The Native American Languages— Esther Martinez Immersion (EMI) program provides grant funding to community-driven projects designed to preserve Native American languages through Native American language nests and Native American language survival schools.

Below are the EMI grant recipients across ANA regions:

• Alaska
• Eastern
• Pacific
• Western

Alaska Region

Alaska

Recipient: Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska

Project Title: Haa Ytxi e Dultow Sgon Jishagoni

Project Description: Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska will increase Lingít language use and sustainability by increasing fluency and proficiency in Lingít immersion language nest Haa Yoo X̱ ’atángi Kúdi instructors and developing an integrative two-year rotating curriculum. Currently, there are 76 fluent-speaking elders remaining and few immersion learning opportunities. The Lingít language is considered extremely endangered; Haa Yoo X̱ ’atángi Kúdi is currently the only Lingít immersion program for children aged 3-6 in Juneau and is limited to a one-year curriculum, with few opportunities for instructor development. To achieve this, Language Nest Instructors will be immersed in 4,370 hours of the Lingit language, curriculum units and lessons will be developed for 30 students and students will demonstrate an increase of expressive language acquisition of lesson materials. Ultimately, the languages of their grandparents will live forever.

• Location: Juneau, AK
• ANA T/TA Region: Alaskan
• Program Area: Native Language — Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 7/1/2022 to 6/30/2027
• FY 2023 Award: $300,000

Recipient: Clare Swan Early Learning Center

Project Title: Yugtun Language Nest Enhancement

Project Description: Clare Swan Early Learning Center will support and enhance their language nest program that provides opportunities to learn and speak the Yup'ik language within an Early Head Start organization serving Alaska Native families in Anchorage, Alaska. Currently, the community has the capacity to provide programming that annually accommodates 8 children ages 0-36 months, for a total of 1,680 hours of instruction solely in Yup’ik annually, no (0) children ages 3-5 in programming that provides instruction solely in Yup’ik, and 50 children ages 5-7 in programming that provides instruction solely in Yup’ik for 3 hours a day during the 9-month school year. To support this project, CSELC will provide language immersion to accommodate 40 enrollments delivered solely in the Yupik language, increase the frequency and language use of 85% of parents of children enrolled through the production and distribution of family co-learning activity kits and community outreach activities. Lastly, they will also provide monthly school readiness sessions delivered in solely the Yup'ik language.  Ultimately, every Alaska Native child will lead a healthy and empowered life with access to unlimited opportunities.

• Location: Anchorage, AK
• ANA T/TA Region: Alaskan
• Program Area: Native Language — Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 7/1/2022 to 6/30/2027
• FY 2023 Award: $300,000

Recipient: Kawerak, Inc.

Project Title: Inupiaq Language and Culture Revitalization: Early Language Immersion

Project Description: The project aims to revitalize Inupiaq language and culture through formalization of its Shishmaref Early Head Start (EHS) language immersion program for children birth through 2 years of age, and through expansion of the program to Shishmaref Head Start classrooms. This Inupiaq Language and Culture Revitalization: Early Language Immersion project will allow the Inupiaq immersion model to be formalized, with HS and EHS curriculum translated to Inupiaq and a culturally responsive Inupiaq language assessment tool established. In addition, immersion services will be extended to 3- and 4-year-old students in Shishmaref Head Start classrooms. As a result, all Pre-K children in Shishmaref will have access to between 512 and 1,380 hours per year, depending on the classroom, of Inupiaq language learning each year.

• Location: Nome, AK
• ANA T/TA Region: Alaskan
• Program Area: Native Language — Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 7/1/2022 to 6/30/2025
• FY 2023 Award: $100,000

Eastern Region

Minnesota

Recipient: Alliance of Early Childhood Professionals

Project Title: Unspewicakiya Unkospepi Kte (Learning to be Teachers)

Project Description: Wicoie Nandagikendan (Wicoie) is a Dakhóta and Ojibwe early childhood education immersion program serving children ages 16 months through 5 years located in Minneapolis, MN that is operated by the Alliance of Early Childhood Professionals. Alliance of Early Childhood Professionals will support seven teachers/apprentices to become fluent in Dakhóta or Ojibwe at the advanced proficiency level using the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) language assessment through a Master-Apprentice model and to become certified as early childhood teachers. Currently, there is only one first speaker of the Dakhóta dialect living in the community, and only a handful of teachers of the language in Minneapolis. There are 38 Ojibwe first speakers who are elders; and the community continues to lose elders each year due to age and lost many during the pandemic. By the end of the project, there will be increased fluency of language teachers/apprentices to levels required to meet ACTFL threshold for Advanced Proficiency and an increase capacity to deliver immersion instruction through certified Dakhóta/Ojibwe language teachers.  The project’s goal is that all Native families in their community speak their native language fluently from pre-K through elders.

