[Senate Hearing 117-34]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 117-34
EXAMINING THE COVID-19 RESPONSE IN NATIVE
COMMUNITIES: NATIVE LANGUAGES ONE YEAR
LATER
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
MAY 26, 2021
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Indian Affairs
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
45-041 PDF WASHINGTON : 2021
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COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii, Chairman
LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska, Vice Chairman
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
JON TESTER, Montana JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada STEVE DAINES, Montana
TINA SMITH, Minnesota MIKE ROUNDS, South Dakota
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico JERRY MORAN, Kansas
Jennifer Romero, Majority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
T. Michael Andrews, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held on May 26, 2021..................................... 1
Statement of Senator Hoeven...................................... 29
Statement of Senator Murkowski................................... 2
Prepared statement........................................... 3
Statement of Senator Schatz...................................... 1
Statement of Senator Smith....................................... 5
Witnesses
Alvanna-Stimpfle, Bernadette ``Yaayuk'', Director, Kawerak Eskimo
Heritage; Chair, Alaska Native Language Preservation and
Advisory Council............................................... 21
Prepared statement........................................... 23
Harper, Leslie, President, National Coalition of Native American
Language Schools and Programs.................................. 14
Prepared statement........................................... 15
Hoskin, Jr., Hon. Chuck Principal Chief, Cherokee Nation......... 10
Prepared statement........................................... 11
Laeha, Ka`iulani, CEO, `Aha Punana Leo........................... 17
Prepared statement........................................... 19
Sauve, Michelle, Acting Commissioner, Administration for Native
Americans, Department of Health and Human Services............. 5
Prepared statement........................................... 7
Appendix
Hussey, Sylvia M., Ed.D., CEO, Office of Hawaiian Affairs,
prepared statement............................................. 35
Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Ben Ray Lujan to
Michelle Sauve................................................. 37
EXAMINING THE COVID-19 RESPONSE
IN NATIVE COMMUNITIES: NATIVE
LANGUAGES ONE YEAR LATER
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 2021
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Indian Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:05 p.m. in room
628, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Brian Schatz,
Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BRIAN SCHATZ,
U.S. SENATOR FROM HAWAII
The Chairman. Good afternoon. During today's oversight
hearing, the fourth of this Committee's COVID-19 response
series, we will examine the pandemic's impact on Native
American languages. We will also consider two bills, S. 989,
the Native American Language Resource Center Act of 2021, and
S. 1402, the Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act of
2021.
More than 30 years ago, Congress formally rejected past
Federal policies that tried to silence Native American
languages. When we enacted the Native American Languages Act in
1990, the U.S. expressly recognized the inherent rights of
freedoms of Native Americans to use their indigenous languages.
Since then, Congress has continued to build on the
foundation of this law, passing legislation such as the Esther
Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act of 2006
that supported maintenance and revitalization of Native
American languages.
But the most important work has been done by Native
communities themselves at the grassroots level to build their
own Native language schools and programs and revitalize their
languages and their cultures. These efforts have been
transformational. In Hawaii, more than 18,000 people now speak
Hawaiian at home, up from just 2,000 Hawaiian-language speakers
in the 1970s.
But even with increasing Federal support over the last
three decades, many Native languages remain endangered. Then
COVID-19 hit. Native language schools had to be suspended in
terms of their operations, and efforts to record and document
endangered languages came to a halt. Native language speakers
were lost to the virus.
Congress responded by including $20 million in dedicated
funding to address the pandemic's impact on Native languages in
the American Rescue Plan. But while help is here, this
Committee's work to support Native languages does not stop at
COVID-19 recovery. The two bipartisan Native language bills
that we have before us today will advance this conversation,
improving Federal support for culturally based Native language
instruction and ensuring Native languages are used and continue
to grow and get support.
The Native American Language Resource Center Act will
authorize funding to establish a national center to share best
practices and resources that support Native language use,
revitalization and instruction. The Durbin Feeling Native
American Language Act, named after renowned Cherokee linguist
and Vietnam Veteran who passed away on August 19th, 2020, will
make the Federal Government more accountable by setting clear
goals and asking for direct input from Native communities about
how Federal resources can be more effectively managed to
support and revitalize Native languages.
Before I turn to the Vice Chair, I would like to extend my
aloha to Ms. Laeha, and my thanks to our witnesses for joining
us today. I look forward to hearing the unique perspectives of
each of you and I look forward to this conversation.
Vice Chair Murkowski.
STATEMENT OF HON. LISA MURKOWSKI,
U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA
Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My apologies to
you and to the Committee and to the staff for my late arrival.
I thank you for being so good and conscientious in passing
through S. 1471, the Safeguarding Tribal Objects of Patrimony
Act of 2021. Senator Heinrich has worked on it so hard. I have
been a partner with him on that for a period of time. So we
thank you for that.
And we look forward to not only being able to get it
through the Committee, but doing more. Speaking with you and
your leadership in helping us unbottle some of our bills that
we do a good job moving them through the Committee, then they
get stalled out on the Floor. We want to be working with you to
try to get these important measures signed into law. We have a
couple of them in front of us today. You have given good detail
in your opening here.
