Lummi Nation among 20 entities to earn three-year BIA language preservation grant

The Bellingham Herald
·3 min read

The Lummi Nation recently learned it is among 20 recipients of a Bureau of Indian Affairs Office grant to preserve native languages.

The federal government this month announced the recipients of a total of $5.73 million in grants to American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes and Tribal Organizations across the nation.

The grants are part of the Living Languages Grant Program. Awards range in value from $200,000 to $300,000 per year for three years.

The Lummi Nation is one of two Washington entities to claim a grant, along with the Kalispel Indian Community in Cusick, Wash. The former will receive $296,000, with $298,552 going to the latter.

“The Living Languages Grant Program provides an opportunity for Tribes to receive funding to document and revitalize languages that are at risk of disappearing because of a declining native-speaker population,” according to a Bureau of Indian Affairs news release. “For more than 150 years, Native languages in the U.S. have been subjected to suppression and elimination from a variety of factors such as federal boarding and other types of schools that forced American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children to forgo speaking the language of their peoples.”

The program’s focus for 2024 is on Native language immersion projects that support a cohesive Tribal community-approach through collaborative instruction based on current language immersion models, according to the release. This year’s funding is intended for projects that provide an “all-of-community” language program with measurable outcomes which will be achieved within three years.

“Living Languages Grant Program funding supports Tribal communities in restoring and revitalizing their traditional languages, thereby preserving the essence of their cultural identities and sovereignty,” said Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland. “Investing in Native language revitalization is just one part of our all-of-government approach to addressing the harms caused by federal policies of the past, such as Federal Indian Boarding School which actively worked to suppress Native languages and cultures.”

The award recipients and amounts are:

  • Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah, Oklahoma: $300,000

  • Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma, McLoud, Oklahoma: $300,000

  • Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Bayfield, Wisconsin: $300,000

  • Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, Reno, Nevada: $300,000

  • Sac & Fox Nation, Stroud, Oklahoma: $300,000

  • Igiugig Village, Igiugig, Alaska: $299,999

  • Sitting Bull College, Fort Yates, North Dakota: $299,928

  • Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, Coos Co., Oregon: $299,900

  • Metlakatla Indian Community, Metlakatla, Alaska: $299,900

  • Modoc Nation, Miami, Oklahoma: $299,807

  • Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, Anadarko, Oklahoma: $299,279

  • Kalispel Indian Community, Cusick, Washington: $298,552

  • Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Lower Brule, South Dakota: $296,273

  • Lummi Tribe, Bellingham, Washington: $296,000

  • Bundled Arrows Inc., Niagara Falls, New York: $288,098

  • Shawnee Tribe, Miami, Oklahoma: $280,200

  • Tribal Government of St. Paul Island, St. Paul Island, Alaska: $277,500

  • Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes, Juneau, Alaska: $265,920

  • San Carlos Apache Tribal Council, San Carlos, Arizona: $219,647

  • Quechan Tribe, Yuma, Arizona: $201,997