More than 400 grant recipients from tribal government programs and educational nonprofit organizations from across the U.S., Alaska, Hawai’i, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands attended last month’s Administration for Native Americans (ANA) three-day grantees conference in Washington, D.C. Sauk Language Department coordinator Terrie Kinsey and Endangered Languages program officer Jennifer Weston presented a poster and teaching manual from Cultural Survival’s three-year ANA-funded grant partnership with the Sauk Language Master Apprentice Project, “Thâkiwaki peminamôka ênâtowêyakwe: Making a home for our language.” ANA funding supports twenty hours weekly of team-based master apprentice language learning that is improving the speaking proficiency of a core group of apprentices who will staff a preschool immersion site at the conclusion of the ANA grant.
Representatives from more than two dozen tribal language projects supported by ANA Language Preservation and Maintenance and Esther Martinez Initiative grants attended the ANA conference, and all year two grantees presented project posters. Grantees in the Native Languages conference track attended training, networking, and roundtable discussion sessions on language teaching methods, private grant opportunities, integrating Native languages into Head Start and other educational settings, as well as a poster session, and presentations by ANA Commissioner Lillian Sparks, and Department of Health and Human Services and Administration for Children and Families leadership.
The Administration for Native Americans is a unit within the DHHS ACF that provides funding for community-based projects designed to improve the lives of Native children and families. Competitive funding authorized under the Native American Program Act of 1974 as amended for community-based projects is provided through three competitive discretionary grant programs to eligible Tribes and non-profit Native American organizations: social and economic development, language preservation, and environmental regulatory enhancement. To visit their website and read about upcoming funding opportunities click here.
