2021 to 06/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $236,621
Kansas
Recipient: Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation (PBPN)
Project Title: Nt̄ėnt̄ośhabwimėn Pėne Project
Project Description: The Nt̄ėnt̄ośhabwimėn Pėne Project will create well-trained, highly effective teachers of the Potawatomi language. The PBPN has reached a critical point of language endangerment as they identify one fluent speaker remaining. As the Prairie Band dialect nears extinction, it is imperative that PBPN implement a catalyst strategy for language revitalization. The project goal is to increase the number of professional development training hours by 1288 hours; second-language acquisition pedagogy training hours by 776 hours; and Potawatomi language acquisition training by 3190 hours. The PBPN urgently need to preserve, restore and revive the language. The Nt̄ėnt̄ośhabwimėn Pėne project will create well-trained, highly effective teachers of the Potawatomi language to help preserve the Prairie Band Potawatomi dialect.
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Location: Mayetta, KS
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 09/30/2021 to 06/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $299,900
Louisiana
Recipient: Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana
Project Title: Tunica Language Assistant Language Instructor Project
Project Description: Tunica Language Assistant Language Instructor Project will develop tribal language instructors and expand ongoing training opportunities through its Language and Culture Revitalization Program (LCRP). Currently, the Tunica-Biloxi Language program lack a sufficient number of advanced level instructors to provide direct instruction to tribal community members. It has been identified that Tunica-Biloxi tribal youth are seeing high dropout rates estimated at 33%. This project will focus on coordinating a program that employs measurable standards of proficiency and supports long-term language and culture education. A comprehensive language and culture program will help mitigate the extreme risk factors affecting Tunica-Biloxi youth. Ultimately, guided exposure to traditional culture will positively impact the development of tribal youth by strengthening their sense of identity and community.
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Location: Marksville, LA
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 09/30/2021 to 09/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $290,281
Michigan
Recipient: Bay Mills Indian Community
Project Title: FY 2023 Native American Language Preservation and Maintenance Project
Project Description: Bay Mills Indian Community (“BMIC”) will develop a fluency pathway from novice to refined throughout the community by acquiring, training, and certifying one teacher to play the role of a Cultural Language Educator who will assist in building second language fluency in Anishinaabemowin. Currently, the community's language loss risk is considered high with the loss of first speakers and the limited number of fluent speakers. By developing instructional materials to provide language education and teachings to the BMIC at large, BMIC tribal citizens, community members, and BMIC employees and training and certifying a teacher to expand the language in the community, the number of language resources available will increase, expanding the Nation’s capacity to provide quality language instruction to all tribal citizens and descendants. Ultimately, the project will revitalize Anishinaabemowin language fluency and increase the percentage of language speakers in the Bay Mills Indian Community.
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Location: Brimley, MI
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Native Languages - Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 7/1/2023 to 6/30/2026
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FY 2023 Award: $121,587
Minnesota
Recipient: Endazi—Nitaawiging
Project Title: Endaz-Nitaawiging Gikinawaabiwin Minawa Wiidookodaadiwag Project
Project Description: Endazi — Nitaawiging will provide Ojibwemowin immersion education for Red Lake Nation’s K-8th students to increase the number of emerging fluent speakers. Currently, there are only about 70 fluent Ojibwemowin speakers in Red Lake Nation. These individuals make up the last generation of speakers who learned from their parents and grandparents at home. To combat this, teachers will be certified in the instruction of Ojibwe and fluency levels of Ojibwemowin students, and fluency levels for students and their family members will be increased. Nine teachers, 90 language students in grades K-8, and 30 family members will be the beneficiaries of the project. Implementing this project will ultimately contribute to their long-term community goal of preserving Ojibwemowin, the official language of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and increasing the number of speakers for future generations.
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Location: Red Lake, MN
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Preservation and Maintenance (P&M)
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Project Period: 07/01/2022 to 06/30/2025
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FY 2023 Award: $300,000
Recipient: Minneapolis American Indian Center
Project Title: Project TALK (Technology-Assisted Language Keepers)
Project Description: The Minneapolis American Indian Center’s Project TALK seeks to increase technology-based resources and to create more opportunities for urban Native American youth community members ages 12 to 19 to learn their Native language(s). Currently, more than nine out of ten Native community members surveyed believe it is very important that community members have access to learning their language (Ojibwe and Dakota), and more than half believe there are either insufficient resources or opportunities to do so. By setting up a Language Lab as part of MAIC’s new Teen Tech Center using three types of technological resources (including video, music, and graphics production), developing weekly instructional programming for Indigenous language instruction, and providing introductory and intermediate language classes offered in-person and online, 1,500 Native youth will report increased interest in and commitment to learn a Native language. Ultimately, the project will develop more resources and opportunities in the urban American Indian community of Minneapolis and St. Paul for community members to be able to learn about their culture, history, heritage and language.