• Location: Minneapolis, MN
• ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
• Program Area: Native Language — Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 7/1/2022 to 6/30/2027
• FY 2023 Award: $300,000

Recipient: Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesota

Project Title: Cansayapi Dakota Language Teacher Credentialing Cankuya Pathway Project

Project Description: Lower Sioux Indian Community will expand the capacity of Cansayapi Wakanyeza Owayawa Oti (CWOO), the only Dakota immersion school on tribal lands in Minnesota, by training and credentialing 8 Dakota Language Teachers with at least Intermediate-Mid ACTFL fluency levels. Currently, the Cansayapi language has an 8B Nearly Extinct Language ranking and only 2 second language speakers with Advanced ACTFL Oral Fluency level. Through this EMI project, CWOO will expand their capacity to prepare the next generation of Dakota language speakers by: (1) Developing and adopting the first-ever Dakota Tribal Language Teaching Credentialing Pathway; (2) Training and credentialing 3 Dakota Language Teachers with Advanced to Superior Oral Fluency; and (3) Training and credentialing 5 Classroom Language Teachers with at least Intermediate-Mid Oral Fluency. The project will immediately increase CWOO’s language nest capacity and establish a powerful sustainable foundation for Dakota to flourish at the CWOO language nest in Cansayapi. Ultimately, CWOOO will achieve a healthy, safe, and happy community grounded and guided by Dakota culture, traditions, and language where every person contributes to a diversified social and economic life. 

• Location: Morton, MN
• ANA T/TA Region: Eastern 
• Program Area: Native Language — Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 7/1/2022 to 6/30/2028
• FY 2022 Award: $215,965

Oklahoma 

Recipient: Euchee (Yuchi) Language Project Inc.

Project Title: Intergenerational Land-Based Language Learning at the Yuchi Immersion School

Project Description: The five-year project entitled, yUdjEha s’@chE gO’wAdAnA-A ÔyUÔndâ: Intergenerational Land-Based Language Learning at the Yuchi Immersion School, will take place on approximately 66 acres of rural Yuchi land at the yadaga (known in English as the Yuchi Log House) on the south side of Glenpool, Oklahoma. This site-based educational program will provide over 500 hours of Yuchi language immersion instruction to at least 28 K-8 students for whom the Yuchi Immersion School is their principal place of instruction. In addition, the project will provide Yuchi language instruction based on traditional Yuchi stories for parents and caregivers of the students and for 4 Yuchi Immersion School teachers. This project will increase the Yuchi language proficiency (working toward fluency) by at least 2 levels on the ACTFL-scale for 28 students, 12 parents, and 4 teachers by creating and implementing a new immersion curriculum based on Yuchi traditional story modules that are coordinated with land-based language learning.

• Location: Glenpool, OK
• ANA T/TA Region: Eastern 
• Program Area: Native Language — Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 7/1/2023 to 6/30/2028
• FY 2023 Award: $300,000

New York

Recipient: Agwadeyesta Dogeh Inc.  

Project Title: The Agwadeyesta Dogeh, Inc. native non-profit group will partner with the Faithkeeper School to expand their capacity to serve students, increase immersion time, and support adult language learning.

Project Description: Agwadeyesta Dogeh, Inc. will enhance the capacity of the language programming at the Seneca Nation of Indians’ Faithkeeper School. In order to better serve families, the project will offer instruction to students beyond age 6 in the classroom. Currently, the Faithkeeper School only has the capacity to serve students ages 3-6. Consequently, some of the students must attend a public school, losing many of their language skills. Agwadeyestah Dogeh will partner with the Faithkeeper School to certify two teachers in Montessori Elementary I/II for students ages 6-12, increase staff and students’ classroom language time, ongoing professional staff development, create 40 new age and culturally appropriate language resources, an obtain additional parent engagement. Ultimately, this project will bring the Faithkeeper School closer to their long term community goal of becoming a K-12 school that provides 100% of their instruction in the Seneca Language.