But know that the emphasis that we are placing on Native
languages is so critically important. I think we recognize that
these are more than just words. They are a vital part of
indigenous culture and identity, and an important tool to
understand indigenous histories and continue cultures for
future generations.
As you know, as I have done my opening statements, I tried
to incorporate into our Committee proceedings some words of
phrases from some of the 23 Native languages that are spoken in
Alaska. Some of them are pretty simple, cama'i, I have that one
down. That is a greeting in the Alutiiq and with the Yup'ik
people.
But each time I have done this, I have done so with the
intent to recognize the importance of preserving these
languages, that this action, language normalization, is a
recommendation from the Alaska Native Preservation and Advisory
Council. This is an entity that was formed in 2012 to advise
both the Governor and the State of Alaska, the legislature
there, on programs, policies and projects to provide for cost-
effective preservation, restoration and revitalization of
Native languages.
So as I use these words and phrases, I hope to bring some
of that culture to this Committee.
Mr. Chairman, as you have pointed out, in some parts of the
Country, we have seen a resurgence in languages; in others we
have seen things go in the opposite direction. Of the more than
20 Alaska Native languages, only one can be considered stable.
Two of them are no longer spoken, and other half of them have
fewer than 20 remaining speakers.
That is pretty telling. Only one can be considered stable,
two no longer spoken, over half of them, more than 20, have
fewer than 20 remaining speakers. So we have some work to do.
We will hear this afternoon from one of our witnesses, Mrs.
Yaayuk Bernadette Alvanna-Stimpfle. Bernadette serves as the
Chair of the Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory
Council. She teaches Inupiaq. Her family is originally from
King Island, Ukivok. She spoke only Inupiaq until she entered
kindergarten at age 5. She is one who has not only been a
strong leader in Native preservation in Alaska, but she is part
of a cohort of Alaska Native language preservation specialists
who have chosen to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Hawaii,
your Hilo campus, with the Hawaiian and Indigenous Language and
Culture Revitalization Program. Great lady there, we are
pleased to have her before the Committee.
Mr. Chairman, I have a lengthy and very well-articulated
opening statement that I would like to incorporate in full as
part of the record, and have an opportunity to turn to our
witnesses.
[The prepared statement of Senator Murkowski follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senator from Alaska
Cama'i! Good afternoon and thank you Chairman Schatz for convening
today's hearing on Native Languages.
Native languages are more than just words, they are a vital part of
indigenous culture and identity and an important tool to understand
indigenous histories and continue these cultures for future
generations.
As many of you know, I am attempting to incorporate into our
Committee proceedings words and phrases from the 23 Native languages
spoken in Alaska. Sometimes it has been a simple greeting as Cama'i--
which is a greeting in the language of the Alutiiq and Yup'ik people.
Each time I have done so with the intent to recognize the importance of
preserving these languages. In fact, this action--Language
Normalization--is a recommendation from the Alaska Native Language
Preservation & Advisory Council; an entity formed in 2012 to advise
both the Governor and State Legislature of Alaska on programs,
policies, and projects to provide for the cost-effective preservation,
restoration, and revitalization of Alaska Native languages in the
state.
The words and phrases are part of the culture and everyday life of
the various Indigenous communities we represent here in the United
States Senate. Each time I use these words and phrases, I hope to bring
some of that culture to this Committee.
With that said, before I proceed to the rest of my opening
statement I want to take a moment to discuss something that I hope is
not lost upon everyone participating in today's hearing. The history of
federal Indian policy pertaining to American Indian, Alaskan Native,
and Native Hawaiian languages has not always been great. In fact, at
times it was outright harmful to native communities. In many instances,
those previous harmful policies are the cause of a cycle of trauma,
which the Committee has seen reflected in the issues facing many native
communities today.
However, in stark contrast to those harmful policies the Committee
is here today with a different purpose. Today the Committee will
discuss two bills that provide much needed language preservation
resources to tribes, and hold accountable federal agencies mandated
with implementing policy that provides assistance for Native language
preservation and resiliency. So today, I am both hopeful and committed
to continue moving this body in a positive direction to strengthen
Native languages.
We will begin that effort today by looking at two bills before the
Committee, Chairman Schatz's bill, S.989, the Native American Language
Resource Center Act of 2021. This bill, as Chairman Schatz had already
described, would authorize the Department of Education to establish,
operate, and staff a Native American language resource and training
center that will serve as a resource to improve the capacity to teach
and learn Native American languages.
And S. 1402, the Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act of
2021. I am proud to again join as co-lead on this measure to protect
Native languages. Our bill will improve interagency coordination and
require a survey of federal programs on their work involving Native
languages. Through these efforts, Native communities across the country
can continue revitalizing and protecting their identity through
language.
I look forward to receiving testimony from our panel regarding
these two pieces of legislation, and the potential impact they may have
in Native communities.
The Committee will also receive testimony from the Administration
for Native Americans on their efforts to assists in Native language
preservation. Section 11004 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
directs the Administration for Native Americans to provide $20 million
in emergency grants for Native American language preservation and
maintenance during the COVID 19 pandemic. I look forward to hearing
from Acting Commissioner Sauve on what ANA is doing to ensure the
survival and continuing vitality of Native languages during and after
the pandemic.