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Location: Minneapolis, MN
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Native Languages - Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 7/1/2023 to 6/30/2026
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FY 2023 Award: $300,000
New York
Recipient: Native American Community Services, Inc.
Project Title: Seedlings (Supporting Education and Empowerment by Developing Language Initiatives Needed for Growth and Sustainability)
Project Description: The Supporting Education and Empowerment by Developing Language Initiatives Needed for Growth and Sustainability (SEEDLINGS) program was created in response to increasing requests to restore Haudenosaunee languages. The current community condition reveals zero emerging or fluent speakers in any Haudenosaunee language in the Buffalo, NY school district. Native American Community Services (NACS) Educational Achievement component will provide over 1,500 hours of language learning primarily at the Native American Magnet School during afterschool hours for forty weeks (school year) and six weeks in the summer. Although this initiative will focus on children, it is expected to increase occurrences of intergenerational exchanges, keep the community informed and engaged, as well as support learners and encourage change. The goal of the SEEDLINGS program is to increase the fluency and proficiency levels of Haudenosaunee speakers.
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Location: Buffalo, NY
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 9/30/2021 to 6/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $257,349
Recipient: Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe
Project Title: The Kanien’keha Language Project
Project Description: Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s A:se Tsi Tewa:ton (We will make it new again) Project seeks to increase language fluency and proficiency in Kanien’keha (Mohawk language) in adult learners. Currently, Kanien’keha (Mohawk Language) is endangered with approximately 350 first language speakers left in the community. The Project will build on the previous work of the Kanien’keha Language Program to create an adult learner syllabus (what is learned) and work to modify its previously developed syllabus into the delivery of its language program (how it is learned). The Project proposes to accomplish this through incorporating the local dialect and usage of first language speakers into lesson plans that include field trips, visits by first language speakers, and visits to language programs in other communities. Ultimately, the Kanien’keha (the Mohawk language) will be vibrant and restored as an integral part of the community’s cultural identity.
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Location: Akwesasne, NY
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Native Languages - Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 7/1/2023 to 6/30/2026
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FY 2023 Award: $299,999
Oklahoma
Recipient: American Indian Resource Center, Inc.
Project Title: Little Cherokee Seeds
Project Description: American Indian Resource Center, Inc (AIRC) will develop an early childhood language acquisition program and adaptation toolkit for Indigenous language educators seeking to teach Cherokee to mothers and babies, birth to three years of age. Families with young children want to raise them as a first-language Cherokee household but lack foundational knowledge. The project will establish an advisory council known as “Second Mothers” who will provide guidance and direction in the development of the 12-month, 4-module seasonal curriculum. Working with Second Mothers, AIRC will develop, implement, and share immersive language teachings to families with children aged 0-3 years. The project fills a void in current Cherokee language offerings and will provide a pathway for Cherokee fluency for young children participating in the program and will increase language skills in the homes in which they live. The end product will be a tested curriculum for early Cherokee language learners and an adaptation toolkit that can be used by other Indigenous language teachers to extend language learning to their very early learners.
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Location: Tahlequah, OK
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Preservation and Maintenance (P&M)
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Project Period: 07/01/2022 to 06/30/2025
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FY 2023 Award: $291,393
Recipient: Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
Project Title: Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma's P&M Project: Himonasi Chahta Ikhvna (Learn Choctaw Now)
Project Description: The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma seeks to develop critical educational resources to increase the number of speakers across generations. Currently the only speakers of the Choctaw language are of the grandparent generation or older. By developing three mobile apps dedicated to Choctaw language education, one new online phrase book, and 12 new curriculum packages for Choctaw children aged preschool through fifth grade, the Choctaw language will be preserved and made accessible to learners of different ages. Through Himonasi Chahta Ikhvna (Learn Choctaw Now), the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma will develop language learning resources for all generations, fostering family and community connections through language.