• Location: Salamanca, NY
• ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
• Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 9/30/2020 to 6/30/2025
• FY 2023 Award: $174,627

North Carolina

Recipient: Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Project Title: Teach what you know to the children share what you have with the children

Project Description: The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) are working to preserve culture through language and educational initiatives. The North Carolina EBCI have approximately 186 fluent speakers who identify Cherokee as their first language. Within this group, the average age is 70. It has been further identified that EBCI mortality rate is one person per month which could be detrimental to overall language preservation. Through language immersion, EBCI will focus to improve language preservation efforts in two major areas: teaching and building curriculum capacity for language immersion. By implementing a comprehensive language immersion program, the New Kituwah Academy will build community capacity of adult interaction with children in the Cherokee language of the EBCI.

• Location: Cherokee, NC
• ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
• Program Area: Native Language Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 9/30/2021 to 6/30/2025
• FY 2023 Award: $274,962

North Dakota

Recipient: Sitting Bull College

Project Title:  Thokaheya Lakholiyapi kte - They Will Speak Lakota First

Project Description: Sitting Bull College will create a unique Lakota language infused alternative education teacher training pathway that facilitates the pilot of an infant/toddler immersion classroom, creating first language speakers in the Lakota language. There are currently no first language Lakota speakers under the age of 40 on the Standing Rock Reservation while the total number of fluent speakers is less than 2% of the total population, with little to no intergenerational language transmission.  This project will combine the existing childhood services programs of Lakhól’iyapi Wahóhpi Wičȟákini Owayawa (LWWO) and the Kampus Kids Learning Center (KKLC) to pilot the first  4 months to 2.5 years old  100% Lakota language immersion classroom that integrates instruction grounded in a Montessori style, project-based learning environment. As a result of successful implementation, the project will create first language speakers of the Lakota language for the first time in 40 years. It will bridge the gap between elder first language speakers and youth speakers of the Lakota language in order to ensure successful survival of Lakota into the future.

• Location: Fort Yates, ND
• ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
• Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 9/30/2020 to 6/30/2025
• FY 2023 Award: $284,572

South Dakota

Recipient: Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation

Project Title: Lakhóta Iyapi na Wówiyukcan - Lakota Language & Education - Providing high quality Indigenous Montessori Education through our Language and Philosophy

Project Description: Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation (TVCDC) seeks to enhance the skills and capacity of their Oglala Lakota Immersion educators in Montessori education and Lakota language to continue to improve the quality of their effort to provide high-quality Indigenous Montessori education and to increase the access to the Lakota Language and Lifeways for children, families, and community members on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Of the total Oglala Lakota population, less than 3% are fluent Lakota speakers. By the end of 5-year project period, 70 Lakota children and families in preschool to 4th grade and their families will increase their Lakota language proficiency levels and strengthen cultural capacity by receiving 1440 hours each year of Lakota language and lifeways teachings in a Montessori Environment, and four Lakota Immersion Montessori educators will receive Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) training and SD Lakota Language Permit.  TVCDC’s goal is to increase awareness of Lakota language and culture for children and families.

• Location: Porcupine, SD      
• ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
• Program Area: Native Language — Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 7/1/2022 to 6/30/2027
• FY 2023 Award: $300,000

Wisconsin

Recipient: Oneida Nation of Wisconsin

Project Title: Tehatiw^anakhwa Language Nest (TLN)

Project Description: The Oneida Nation of Wisconsin aims to expand the capacity of language immersion programming for the Tehatiw^anakhwa Language Nest (TLN) by increasing student proficiency of the Oneida language, increasing instructional hours and number of staff, and increasing cultural connectedness by parents and families of students enrolled in the program. At the end of the five-year project, language nest students, ages 3 -8 years old, will increase their proficiency of the Oneida language by three steps as measured by the Oneida Language Proficiency scale.  Language nest instructional staff will increase their abilities in Oneida pedagogy by three steps as measured by the CREDE-ECE standards for effective Indigenous pedagogy.  Language instruction will be offered to parents through online learning to help foster language acquisition in the home and community. Parents of students will increase overall well-being through bimonthly engagement in language next activity by two levels as measured by the cultural connectedness scale (CCS). Presently, only 2 fluent speakers remain and are between 55 and 65 years of age.  By focusing on students, parents, and teachers learning the language, this project will reinvigorate the Oneida language into the future.