Finally, I want to introduce and welcome one of today's hearing
witnesses, Mrs. Yaayuk Bernadette Alvanna Stimpfle. Bernadette serves
as the Chair of the Alaska Native Language Preservation & Advisory
Council, and teaches the Inupiaq language. Her family is originally
from Ugiuvak (King Island). She spoke only Inupiaq until she entered
kindergarten at age 5. In addition to the many hats that Yaayuk wears,
she is also part of a cohort of Alaska Native language preservation
specialists who have chosen to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of
Hawaii, Hilo Campus with the Hawaiian and Indigenous Language and
Culture Revitalization Program.
Mr. Chairman as you know there are many things our two states
share, and this now includes training our Alaska Native language
preservation specialists. My staff have also been briefed previously by
the `Aha Punana Leo on Hawaiian language immersion programs. I've also
heard from Native language leaders in Alaska, such as Dr. Worl, that
they owe their thanks to the Hawaiians. What they are doing with their
young people--they gave many Native people of Alaska a sense that they
can also do it. I know this sharing and learning has led to lifelong
friendships between Alaskans and Hawaiians.
As pointed out by Professor Twitchell, from the University of
Alaska Southeast, who is also a graduate of the Hawaiian and Indigenous
Language and Culture Revitalization PhD. program at the University of
Hawaii Hilo, there is an ongoing and worsening language crisis taking
place in Alaska. Of the more than 20 Alaska Native languages, only one
can be considered stable, 2 of them are no longer spoken, and over half
of them have fewer than 20 remaining speakers.
I would like to end my opening statement with a quote from the
Advisory Council's 2020 report. Tlingit Language and Culture Bearer
Marsha Guneiwti Hotch said, ``I am a speaker of my language and one of
the younger birth speakers. Alaska Native languages are very important
to me because it is the indigenous peoples right to have access to
their language. Learning about indigenous history and learning who we
are helps us to be connected to the lands and our ancestors who have
lived and roamed these lands from time immemorial. . . Alaskan Native
Languages are not just important to me as a speaker but even to the
rest of the world.'' I believe this quote perfectly captures why this
Committee needs to continue highlighting this issue, and why I will
continue to work on it.
I look forward to working with you, Mr. Chairman, and the rest of
the Committee on this important issue.
Thank you, quyanaq, to all of our witnesses for participating
today. We welcome and value your comments and answers to questions from
the Committee.
With that Mr. Chairman I look forward to this discussion.
The Chairman. Thank you, Vice Chair Murkowski.
We will now turn to our witnesses. I am going to introduce
them all in turn, and when it comes to the testifier from
Minnesota, I will turn it over to Senator Smith.
First, we have Ms. Michelle Sauve, Acting Commissioner,
Administration for Native Americans. Then we will have The
Honorable Chuck Hoskin, Jr., Principal Chief, Cherokee Nation.
Senator Smith, would you like to do your introduction now?
STATEMENT OF HON. TINA SMITH,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MINNESOTA
Senator Smith. Thank you. I would be delighted to.
Thank you so much Chair Schatz and Vice Chair Murkowski.
Thank you so much for holding this hearing today.
It is my honor to introduce one of our witnesses today,
Leslie Harper, who is President of the National Coalition of
Native American Language Schools and Programs. Leslie is a
member of the Leech Lake of Ojibwe in Bemidji, Minnesota. So
boozhoo, Leslie.
Ms. Harper has been an innovator in founding the Niigaane
language immersion program, which teaches the Ojibwe language
to students kindergarten through sixth grade, and driving the
conservation on Ojibwe language preservation. Leslie's insight
as an educator and an administrator is really impressive. I
think that the Committee will learn a lot from her testimony
about why Native language instruction is important in Minnesota
and across the Country.
Leslie, I look forward to hearing your testimony about the
benefits of Native language education and preservation. We are
very happy to have you with us today. Miigwech for being here.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Smith.
Following Ms. Harper, we will have Ms. Ka?iulani Laeha,
Chief Executive Officer of `Aha Punana Leo, from Hawaii. Then
we will Ms. Bernadette Alvanna-Stimpfle, Director of Kawerak
Eskimo Heritage and Chair, of Alaska Native Language
Preservation and Advisory Council in Alaska.
I want to remind our witnesses that your full written
testimony will be made part of the official hearing record.
Please try your very best to keep your statement to no more
than five minutes, so that members have time for questions. We
are also in the middle of a series of Floor votes, so the
better we can keep to the five minutes, the more efficient our
hearing will be.
We will start with Ms. Sauve.
STATEMENT OF MICHELLE SAUVE, ACTING COMMISSIONER,
ADMINISTRATION FOR NATIVE AMERICANS, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Ms. Sauve. [Greeting in Native language.] Chairman Schatz,
Vice Chair Murkowski, members of the Committee, it is my honor
to testify before you today about the impact of COVID-19 on
Native languages and cultures.
I am Michelle Sauve, the Acting Commissioner of the
Administration for Native Americans, and Acting Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Native American Affairs, Administration
for Children and Families, for ACF. I am also a proud member of
the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe.
As the Acting Commissioner, I oversee implementation of the
Native American Programs Act, including the Esther Martinez
Immersion, EMI, and Native Language Preservation and
Maintenance Grant programs. ANA's language programs provide the
largest Federal support for indigenous communities to ensure
the survival of their languages.