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Location: Durant, OK
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Native Languages - Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 7/1/2023 to 6/30/2026
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FY 2023 Award: $259,334
Recipient: Comanche Nation
Project Title: Building a Home for Language
Project Description: The Building a Home for Language Project will address the critical need to build language capacity for instruction and increase the number and fluency of language speakers by establishing a Team-based Mentor-Apprentice Program (TMAP). The Comanche Nation currently has 6 certified Comanche language teachers to serve over 17,000 tribal citizens. With an approximate 1:2,833 ratio it is necessary to expand Comanche resources. The group setting will allow the Comanche Nation to be more efficient with their limited resources and the immersion setting with real world contexts will allow them to move past learning isolated noun-based vocabulary. The long-term goal chosen by the community that the project will address is “Every Comanche person will speak Comanche.” The resources developed by the project will be available to all tribal people that want to speak Comanche.
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Location: Lawton, OK
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 09/30/2021 to 06/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $299,647
Recipient: Delaware Nation
Project Title: Delaware Nation Lenape Intergenerational Learning
Project Description: Delaware Nation will improve their community’s capacity to reawaken the Delaware Lenape language and create a new generation of fluent speakers by developing and implementing intergenerational language programming at their Early Childhood Learning Center (ECLC). There are currently fewer than a dozen competent speakers of Delaware Nation Lenape and almost no truly fluent speakers. Moreover, the available language learning resources are limited and outdated with untrained teachers and minimal intergenerational contact between elders and youth. By providing opportunities and language resources conducive to learning, the community members of Delaware Nation will have the ability to increase their fluency and proficiency levels in their Lenape language. This project directly serves 75 Delaware Nation youth attending ECLC, 40 Delaware Nation families, and 4 teachers. Ultimately, this project strives and envisions a nation where all Delaware Nation community members are Lenape speakers and where their children are raised as first-language fluent speakers.
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Location: Anadarko, OK
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Preservation and Maintenance (P&M)
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Project Period: 07/01/2022 to 06/30/2025
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FY 2023 Award: $284,148
Recipient: Muscogee (Creek) Nation
Project Title: “Opunvkv Kerretv” Learning the Language Project
Project Description: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation (MCN) Myskoke Language Department will implement the “Opunvkv Kerretv” Learning the Language Project. It’s estimated that the Mvskoke language will be extinct in 20 years unless youth are taught to preserve and learn the language. This project will provide in-person Mvskoke language instruction to 180 K-5 students at six Johnson-O’Malley Schools and offer a virtual learning platform for 170 Native American K-12 students throughout all 45 Johnson O’Malley Program school districts. The Opunvkv Kerretv Learning the Language Project will impact approximately 14,293 students K—12 located within the MCN eleven county jurisdiction in east-central Oklahoma. The goal of this project is to increase the number of Mvskoke K-12 students who speak the Mvskoke language.
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Location: Okmulgee, OK
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 9/30/2021 to 06/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $242,340
Recipient: The Chickasaw Nation
Project Title: The Anompa Project
Project Description: Anompa means “word” or “Language” in Chickasaw. The Anompa Project is designed to incorporate the strengths and improve on the weaknesses of previous language revitalization approaches undertaken by the Chickasaw Nation (CN) Chickasaw Language Revitalization Program (CLRP). In 2015, the Tribe established the Chikasha Academy Adult Immersion Program (CAAIP) as a fulltime language immersion program for adult learners. The current condition of Chikashshanompaꞌ (the Chickasaw language) is of serious concern, with only an estimated 40 speakers, most of whom are elderly, amongst a tribal population of over 72,000. The Anompa Project will improve upon the CAAIP design by increasing language contact hours and implementing a sequenced immersion approach. It will also create a new curriculum based on the widely successful Paul Creek Language Association curriculum; also incorporating existing Rosetta Stone Chickasaw language learning software used by 7,000+ Chickasaw tribal citizens. This project will also target younger tribal citizens, aged late teens to late 20s, in order to grow a younger speaker community than what presently exists. The goal of the Anompa Project is to improve the adult immersion language learning approach that will increase the capacity of the CLRP to regularly produce new adult second language speakers.