• Location: Oneida, WI
• ANA T/TA Region: Eastern
• Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 9/30/2020 to 6/30/2025
• FY 2023 Award: $295,742

Pacific Region

Hawaii

Recipient: ’Aha PÅ«nana Leo, Inc.

Project Title: He ’Ohana Punana Leo “Strengthening Family Engagement in Language Nests”

Project Description: The ’Aha PÅ«nana Leo, Inc. will strengthen family engagement in language nests by facilitating an educational environment grounded in Hawaiian language and culture. PÅ«nana Leo families represent 13 sites across 5 islands. Current events have shifted classrooms from in-person to web-based. This shift illuminated a significant disadvantage — parents struggle with the language proficiency their children are taught in school. Only 25% of parents identify themselves as conversationally proficient. The overall goal of this project is to increase conversational fluency of PÅ«nana Leo families to support in-home language learning by supplying resources and actively engaging both the student and the parents. 

• Location: Hilo, HI
• ANA T/TA Region: Pacific
• Program Area: Native Language Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 9/30/2021 to 6/30/2026
• FY 2023 Award: $299,187

Recipient: KÅ«laniākea

Project Title: He pÅ«koÊ»a kani ʻāina: A coral reef that grows into an island

Project Description: The “He pÅ«koÊ»a kani ʻāina” project will develop, pilot-test, and implement a culturally, linguistically, and age-appropriate Hawaiian language nest program. The project will increase language proficiency by nurturing fluency from birth into adulthood. The “He pÅ«koÊ»a kani ʻāina” program will consist of 30 lesson plans, 30 home activities, 90 videos, 5 picture books/flashcards, 10 Easy Readers, 1 genealogy story, and a Parent Companion.  The ultimate goal of this program is to revitalize the Hawaiian language in traditional, contemporary, and household contexts as well as to strengthen intergenerational learning and cultural engagement through a Hawaiian language nest.

• Location: Honolulu, HI
• ANA T/TA Region: Pacific
• Program Area: Native Language Ester Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 9/30/2021 to 6/30/2026
• FY 2023 Award: $300,000

Western Region

Montana

Recipient: Aaniiih Nakoda College

Project Title: Building capacity to foster holistic student learning through community based curriculum at the White Clay Immersion School

Project Description: Aaniiih Nakoda College seeks to provide all Aaniiih and Nakoda children with opportunities to learn their languages, discover who they are, and become successful members of their community. Currently, the community does not have sufficient resources to curtail language loss.  By the end of the project, the White Clay Immersion School,  which operates under the administrative and governing authority of Aaniiih Nakoda College, will build capacity and increase the quality and quantity of instructional resources by developing, implementing, and assessing eight place- and community-based Native science and technology curricula and 8 culturally grounded social-emotional learning curricula for use by teachers and students. The project will increase language proficiency, cultural knowledge, academic achievement, and social-emotional well-being among children attending the White Clay Immersion School.

• Location: Harlem, MT
• ANA T/TA Region: Western
• Program Area: Native Language Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 7/1/2022 to 6/30/2027
• FY 2023 Award: $296,038

New Mexico

Recipient: Keres Children's Learning Center

Project Title: Expanding Community-Level Keres Fluency and Extending (KCLC)’s Cross-Generational Education

Project Description: The Keres Children’s Learning Center (KCLC) will work to extend cross-generational education through language revitalization initiatives. The English language has become pervasive with time and is viewed as an imminent threat to language maintenance in the Cochiti community. KCLC is committed to creating an environment in which children use Keres naturally during all school activities, learn cultural activities reflective of traditional practices and become well prepared for future education. This project proposes to develop a community-wide Keres Immersion Mentor-Apprentice Program from Pueblo of Cochiti community members; and to develop infant/toddler and adolescent setting to reinforce language fluency.