I want to acknowledge the historic appropriations in the
American Rescue Plan Act that respond to the COVID-19 pandemic
in American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Pacific
Islander communities. The ANA funds will more than double the
amount of support ANA can provide for Native languages in a
typical year.
In almost every indigenous community, the number of Native
language speakers has dwindled. Many surviving languages are at
the point of critical endangerment. There are now over 200
tribal communities without living speakers of their mother
tongue.
ANA currently supports 49 Native language preservation
maintenance and EMI grants and five Native language community
coordination pilot projects. In total, these awards support 27
federally recognized tribes and 22 Native organizations, and
the preservation of 47 languages in 18 States.
ANA grantee evaluations show that teaching children
traditional languages helps build intergenerational connections
with fluent and proficient elders, and supports parents and
children to deepen their bonds, by learning a common tongue
that has been part of their families for generations prior to
colonization.
Native language grantees and their beneficiaries repeatedly
share that increased language uptake in the community deepens
pride in their culture and renews their sense of hopefulness.
Language and culture contribute to community cohesiveness and
can contribute to the prevention factors that negatively impact
health.
COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on the elderly
population who are the keys to cultural continuity. The
susceptibility of elders to COVID-19 has also had a critical
impact on our language grantees. Elders are indigenous
communities' knowledge keepers and are integral to maintaining
language vitality. Elders are often the only first language
speakers, and sometimes the only speakers for many Naive
languages. For example, the Kiowa Tribe in Oklahoma recently
lost two of the tribes five fluent elder speaker mentors to
COVID-19.
Prior to the pandemic, there were only 20 fluent Kiowa
speakers out of a population of 12,000. Kiowa is a language
islet, meaning no other tribe speaks this or a related
language.
COVID-19 has also had a severe impact on ANA-funded
projects. Tribal nations shut down government operations,
including language revitalization programs. In the mist of the
pandemic, communities have had to adapt and identify new
approaches to programming. The first one, an early learning
center which serves children 6 months to 36 months in
Anchorage, Alaska, was able to post songs, read books and
produce cultural videos in Yup'ik through YouTube.
Similarly, a Yuchi Tribe in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, operates the
Yuchi House, a place for tribal members aged three months to 95
years to come together to begin the language and embrace the
Yuchi Way. They ceased in-person language instruction and
transitioned to online teaching, using platforms to assess
youth reading and writing that allowed students and elders to
meet and learn language in real-time. However, the note remote
learning is not as effective as in-person instruction and some
elders are not able to use the online platform.
ANA appreciates this Committee's support for Native
language programs. Our goal is to reach the most tribes and
languages possible. In planning for American Rescue Plan
emergency language awards, ANA had a tribal consultation, a
community listening session, and conducted additional outreach
to the Pacific. Participants wanted as much of the emergency
funding as possible to be used for direct payments.
The announcement of the availability of emergency funds
will be issued this week, and ANA will do additional outreach,
particularly to tribes that have existing languages that have
not previously received ANA funding.
Thank you for your commitment to supporting Native
communities. I look forward to working with you to ensure the
vitality of Native languages and cultures. I will be happy to
answer any questions you may have.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Sauve follows:]
Prepared Statement of Michelle Sauve, Acting Commissioner,
Administration for Native Americans, Department of Health and Human
Services
Introduction
Chairman Schatz, Vice Chairman Murkowski, and Members of the
Committee, it is my honor to testify before you today about the impact
of COVID-19 on Native languages and cultures. I am Michelle Sauve, the
Acting Commissioner for the Administration for Native Americans (ANA)
and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Affairs,
Administration for Children and Families (ACF). I am also a proud
member of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe and a new student of my ancestral
language, Kanien'keha.
As the Acting Commissioner, I oversee the implementation of the
Native American Programs Act, including the Esther Martinez Immersion
(EMI) and Native Language Preservation and Maintenance grant programs.
ANA's language programs provide the largest federal support for
Indigenous communities to ensure the survival of their languages. I
have been involved in the ANA Native languages work for a decade and
appreciate the opportunity to contribute to this hearing.
Overview of Native Languages and its Importance
I want to acknowledge the historic appropriations in the American
Rescue Plan Act that respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in American
Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander
communities. These funds will more than double the amount of support
ANA can provide for Native Languages in a typical year. American
Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander
communities continue to face serious threats to their languages, with
many factors contributing to this precarious position. In 2018, ANA
testified at a hearing before this Committee examining efforts to
maintain and revitalize Native Languages for future generations. \1\
That testimony addressed federal policies designed to eliminate Native
languages and communities, child and family policies that removed
disproportionate numbers of children into non-Indigenous families, and
assimilatory and abusive boarding schools that severely disrupted
intergenerational language transmission.
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\1\ https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-115shrg32539/html/
CHRG-115shrg32539.htm
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There are now over 200 tribal communities without living speakers
of their mother tongue. \2\ In almost every Indigenous community, the
number of Native language speakers has dwindled, and many surviving
languages are at the point of critical endangerment. The Native
American Languages Act of 1992 and the Esther Martinez Native American
Languages Preservation Act of 2006 both directed much-needed funding
towards ANA's social and economic development efforts, which expanded
them to include robust language revitalization programs.