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Location: Ada, OK
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 09/30/2021 to 06/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $295, 507
South Dakota
Recipient: Rural America Initiatives
Project Title: New Beginning (Otȟokaha Tȟeča) Lakota Language Project
Project Description: Rural America Initiatives (RAI) will support Lakota/Dakota families by giving them opportunities to learn language, as well as cultural ways, practices, and traditions. Currently, the Lakota language is in danger of being lost because most American Indian children in the Rapid City indigenous community do not have opportunities to learn the language from birth in their homes and many aging fluent speakers are dying. The project will certify 15 Prenatal to Five teachers and aides to become qualified RAI Lakota Immersion Teachers and at least 65 students ages 0-5 will have learned age-appropriate Lakota language skills as measure by the RAI Modified Creative Curriculum Gold Assessment package by the end of the 36-month project. Thus, the project will fully integrate Lakota language and lifeways into the Prenatal to Five program beginning with immersing babies and toddlers in the language. RAI hopes to “grow” a whole new generation of fluent Lakota speakers who will preserve and maintain the Lakota language.
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Location: Rapid City, SD
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Preservation and Maintenance (P&M)
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Project Period: 07/01/2022 to 06/30/2025
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FY 2023 Award: $299,999
Virgina
Recipient: Chickahominy Indian Tribe
Project Title: Omisun: Powhatan Algonquin Intertribal Language Revitalization Program
Project Description: The Chickahominy Indian Tribe seeks to increase language learning capacity among Powhatan Algonquin communities through an intertribal effort to create multifunctional Powhatan Algonquin teaching and learning resources. The project plans to reclaim the currently dormant Powhatan Algonquin language and create opportunities for language learning for members of the Chickahominy Indian Tribe, Chickahominy Indian Tribe Eastern Division, Mattaponi Indian Tribe, Nansemond Indian Nation, Pamunkey Indian Tribe, Patawomeck Indian Tribe, Rappahannock Indian Tribe, and Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe. Throughout the project, the grant will support the collection and documentation of archival materials, the creation of language learning materials and curriculum, and increased opportunities for tribal members to engage in language learning.
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Location: Providence Forge, VA
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Native Languages - Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 7/1/2023 to 6/30/2026
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FY 2023 Award: $299,999
Washington, DC
Recipient: National Indian Education Association
Project Title: We Speak the Nakona Language
Project Description: The Nakona language has been identified as critically endangered by the Endangered Languages project; an international collaboration between indigenous language organization. The “We Speak the Nakona Language Project” will address chronic language loss within the Assiniboine Fort Peck Tribe of Montana by increasing the number of community speakers. Currently, there are 24 known Nakona language speakers, far less than the 150 cited as “endangered" by the Endangered Languages Project. The “We Speak the Nakona Language Project” will create a student-friendly, culturally appropriate, and technology-based reservoir of academic Nakona language curriculum, instructional resources, and assessment tools that endures across generations. Five Native educators will be certified in 36 units of Nakona language curriculum and given resources to facilitate learning in their own classrooms. The ultimate goal is to reconnect Assiniboine tribal citizens back to their birthright… their Nakona language.
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Location: Washington, DC
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 09/30/2021 to 06/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $206,631
Wisconsin
Recipient: Ho-Chunk Nation
Project Title: Hoocąk Language Reawakening Dictionary and Online Education Project
Project Description: This project aims to reawaken the Hoocąk Language by returning it to youngest generations and bringing it up to par with English within their community. The 2015 Ho-Chunk Nation Census revealed that 83% of families use the Hoocąk Language “rarely” or “not at all” on a daily basis. This project will produce an online and app Hoocąk Dictionary, an online and app Hoocąk Online Learning Forum, and a teacher-training series for tribal consumption. The Hoocak project will impact approximately 1,906 Ho-Chunk youth (17 yr and under), and the secondary audience will be all 7,863 Ho-Chunk Tribal members. The ultimate goal of this project is to maintain Hoocąk Language longevity and to ensure the language continues to be passed down intergenerationally.
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Location: Black River Falls, WI
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 09/30/2021 to 06/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $294,909
Recipient: Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
Project Title: Red Cliff Ojibwe Language Teaching and Training Program
Project Description: The Red Cliff Ojibwe Language Teaching and Training Program will foster a cohort of four Ojibwe Language trainees to advanced-low levels of speaking/listening proficiency and create an enduring level of sustainability. Over 76% of Red Cliff residents speak little or no Ojibwe language (Ojibwemowin) and 71% understand little or no Ojibwemowin. There are currently no fluent Ojibwe language speakers in the Red Cliff community. The same community is currently experiencing a drug epidemic as the Red Cliff Community was forced to declare a state of emergency in 2018. A strong cultural identity has been directly linked to improved resiliency against high-risk behaviors. Culture embedded in Ojibwe language represents an opportunity to heal by providing a foundation of inner strength, positive identity, and knowledge of the Anishinaabe way for a healthy life and tribal well-being. The Red Cliff Ojibwe Language Teaching and Training Program will ultimately provide a sense of revitalization to the Red Cliff Ojibwe community through language and cultural preservation.
