Native Language Program Grant

Our focus is on positive futures and academic outcomes, where student cultural heritage can enhance their learning and contribution to the world around them.

Like all our work, we are grounded in respect for Tribal sovereignty and identity. Schools receive support to ensure materials are culturally and linguistically sustaining, and teachers engage in collaborative planning and reflection that centers community priorities.

Elementary school classroom with students seated at desks, working on assignments, displaying water bottles and school supplies, with colorful bulletin boards and educational decorations on the walls.

  • This program will focus on implementing language and traditional activities into the daily learning in each content area, school events, after-school and summer programing, meeting the specific needs of tribal students learning their native languages.

  • Culture & Well-Being: Fueling a movement to enable every BIE student to have a firm sense of identity, rooted in language, food, land, sovereignty, and community.

    See our full Vision here.

    • Kha'p'o Community School (New Mexico) will strengthen its Tewa-English dual language model by expanding a mentor/apprentice program, offering evening language classes to families, and aligning all language instruction to a scaffolded, culturally grounded curriculum.

    • Ojo Encino Day School (New Mexico) will develop a Diné Language Immersion Program for early childhood to grade-8 students, provide extensive teacher training, and create a community language center in partnership with a local university-level Diné training program.

    • Mescalero Apache School (New Mexico) will hire six language teacher assistants, develop K-12 Apache language materials, and engage families and elders in immersive classroom and cultural instruction.

    • Turtle Mountain Community High School (North Dakota) will serve 1,300 students and 100 educators over two years with Ojibwe language classes, community language tables, and immersive activities including VR storytelling.

“The most radical thing you can do is learn your language.”
 - Peshawn Bread, Comanche Filmmaker

Native Language Program Grantees

Map of the United States showing various schools marked with red location pins and labels, including Turtle Mountain Community High School, Enemy Swim Day School, Kha'po Community School, Ojo Encino Day School, Ramah Navajo School Board, Santa Fe Indian School, Mescalero Apache School, and Indigenous Montessori Institute.

“This grant is already having an impact in our school. I am hearing it and seeing it everywhere. Students greet me and introduce themselves in Navajo, unprompted!” Ms. Mescal, Principal - Ojo Encino

“The kids already seem more proud. This is how our grandparents must have felt when they heard us speak in the language.”

Ms. J, Teacher - Ojo Encino

A modern hospital building with a distinctive sloped roof, multiple windows, and flagpoles in front, set against a clear blue sky.