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\2\ https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-115shrg32539/html/
CHRG-115shrg32539.htm
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ANA currently supports 49 Native Language Preservation and
Maintenance and Esther Martinez Immersion grants and five Native
Language Community Coordination pilot projects. In total, these awards
support 27 federally recognized tribes and 22 Native organizations, and
the preservation of 47 languages in 18 states, including Hawaii,
Alaska, Washington, Montana, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, North
Dakota, and South Dakota.
ANA grantee evaluations show that teaching children traditional
languages helps build intergenerational connections with fluent and
proficient Elders and supports parents and children to deepen their
bonds by learning a common tongue that has been part of their families
for generations prior to colonization. Native language grantees and
their beneficiaries repeatedly share that increased language uptake in
the community deepens pride in their culture and renews their sense of
hopefulness. Language and culture contribute to community cohesiveness
and can contribute to the prevention of factors that negatively impact
health.
Through grantee impact assessments, ANA has learned that language
projects require tremendous time, effort, and resource investments
within communities that are already responding to many needs. ANA
grants empower many of these communities to carry out critical language
programs that provide intergenerational language learning and that
connect Elders with youth, certify language teachers, document
languages, awaken sleeping languages, and create new language learning
resources.
Impact of COVID-19 on Native Peoples and Languages
A 2020 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study found
that the age-adjusted COVID-19-associated mortality among American
Indians and Alaska Natives was 1.8 times that of non-Hispanic Whites.
\3\ We also know that COVID-19-associated mortality varied by
geographic area and, in one state, for example, the mortality rate
among American Indians and Alaska Natives was 3.8 times that of Whites.
\4\ Inequities that existed prior to the pandemic put Indigenous people
at higher risk, and the resources have been critical to addressing
their disproportionate burden. Beyond access to quality health care,
other determinants of health, such as healthy foods, stable housing,
and education, culture matters greatly in addressing health inequities.
Culture informs local issues and helps identify and frame problems,
solutions, and how communities measure success. \5\ COVID-19 had a
devastating effect on the elderly population who are the keys to
cultural continuity.
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\3\ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, December
11). COVID-19 Mortality Among American Indian and Alaska Native
Persons--14 States, January-June 2020. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly
Reports. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/
mm6949a3.htm.
\4\ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, April 9).
COVID-19 Incidence and Mortality Among American Indian/Alaska Native
and White Persons--Montana, March 13-November 30, 2020. Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Reports. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/
volumes/70/wr/mm7014a2.htm.
\4\ Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and the
Elimination of Health Disparities; Board on Population Health and
Public Health Practice; Institute of Medicine. Leveraging Culture to
Address Health Inequalities: Examples from Native Communities: Workshop
Summary. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2013 Dec 19.
A, Culture as a Social Determinant of Health. Retrieved from https://
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK201298/.
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The susceptibility of Elders to COVID-19 has also had a critical
impact on language grantees. Elders are Indigenous communities'
knowledge keepers and are integral to maintaining language vitality.
Each Elder has invaluable cultural and linguistic knowledge that is
essential in the continuing existence of language, culture, and
traditions. Elders are often the only first-language speakers, and
sometimes the only speakers, for many Native languages. For example,
the Kiowa Tribe's Native Language Community Coordination program in
Oklahoma recently lost two of the Tribe's five fluent Elder speaker-
mentors to COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, there were only 20 fluent
Kiowa speakers out of a population of 12,000. Kiowa is a language
isolate, meaning no other Tribe speaks this or a related language.
COVID-19 has also had a severe impact on ANA-funded projects. In
response to the pandemic, tribal nations shut down government
operations, including language revitalization programs. Poor broadband
infrastructure, physical distancing mandates, and tribal government
funding shortfalls made normal functioning impossible. Communities that
were able to continue operations experienced significant delays
throughout the pandemic. These delays include an inability to provide
in-person language instruction as required by EMI, cancellation or
delay of key project objectives and activities such as language fairs
and community outreach events, and of course, the serious health
concerns preventing inter-generational language activities with Elders.
Challenges and Opportunities
In the midst of the pandemic, communities have had to adapt and
identify new approaches to programming. ANA grantees have leveraged all
available resources, including digital infrastructure to allow their
efforts to persist, even if at a distance. For example, the Keres
Children's Learning Center, an EMI grantee in Cochiti Pueblo, New
Mexico, reported that not all language learners and Elders have access
to the Internet, which caused delays for both youth and adult learners.
Another grantee, the Clare Swan Early Learning Center, which serves
children 6 months to 36 months in Anchorage, Alaska, was able to post
songs, read books, and produce cultural videos in Yup'ik through
YouTube. These wonderful supplemental resources can continue to be used
by families post-pandemic, but the best language learning, especially
for children this young, must be in person.
Similarly, the Yuchi (also spelled Euchee) Tribe in Sapulpa,
Oklahoma operates ``The Yuchi House,'' a place for Tribal members aged
3 months to 95 to come together to be in the language and embrace the
Yuchi way. They ceased in-person language instruction and transitioned
to online teaching utilizing platforms such as Kahoot and Zoom to
assess youth reading and writing and allow students and elders to meet
and learn language in real time. However, they note remote learning is
not as effective as in-person instruction, and some Elders are not able
to use the online platform. Yuchi is another language isolate.