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Location: Bayfield, WI
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ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 09/30/2021 to 06/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $300,000
Pacific Region
American Samoa
Recipient: Intersections, Inc.
Project Title: American Samoa Language Academy
Project Description: The American Samoa Language Academy will increase the use of the Samoan language among youth in grades 7—12. In American Samoa, young people are using phonetic transliteration and becoming less fluent in the Samoan language because all levels of education, curricula, technology, and mainstream entertainment are primarily in English, causing a shift in our youth to decrease the use of the Samoan language. This signals the early stages of a Native Language in decline. The project seeks to increase 25 public school teachers’ ability to deliver Samoan Native language instruction through the completion of a language certification program and to increase the language usage of 100 public school students by 85% by the end of the 3-year project. Ultimately, the project ensures that the Samoan language is thriving and that training and resources are available to native language teachers and learners.
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Location: Pago Pago, AS
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ANA T/TA Region: Pacific
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Program Area: Preservation and Maintenance (P&M)
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Project Period: 07/01/2022 to 06/30/2025
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FY 2023 Award: $251,110
Guam
Recipient: Government of Guam - Department of Administration
Project Title: Eyak i Fino'-ta: Developing A Bilingual School Model for Guam
Project Description: The Commission on CHamoru Language and the History and Culture of the Indigenous People of Guam (Kumisión) will work in conjunction with the Saint Frances Catholic School (SFCS) as leading support agencies to establish a bilingual school model for Guam. The CHamoru language is critically endangered. Currently SFCS is an “English only” school and, there is no class-time allocated for the use of CHamoru language learning resources. The Eyak I Fino’-ta project will provide CHamoru specific language learning resource stations in 14 classrooms of SFCS. The goal of this project will increase proficiency among students and teachers at the SFCS project site. By increasing the use of CHamoru in the classroom, language proficiency will increase within households throughout the community. The goal of the Eyak I Fino’-ta project is to help maintain the CHamoru language as the first language of the people of Guam.
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Location: Hagatna, GU
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ANA T/TA Region: Pacific
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 9/30/2021 to 6/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $297,425
Recipient: Para I Probechu’n I Taotao-Ta, Inc.
Project Title: “Na Lachok I Fino Chamorro Gi Faneyakan”
Project Description: The “Na Lachok I Fino Chamorro Gi Faneyakan” project will increase the level of language proficiency by engaging Chamorro elders and youth in the intergenerational transmission of traditional practices. Currently native children, youth, and young adults show only 2% speaking/usage of the Chamorro language with 5% comprehension. This project will increase the speaking, usage, and proficiency of non-speaking Chamorro youth and young adults enrolled in the “Faneyakan Sinipok” immersion program. This project will impact approximately ninety (90) youth and young adults (ages 7-35) by increasing Chamorro language resources and making them accessible to the community. Ultimately this project will address the loss of language and cultural values and increase community capacity to preserve Chamorro tradition.
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Location: Tamuning, Guam
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ANA T/TA Region: Pacific
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 09/30/2021 to 06/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $287,514
Hawaii
Recipient: Aha Kane: Foundation for Advancement of Native Hawaiian Males
Project Title: H.A.K.O.: He Ala Ku Ola (A Journey of Life)
Project Description: Aha Kane: Foundation for Advancement of Native Hawaiian Males will improve the spoken language proficiency of Native Hawaiian youth by offering an immersion cultural class about the practice of ho’oponopono, a practice that relies heavily on language. Only 9.1% (17 of 186) of the Hawaiian cultural classes currently available to youth in Hawaii are exclusively taught in the Hawaiian language. By offering immersion cultural classes intertwined with a traditional healing practice, Native Hawaiian youth will have an added opportunity to improve their spoken Hawaiian language proficiency. Aha Kane aims to specifically target 50 Native Hawaiians that are between the ages of 13 and 25, either enrolled in or alumni of Hawaiian immersion schools. Classes will be hybrid (in-person and Zoom) so that enrolled youth from across the state can participate. Ultimately, the project will foster and encourage Native Hawaiian youth to speak, think, and act in the way of their ancestors and to keep their Hawaiian culture alive and with them.
