Grant Funding To Bolster Native Language and Culture Programs Announced By Department Of Education

The U.S. Department of Education publicized over $8 million in potential grant funding, spanning three crucial initiatives designed to benefit Native Students.

The fresh grants aim to amplify the presence of language and culture-specific to Native students within their learning environments. These initiatives operate via three competitive programs that aspire to expand access to Native American languages in schools, aid Native American educators, and facilitate Tribal Educational Agencies in aligning grant resources with state and local collaborators.

Currently, over 200 tribal communities find themselves without fluent speakers of their indigenous languages. Prior to the passage of the Native American Language Act (NALA) in 1990, Native languages were predominantly sidelined in classrooms nationwide. The decline of Native languages can be traced back to Federal Indian Boarding Schools, whose policies banned students from utilizing their American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian languages.

Native News Online reported that Julian Guerrero, Director of the Office of Indian Education, said developing effective Native language programs is essential to maintaining culture and sovereignty.

“To raise the bar for multilingual learners, the U.S Department of Education announced these competitive grant programs to ensure that teachers, principals, school leaders, and other support staff who serve Native American students have the ability to provide culturally appropriate and effective instruction,” Guerrero told Native News Online. “Strengthening the presence of Native American language in classrooms is essential to promoting Native culture, history, traditions, and tribal sovereignty.”

From the total of $8 million in funding, the Native American Language Resource Centers (NALRC) program is set to receive $2.9 million. This program aims to establish, reinforce, and maintain one or more Native American language resource centers, both at the regional and national levels. The initiative is designed to further the policies outlined by the Native American Language Act (NALA).

In addition, $2.4 million from the grant will back the State Tribal Partnership (STEP) program. This funding is aimed at enhancing the involvement of tribal, local, and state education agencies that cater to students from impacted tribes and at strengthening the capacity of tribal education agencies.

Finally, the remaining $2.75 million will be used to fund the inaugural competition of the Native American Teacher Retention Initiative (NATRI). This effort aims to enhance the recruitment and retention of Native teachers, who currently make up a mere .5 percent of public school teachers across the U.S. Research has shown that teachers are the primary sources of information about Native culture, history, and traditions for their students.

Through well-trained teachers who incorporate Native American knowledge, culture, and language into their lessons, the NATRI program will honor initiatives that advance Native American teachers’ leadership responsibilities, professional development, and programming that meets the distinct needs of Native youth.