These innovations underscore the ability of Indigenous communities
to use the $20 million in Emergency Native Language funding provided
through the American Rescue Plan Act in adaptable and creative ways.
ANA grantees have played a pivotal role--particularly during the
pandemic--in recording, teaching, and preserving languages that could
be lost altogether. ANA is hopeful that our language funding and
support will continue these trends building stronger, more resilient
communities in the wake of the pandemic.
Emergency Funding from the American Rescue Plan Act
ANA appreciates this Committee's support for Native language
programs, and our goal is to reach the most Tribes and languages
possible. In planning for American Rescue Plan Act Emergency Language
awards, ANA held a tribal consultation on March 26, a community
listening session on March 29, and a special outreach session with the
governments of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands on April 26.
Among other factors, the intent of the three ANA engagements with
Native communities was to solicit feedback on allocation of the $20
million appropriation. Most participants expressed a need to grow
capacity for Native language programs, especially among tribes with
smaller populations and resources, tribes or territories that have two
or more languages, and tribes that lack dedicated and ongoing funding
for language programs. Participants wanted as much of the emergency
funds as possible to be used for direct payments and requested
information on what has worked for previous language projects.
The announcement of the availability of emergency language funds
has been released, and ANA is doing additional outreach, particularly
to tribes that have existing languages but have not previously received
ANA funding.
Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act of 2021
With respect to the Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act of
2021 (S. 1402) introduced by Chairman Schatz and co-sponsored by Vice
Chairman Murkowski, Mr. Feeling played a major role in Cherokee
language usage by developing a Cherokee Language syllabary in word
processing to complete computer documents in their own language. This
remarkable accomplishment has led to other innovative ways American
Indians and Alaska Natives have worked to preserve, maintain, and grow
their own languages.
The bill builds on the memorandum of agreement established by ANA
and the Departments of Education and the Interior to coordinate and
support Native language work. ANA stands ready to provide technical
assistance on the bill should it be requested.
Closing
Thank you for this opportunity to discuss the impact COVID-19 has
had on Native languages and cultures, and for your commitment to
supporting Native communities. I look forward to working with you to
ensure the vitality of Native languages and cultures. I would be happy
to answer any questions you may have.
Senator Murkowski. [Presiding] Thank you, Ms. Sauve.
We now turn to the Honorable Chuck Hoskin, Jr. Mr. Hoskin?
STATEMENT OF HON. CHUCK HOSKIN, JR., PRINCIPAL CHIEF, CHEROKEE
NATION
Mr. Hoskin. Mr. Chairman, Madam Vice Chairman, and
distinguished members of the Committee, I thank you. Osiyo from
the Cherokee Nation Reservation. I express my appreciation to
testify on what I want you to know is one of my greatest
responsibilities as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. It
is in our oath of office that we will do all within our power
to preserve the culture, heritage and traditions of the
Cherokee Nation. That certainly includes our language.
Preserving our language is preserving our Cherokee
identity, what makes us unique as a people. The heritage and
traditions of our tribe are rooted in the language. Our
language contains knowledge and ways of thinking that can never
be fully captured in translation.
We have faced many foes and obstacle since European contact
that have eroded our culture and have robbed us of our
language. I am not talking today, though, about those
historical obstacles, those historical foes. Certainly, war and
removal and broken treaties, decades of assimilation,
termination era Federal policies, did great injury to the
Cherokee Nation and our language.
Today, our enemy is the passage of time and the fragility
of human life. As I come before you today, the Cherokee Nation,
a tribe of 392,000 citizens, we have about 2,000 Cherokee
citizens anywhere who can speak Cherokee fluently. That is less
than 1 percent of our population who can speak the language,
who hold that in their hearts and in their minds. The average
of these speakers is about 70. Experts estimate that we lose
about 15 speakers a month as they pass away.
COVID-19 did particular damage to our effort to save the
language. More than 50 fluent speakers died of COVID-19. Now,
every life is irreplaceable; we have great sorry over every
loss of life, particularly during COVID. But when you lose a
speaker, you lose more than another tribal citizen, as great a
loss as that is. You lose a national treasure.
So our great question today in the Cherokee Nation is, can
we meet this moment with all of those challenges, the passage
of time, the fragility of human life, and save our language? If
we allow our language to perish, we are certainly proud of so
many other accomplishments, from leading Indian Country on
health care, from building a diverse business portfolio that
fuels our growth in so many areas, provides economic security,
we can look at our strides in education and housing, none of
that will matter a great deal in generations if the Cherokee
language is lost, because it will mean that we have lost
something irreplaceable that is inextricably linked to our
identity.
I signed our version of the Durbin Feeling Language Act in
2019. I proposed it when I took office. The Council of the
Cherokee Nation approved it. We dedicated $16 million to
language preservation efforts. We are investing $5 million of
that into a new language center in Tahlequah named the Durbin
Feeling Language Center. We are investing more in housing for
fluent speakers next door. We are creating a language barracks,
so that the young people that go to our immersion school, for
example, can walk a short distance with their teachers over to
some elders who live in a fluent speaking community, just steps
away.