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Location: Honolulu, HI
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ANA T/TA Region: Pacific
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Program Area: Preservation and Maintenance (P&M)
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Project Period: 07/01/2022 to 06/30/2025
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FY 2023 Award: $297,666
Recipient: Halau Ku Mana New Century Public Charter School
Project Title: Revitalizing the Native Hawaiian Language through Aina-Based Learning and Cultura
Project Description: Halau Ku Mana will create a language education program for secondary school students that combines aina (land)-based learning, cultural practices, and standards-based content material to improve Native Hawaiian language fluency and proficiency levels and increase the number of Hawaiian language speakers in their community. Since the Hawaiian language has nearly disappeared within the span of four generations, only about 1.2% of people in Hawaii speak the Hawaiian language today. By providing ample opportunities to enhance Hawaiian language skills and develop practical communication skills in different contexts and learning environments, the students in the Halau Ku Mana school community will increase their Hawaiian language fluency by two levels on the Aloha Olelo proficiency assessment. Though the project will specifically target approximately 130 students each year over the entire project period, each student’s families and communities will have opportunities to engage in language learning opportunities. Ultimately, the project aims to create a dynamic and engaged learning community where the Halau Ku Mana students and community can learn and live by Native Hawaiian knowledge, beliefs, and values by speaking Hawaiian fluently and taking part in cultural activities that support the preservation and revival of the Hawaiian language and culture.
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Location: Honolulu, HI
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ANA T/TA Region: Pacific
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Program Area: Native Languages - Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 7/1/2023 to 6/30/2026
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FY 2023 Award: $297,722
Western Region
Arizona
Recipient: Phoenix Indian Center
Project Title: American Indian Language Preservation Project of Phoenix: Creating an Intergenerational, Interactive Online Learning and Archiving Model for Dissemination
Project Description: The Native American Language Preservation Project of Phoenix will use 21st Century tools to engage intergenerational students in active learning, direct instruction and practice using teacher-to-student instruction combined with online archived lessons. The project will implement in-person and virtual classrooms (hubs and home satellite sites) throughout the Phoenix Metropolitan area to deliver classes in the Navajo language. There are over 50,000 Navajos in the vast geography of Phoenix, making it difficult for community members to travel to a single location and existing Navajo language courses have a cost to enroll. This project circumvents geographical and financial barriers. The project will help to reverse the trend of language decline locally by increasing the number of active Navajo language learners. The Phoenix Indian Center recognizes the diversity of tribal residents in the area and plans to expand language learning by adding one additional Native language during the project. Phoenix Indian Center will serve as the Classroom Host. Navajo courses (Beginner I and Beginner II) will be conducted both in-person and virtually. Families will link into classes from Hub sites, allowing them to participate in live, interactive language instruction. The Host and Hub sites will be outfitted with essential technology for a virtual classroom and each lesson will be recorded and archived for practice use among participants as well as for future use for the community at large. By the end of year three, the combined approach of in-person, virtual and online programming will enroll 494 urban-dwelling American Indians in language instruction courses with 90% demonstrating improvement on a retrospective self-assessment evaluation and oral introduction in family groups.
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Location: Phoenix, AZ
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ANA T/TA Region: Western
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Program Area: Native Languages - Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 7/1/2023 to 6/30/2026
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FY 2023 Award: $300,000
Recipient: San Carlos Apache Tribe
Project Title: Apache Language Learning in the Home
Project Description: San Carlos Apache Tribe seeks to develop the language and teaching skills of four tribal members in a teacher apprentice program and the teacher apprentices will work with project staff to develop a Home Visit Language nest curriculum that will be piloted in four Apache household by the end of the 3-year project. Currently, language maintenance is more difficult than ever due to the COVID pandemic causing the loss of over fifty language keepers and cultural knowledge bearers. By increasing the fluency of four apprentice teachers from novice-intermediate level fluency to advance low to advance mid-level fluency, measured by the ACTFL Assessment, and increasing language resources and access by developing a digital repository, the language teachers will have a better understanding of how to effectively utilize language materials and community members can build their vocabulary and exposure to the language. The project intends to serve eight households directly and provide language resources to the 10,800 residents of the San Carlos Indian Reservation communities. Ultimately, all members of the San Carlos Apache Tribe have the resources needed to learn the language at any point in their life.
