Senate Appropriations Committee Recommends Major Native Language Program Funding Increase
Senate Numbers Top Even Large House Increase
The National Alliance has been informed by Senate staff that the Senate Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a funding increase of $5 million for FY 2008 for the implementation of language immersion and restoration programs authorized by the recently passed Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act of 2006. The Subcommittee met on Tuesday June 19, 2007. The Full Senate Appropriations Committee adopted the markup on Thursday June 21, 2007. Native Language Revitalization is currently funded at approximately $4 million through the Administration for Native Americans under the Department of Health and Human Services. This increase means a total funding amount set at approximately $9 million.
“A few weeks ago, the House Appropriations Committee proposed a $3 million increase for Native Languages, which was a great outcome. Now the Senate has gone further, proposing a $5 million increase,” said Ryan Wilson (Oglala Lakota), President of the National Alliance to Save Native Languages. President Wilson added, “This tremendous support will breathe new life into Native efforts to revitalize our languages.”
The Alliance launched a last minute push for the Native Language Revitalization funding increase by visiting a dozen key Senate offices with vital information regarding the state of Native Languages and current Native Language Revitalization efforts throughout Indian Country in the week prior to the mark-up.
There are about 175 Native languages still spoken in the United States, but scholars believe that 155 languages are “moribund,” meaning that they are spoken only by adults who are no longer passing the language actively down to the next generation. Native educators have found that immersion programs are successful at teaching fluency in Native languages to the next generation, which means that these languages will survive.
President Wilson noted, “Even with new funding, ultimate responsibility for success lies within our own communities. Indian country has been united in this effort, with great leadership not only from the National Alliance’s membership, but also from the National Indian Education Association, National Congress of American Indians, the Navajo Nation, and literally scores of other tribes and tribal organizations. If we succeeded, our work will resonate for generations.”
The Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act of 2006 was signed and passed into law by President George W. Bush in December 2006 amending the Native American Programs Act of 1974 adding clauses that would open up grant opportunities to Native American Language Nests, Native American Language Survival Schools, and Native American Language Restoration Programs.
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Related Links:
http://www.savenativelanguages.org |