• Location: Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico
• ANA T/TA Region: Western
• Program Area: Native Language Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 9/30/2021 to 6/30/2026
• FY 2023 Award: $299,999

Recipient: Pueblo of Jemez

Project Title: Towa for Everyday Oral Communication in Jemez

Project Description: The Pueblo of Jemez (POJ) Department of Education’s early childhood language project will include the Pueblo’s Walatowa Head Start to bring together the community and offer language classes which will enable parents of language immersion students to speak Towa fluently in their homes. Currently, Towa is not spoken regularly within everyday conversation in at least 30% of family homes by the parents of 92 current language immersion students at the POJ. During the project, they will work to increase the number of parents to speak Towa in their family homes, increasing one level of fluency on the Language Rubric Assessment tool. The POJ plans to use a community-based recruitment strategy by advertising and surveying at community events, including Lunch Hour roundtable discussions and at their Youth Language summit. They will work to strengthen the language fluency of their students and pull parents between the ages of 20 and 40 of varied levels of Towa language fluency together, thus providing continuous support across all fluency levels and ages of participants. Completion of the project will serve as a catalyst for growth and change as well as increase the number of fluent Towa speakers across all ages within the homes of the Pueblo of Jemez community. 

• Location: Jemez Pueblo, NM
• ANA T/TA Region: Western
• Program Area: Native Language Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 7/1/2024 — 6/30/2027
• FY2024 Award: $900,000

Oregon

Recipient: Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde

Project Title: Grande Ronde Chinuk Language Immersion Expansion

Project Description: The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde operate Chinuk immersion preschool and are developing plans to expand in order to double enrollment. Very few children learn any Chinuk in their homes, some make it into our immersion preschool and the early elementary grade half-day immersion school. The tribe currently has blended half-day immersion classrooms with K-1st grade and 2nd-3rd grade with the other half day with the Willamina School District.  The proposed project will extend enrollment through the 6th grade in cooperation with local public schools; develop 24 place and culture-based curriculum units with literacy, math, and science as subject matter for grades 4th-6th in addition to providing at-home learning resources; and provide professional training and staff providing them Mater Apprentice immersion exposure to facilitate this program. As enrollment expands this project is expected to impact approximately 20 children and 30 parents.

• Location: Grand Ronde, OR
• ANA T/TA Region: Western
• Program Area: Native Language Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 9/30/2021 to 6/30/2026
• FY 2023 Award: $293,040

Washington

Recipient: Hearts Gathered

Project Title: Okanogan Salish Montessori Language Survival School Project

Project Description: The Okanogan Salish Montessori Language Survival School Project will develop language-based curriculum and make it widely available through the language survival school (Waterfall School). Waterfall School immerses children from ages 2 ½ - 12 years old in the Okanogan Salish language using Montessori pedagogy and curriculum to support the revitalization of language and culture. Project objectives include increasing student enrollment by five students per year, provide Montessori certified staffing, improve translated material accessibility, and increase participants language proficiency by one sublevel per year over a five-year project period. 

• Location: Omak, WA
• ANA T/TA Region: Western
• Program Area: Native Language Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 9/30/2021 to 6/30/2026
• FY 2023 Award: $299,531

Recipient: Salish School of Spokane

Project Title: Salish School of Spokane Cultural Salish Language Proficiency Project

Project Description: Salish School of Spokane (SSOS) seeks to establish a Salish language culture community that can offer mutual support, intergenerational connections, and a healthy sustainable way of life that will nurture their children for generations to come. As Salish people, they recognize that the revitalization of their language is the keystone of any effort to return their community to a state of health and strength. Currently, the demand and need for highly fluent, culturally competent Salish speakers is far greater than the number of available speakers who can conduct Salish immersion education, Salish immersion cultural practices and ceremonies. By the end of the 5-year project, seven K-8 Salish immersion schoolteachers, 35 K-8 students, and 15 parents will receive Salish immersion instruction on 100 Salish cultural topics to increase their Salish language fluency by at least two levels on an ACTFL-style Salish Language Cultural Oral Proficiency Interview. SSOS seeks to increase the number of highly fluent, culturally competent speakers of Colville Salish in our community by providing new, high-quality Salish immersion cultural instruction to students, parents, and teaching staff and thereby increasing intergenerational use and transmission of Salish language and culture.

• Location: Spokane, WA
• ANA T/TA Region: Western
• Program Area: Native Language to Esther Martinez Immersion
• Project Period: 7/1/2022 - 6/30/2027
• FY 2023 Award: $300,000