Our goal is to create a language campus, a language
village, that will be our best tool in saving the Cherokee
language. We will have dozens of programs in this facility,
including our master apprentice program, where adults commit
two years, they are paid, to learn the Cherokee language. It
will also be a focal point of our other effort, which is to
create opportunities for language speakers to earn a living,
whether it is in the creative arts, whether it is in teaching,
whether it is anywhere where there is a demand for the Cherokee
language. That demand is growing the more we put resources into
this effort.
Our efforts also harness technology. We partner with
Microsoft, Apple, and Google, to make sure that our language is
accessible to a new generation of young people who want to
speak the language. We are very proud of the multi-million-
dollar efforts that we have undertaken. We are very proud of
the passion that our staff brings to it.
And I want you to know how proud we are of the United
States Senate and the leadership of this Committee for
considering the Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act.
Durbin Feeling was a great man. I knew Durbin Feeling. He was a
patriot of the United States, serving the Country, and he was a
savior of the Cherokee language. We do so much of this work in
his name. He worked tirelessly. S. 1402 would build upon his
work and extend his legacy for all of Indian Country.
I thank you for the opportunity to visit with you today. I
would be glad to answer any questions when the time is
appropriate.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Hoskin follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Chuck Hoskin, Jr., Principal Chief, Cherokee
Nation
Chairman Schatz, Vice Chairman Murkowski, and distinguished members
of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
Osiyo. On behalf of Cherokee Nation and its 392,000 citizens, I
thank you for this opportunity to testify on one of my greatest
responsibilities--the protection, preservation, and revitalization of
the Cherokee language. It is my honor to speak with you today. Through
this testimony I will share some of the innovative ways we are working
to preserve our language, speak to COVID-19's horrific impact on our
Native speakers, and reiterate Cherokee Nation's strong support for
both S. 1402, the Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act of 2021,
and S. 989, the Native American Language Resource Center Act of 2021.
Preserving the Cherokee language is preserving Cherokee identity,
as the heritage and traditions of the tribe are rooted in our language.
Our language contains knowledge and ways of thinking that can never be
fully captured in translation. Quite simply, the Cherokee language is
the heart and soul of our tribe. The same is true for tribes throughout
the United States. Accordingly, the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples recognizes that we have a right to use, revitalize
and transmit our languages to future generations. And, the UN General
Assembly has declared 2022-2032 the International Decade of Indigenous
Languages.
Unfortunately, for many decades, the federal government actively
suppressed the teaching and speaking of Native languages. Today, only
about 2,000 people can speak Cherokee fluently. If we allow our
language to perish, all our accomplishments--what we have done in
health care, education, and economic development--will be for naught as
these things can only be fully achieved when we save our language.
Cherokees generations from now will be unimpressed by all we have
done--frankly, they will be bewildered as to why the great Cherokee
Nation failed to do what was necessary to save our language.
How Cherokee Nation is Working to Protect, Preserve, and Revitalize the
Cherokee Language
My administration has made language preservation a top priority.
This is not something we can fail at, and it is not something we can
wait to do. The average age of a fluent speaker is 70, and our language
experts estimate that we lose as many as 15 fluent speakers each month
and we are losing as many as 23 per month during the height of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Within my first 100 days in office, I signed into law the Durbin
Feeling Cherokee Language Preservation Act. This tribal law dedicated
$16 million to our language efforts, the largest investment in language
in our tribe's history. As part of this law, we are investing $5
million in the construction and renovation of a new language center in
Tahlequah. This center, named after the late Cherokee linguist Durbin
Feeling, will house all our tribe's language programs under one roof
for the first time in our history. I am pleased to announce that we
broke ground on this center last week.
This center will include our Cherokee Immersion School, a Pre-K
through 8th grade education program aimed at training the next
generation of Cherokee speakers. Our immersion school is in its 18th
year and has added 64 fluent speakers to our rolls. Students follow the
same state learning objectives as other students in public schools, but
materials and content are converted into Cherokee and the curriculum is
taught in Cherokee. At present, 98 students are enrolled in the
program, but we had as many as 148 children enrolled before the
pandemic.
The new facility will also house the Cherokee Language Master
Apprentice Program. This program offers an opportunity for adult
language learners to earn a stipend while being fully immersed in the
Cherokee language. After completing the program, students will have
4,000 contact hours with the Cherokee language and will have spent more
than 40 hours each week studying and speaking the language. We are
partnering with area public schools, expanding our own staff and
finding jobs for graduates in Cherokee language promotion and
preservation.
Adjacent to the language center, we are building efficiency homes
for Cherokee speakers, often elders, so that they will have safe,
affordable places to live and provide opportunities for speakers to
interact daily with our staff and young people. Our goal is to create
and foster a Cherokee language village--a language campus where fluent
speakers and students work side by side and live side by side.
Finally, the Durbin Feeling Cherokee Language Preservation Act also
creates a cabinet level Secretary of Language, Culture and Community
position in my administration, ensuring that our language and culture
are always elevated to the highest levels of the Cherokee government.