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Location: San Carlos, AZ
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ANA T/TA Region: Western
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Program Area: Preservation and Maintenance (P&M)
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Project Period: 07/01/2022 to 06/30/2025
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FY 2023 Award: $269,202
Recipient: Yavapai Apache Nation
Project Title: Yavapai and Apache Dictionaries Project
Project Description: The Yavapai and Apache Dictionaries Project is working to revitalize Yavapai, Wipukepa Yavapai, and Dilzhe’e Apache languages by increasing learning resource availability. Schools and cultural centers are currently operating with limited resources to teach language curriculum. This project will produce the first-ever comprehensive bilingual English-Wipukepa/Wipukepa-English and English-Dilzhe'e/Dilzhe'e-English dictionary as online portals as well as mobile applications available for use with or without internet access. The Yavapai and Apache dictionaries will be distributed throughout Yavapai Apache schools to 2,596 enrolled tribal students. Ideally, this project will provide access to resources needed to increase overall language proficiency. The ultimate goal of the Yavapai and Apache Dictionaries Project is to lay the groundwork for future pedagogical material that will in turn provide the foundation for the creation of additional Yavapai and Apache language program within the community.
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Location: Camp Verde, AZ
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ANA T/TA Region: Western
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 09/30/2021 to 06/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $273,042
California
Recipient: Tzicatl Community Development Corporation
Project Title: Intergenerational Gabrielino Language Ecosystem Project
Project Description: In partnership with the Gabrieliño Shoshone Tribal Council, the Tzicatl Community Development Corporation proposes to build the Gabrieliño language resources for parents, high school students, teachers, and other member of the Indigenous communities in and around Los Angeles. The project’s long-term community goal is to establish a vibrant, intergenerational language ecosystem to ensure community members have easier access to resources for preserving and revitalizing the Gabrieliño language. There are only 18 current Gabrieliño language learning resources available and accessible to the community, and there are no living fluent speakers of the Gabrieliño language available who can pass on the language skills and resources needed to fully engage children and families in their own heritage. By the end of the projects, 46 new Gabrieliño language resources, a place-based language class to serve 65 high school students, annual community language gatherings and a language revitalization strategic plan. The project goal is to build Gabrieliño language and cultural resources that are available to Indigenous parents, students, teachers, and other community members within Los Angeles, promoting a nurturing language learning environment and a way to better preserve and maintain the language academically and culturally.
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
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ANA T/TA Region: Western
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Program Area: Preservation and Maintenance (P&M)
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Project Period: 07/01/2022 to 06/30/2025
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FY 2023 Award: $298,970
Recipient: Wiyot Tribe
Project Title: Wi Soulatlouy Curriculum Development Project
Project Description: The Wi Soulatlouy (“we will speak Soulatluk’) Curriculum Development Project seeks to develop a school-based Soulatluk curriculum to be taught and tested at Loleta Elementary School, and a community-based Soulatluk curriculum to be taught and tested for all ages at the Tribe’s Da Gou Rou Louwi’ (’the ongoing return of all’) Cultural Center, Table Bluff offices, online, and/or at other locations where Wiyot tribal citizens and descendants gather. Currently, the Wiyot language, Soulatluk, is a dormant language with extensive documentation but no living fluent speakers. By developing a community-based Soulatluk curriculum, a school-based curriculum, and digitizing remaining Soulatluk primary source materials (written and audio records) for use in future dictionaries, textbooks, and other print and digital learning materials for the Wiyot tribal community, the Wiyot Tribe will increase the number of emerging Soulatluk speakers of all ages through community and school-based instruction using structured curricula that they will create. Ultimately, the project aims for Soulatluk hou gou gou’wurruwisuqu’l ("the coming back to life of Soulatluk," a.k.a. the Wiyot language).
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Location: Loleta, CA
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ANA T/TA Region: Western
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Program Area: Preservation and Maintenance (P&M)
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Project Period: 07/01/2022 to 06/30/2025
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FY 2023 Award: $299,281
Recipient: Yurok Tribe
Project Title: Planting Seeds: Reclaiming Yurok Language Domains and Building New Circles
Project Description: The Planting Seeds project was developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the community’s request for access to Yurok language learning, loss of first-language speakers, and the Yurok Tribal Council’s recent declaration of Yurok as the official language of the Yurok Tribe. The purpose of the project is to ensure conversational, community-wide language usage in the Yurok community. A key focal point of this project is “planting seeds” for growing new speaking circles in contemporary environments not yet established or that have become dormant. Today the language faces critical endangerment as Yurok tribal members exclusively speak English in everyday life as well as at Yurok ceremonies. To ensure community-wide conversation, this project will target three distinct domains: reintroduction to ceremony, Yurok Tribal employees, and distance learning & community engagement. The overarching goal of this project is to strengthen the vitality and sustainability of the Yurok language through the reclamation and creation of domains to develop the fluency of speakers of all ages and ensure conversational and community-wide language usage.
