Language and cultural revitalization

Waadookodaading is in its tenth year of existence, and is moving into the next ten with the motto "Striving to Thrive (not just survive)." They are ready to push beyond working to keep the Ojibwe language alive and push towards ensuring that it will thrive throughout the Ojibwe speaking world. Making this happen means refining the tools they use to asses language acquisition, further expand their outreach efforts to the communities that speak Ojibwe, and increase the professional and organizational capacities of their staff.

The WI Tribal Language Consortium is an ad-hoc alliance comprised of language teachers, program staff, and community activists throughout Wisconsin.

Waadookodaading Language Immersion Charter School delivers coursework in Ojibwe k-5th grade. Research shows that students in a language immersion experience have greater success in school and consistent measurable improvements of achievement on local and standardized tests. In the eight years since its inception, the school has created proficiency with dozens of children -a level that has not existed for two generations. The long-term goal is to preserve Ojibwe as an active language and to continue to revitalize the Anishinaabe language used by tribal people.

The Indigenous Environmental Network (EIN) is a Native-based national environmental and economic justice network based in Bemidji MN working to strengthen grassroots efforts to bring about fundamental change. This specific grant will provide general operating support for a Minnesota based campaign which will result in new leaders who use indigenous science to solve local concerns of food security and sovereignty. The Ojibwe Seventh Generation Guardianship project combines native language revitalization with environmental conservation by engage the whole community in understanding the relationship and protecting local ecosystems that grow wild food and medicinal plants.

Dakota Wicohan works to preserve and revitalize the Dakota language and life ways. While rooted within the Dakota community, Dakota Wicohan works across tribal and political boundaries, working to address the crisis of a mere 9 fluent speakers remaining in the state. Their vision and philosophy is that language is linked to the regeneration of Dakota identity, health and community. Language will heal our inherent relationship with creation which is essential to the continuation of indigenous populations.