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Location: Klamath, CA
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ANA T/TA Region: Western
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 09/30/2021 to 09/29/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $285,018
Montana
Recipient: Fort Peck Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes
Project Title: Fort Peck Tribe (FPT) ANA Language Project
Project Description: The goal of the FPT ANA Language Project is to improve the vitality of the Dakota and Nakoda languages on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation by expanding language and cultural activities on the Reservation. The project will broadcast the “Word of the Day” five days a week on the local radio station and social media. Two community language classes per week for two reservation communities and two online community language classes will be held to increase language fluency among community members. Additionally, 24 family day camps will be held over the 24-month project period to focus on language immersion and cultural richness throughout the four major reservation communities. Only 3.24% of community members residing on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation are fluent in the Dakota or Nakoda languages. This results in a high probability of the Dakota and Nakoda languages extinction, creating an urgent need to expand our language preservation efforts.
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Location: Popular, MT
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ANA T/TA Region: Western
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Program Area: Preservation and Maintenance (P&M)
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Project Period: 07/01/2022 to 06/30/2025
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FY 2023 Award: $189,593
Recipient: Little Big Horn Community College
Project Title: Ammiiláau (“Our Language”) Online Language Learning Hub Project
Project Description: Little Big Horn Community College will develop and release the Ammiiláau (“Our Language”) Online Language Learning Hub, an online Crow language learning platform that will provide complete Crow language curriculum that can be used for individual study as well as a supplement for classroom education. This project will facilitate an annual series of four Professional Development Workshops for Crow language teachers. Forty language units will build user’s proficiency from Novice Low to Intermediate Low. Teachers trained during the professional development workshops will take over new Ammiiláau lesson development. This will build capacity to implement education programs that train teachers how to instruct the Crow language and provide online resources for learning. By the end of the three-year project, up to 3,083 students and 15 teachers at 18 educational institutions across the Crow Reservation will use the technologically integrated teaching and learning methods. The goal of the Ammiiláau Project is to reawaken Crow language by accelerating education, educational resources, and integrating technology into their language education pedagogy.
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Location: Crow Agency, MT
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ANA T/TA Region: Western
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Program Area: Language Preservation and Maintenance
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Project Period: 9/30/2021 to 6/30/2024
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FY 2023 Award: $294,249
Nevada
Recipient: Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe
Project Title: Numuchadooana Kai Nasumu'wakwuna: Sustaining the Indigenous Northern Paiute Language
Project Description: The project will start Paiute Language and Culture classes taught by a community member in the McDermitt Elementary School and provide additional media to reach out to students outside of the classroom. Curriculum will be developed for grades K-6 for use by all McDermitt Youth resulting in 32 weeks of new classroom materials to be authorized by the Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Culture Committee. By the end of the project’s 36th month, there will be three Paiute speakers who are certified as Paiute Language and Culture teachers. The goal for this project is to increase the number of youth speakers of the Northern Paiute language in the Fort McDermitt community.
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Location: McDermitt, NV
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ANA T/TA Region: Western
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Program Area: Preservation and Maintenance (P&M)
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Project Period: 07/01/2022 to 06/30/2025
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FY 2023 Award: $278,920
Oregon
Recipient: Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
Project Title: Umatilla Sahaptin Curriculum Development
Project Description: The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation will create Umatilla language teaching materials to combat the current dwindling numbers of native first language speakers and few proficient second-language speakers who can teach the language in their community. The Language Program staff will focus on creating (1) three written textbooks to bring a learner from beginner to fluency, (2) video lessons and audio recordings to accompany the first two textbooks, and (3) classroom teaching materials consisting of lesson plans, activities, and student assessments to accompany the first textbook. By developing these teaching materials, the Umatilla master speakers and language teachers will have the resources necessary for facilitating language acquisition by adolescent and adult Umatilla learners. This curriculum will help develop new adult second language speakers, who will be able to help bring Umatilla back to the community by participating in Tribal language revitalization efforts or by using language in their own homes and daily lives. The curriculum create through the project will remain available to learners far into the future and will help to preserve and revitalize the language.
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Location: Lendelton, OR
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ANA T/TA Region: Western
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Program Area: Preservation and Maintenance (P&M)
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Project Period: 07/01/2022 to 06/30/2025
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FY 2023 Award: $283,434