The pairing of the immersion school, master apprentice program, and
homes for speakers reflects a multigenerational effort to preserve and
promote the Cherokee language for future generations and builds on our
prior revitalization efforts. Cherokee Nation couples younger first
language speakers with our oldest distinguished speakers to identify,
learn and preserve these core foundational understandings. This group
reviews our oldest written documents to glean at risk words to
document, learn, perpetuate and create the standard for the next
generation of distinguished speakers.
Innovative ways we're working to protect/revitalize language through
technology
The Cherokee Nation language revitalization programs are some of
the most technologically advanced in Indian Country. The tribe has long
standing partnerships with Microsoft, Apple, and Google that ensure the
Cherokee language is compatible with all major digital platforms. Since
2016, every computer, smart phone, and tablet supports use of the
Cherokee syllabary. The tribe is a liaison member of the Unicode
Consortium which is the international standards body that governs how
writing systems are displayed by computing systems. This helps the
tribe keep our syllabary up to date with the latest technology.
These kinds of innovations opened doors for the Cherokee language
to be used in any digital medium ranging from social media posts, text
messaging, Google searches, interactive media, optical character
recognition of syllabary, complex databases, and everything in between.
The Cherokee Nation has created 3D computer animated cartoons in
Cherokee language with Cherokee syllabary subtitles; an immersive 3D
Cherokee language video game for Apple and Android devices; a virtual
classroom platform for the Cherokee Immersion School which has the user
interface completely in Cherokee syllabary; and a searchable Cherokee
language word list that features audio recordings, just to name a few
examples.
The tribe's leveraging of technology has fostered an environment of
innovation for language revitalization. New advances will be
forthcoming, including text to speech technology in Cherokee language
and voice activation. A large-scale dynamic, cross referencing online
Cherokee language database is being developed which will house
historical Cherokee language documents as well as new materials the
tribe collects. These kinds of advances will serve as valuable tools in
Cherokee Nation's language revitalization efforts.
I am proud of the annual multimillion-dollar investments our Tribe
makes to protect, preserve, and revitalize the Cherokee language, and I
am happy to see Congress continue to acknowledge the need for
additional federal investments in this area.
COVID-19's Impact on Cherokee Speakers
As we were making these historic investments in the Cherokee
language, the most devastating pandemic in our lifetimes hit Cherokee
Nation, and our Cherokee speakers were among the most vulnerable.
During the worst of the pandemic, we made concentrated efforts to
support our speakers, providing food assistance, telehealth services,
support to pay the costs of utilities and direct elder assistance
payments.
Despite these efforts, we lost more than 50 fluent speakers to
COVID-19. Every life is irreplaceable, but when you lose a speaker, you
are losing more than a person--you are losing a national treasure.
Knowing that we needed to protect this segment of our population, I
prioritized Cherokee speakers for our first doses of the COVID-19
vaccine. I ensured that our Cherokee speakers were eligible for the
vaccine in Phase 1 of our distribution plan, right alongside our
healthcare workers.
Their contributions to our tribe are immeasurable and their health
and safety are one of our highest priorities. In 2019, we created a
Cherokee Speaker Roll to begin identifying Cherokee speakers and
showing our appreciation to them. Little did I know at the time, this
roll would be invaluable to us when distributing the COVID-19 vaccine.
Cherokee Nation Strongly Supports the Durbin Feeling Native American
Languages Act
I thank you for introducing S. 1402, the Durbin Feeling Native
American Languages Act, which carries the name of a great Cherokee
citizen--Durbin Feeling. I say without equivocation that my friend
Durbin was the largest contributor to the Cherokee language since
Sequoyah, the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary. Durbin dedicated his
life to saving and preserving the Cherokee language for future
generations. He spent decades breathing new life into the language. He
was a tireless advocate for Native language and revitalization efforts.
His generosity to the Cherokee people and his unwavering commitment
to Cherokee language perpetuation will be the foundation upon which we
teach future generations to honor and carry on our traditions. This
bill speaks to everything he stood for and will build upon his many
years of work.
The Durbin Feeling Native Languages Act will ensure that the
federal government is upholding its promises and the carrying out the
policies designed to support native languages. The nationwide survey it
produces will help guide investments in native language and ensure that
all native languages remain vital for generations to come. It is an
important bill, and I urge each member of the Committee to commit to
getting this legislation to the President's desk this Congress.
We are going to save the Cherokee language. We can, we must and we
will. We are going to do it not just because of what Durbin Feeling
did, but because of the vision that he had. I pledge to you today that
we will carry out Durbin's vision but I need your help.
I hope that my grandchildren and future generations grow up in a
United States where native languages are valued, revered and given the
full respect they deserve.
I thank you for your support of Native languages and the
opportunity to speak with you today.
Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Hoskin. We appreciate
that.
We will next turn to Ms. Leslie Harper.
STATEMENT OF LESLIE HARPER, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL
COALITION OF NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE SCHOOLS AND PROGRAMS
Ms. Harper. Aaniin, Committee Chair Schatz, Vice-Chair
Murkowski, and members of the Senate Committee on Indian
Affairs. Miigwech for this opportunity to testify today.
My name is Leslie Harper, and I am an enrolled member of
the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. I live on our reservation
homeland which is in north central Minnesota.
I am president of the National Coalition of Native American
Language Schools and Programs. Our coalition is a volunteer
group that advocates for the use of Native American languages
as the primary language of instruction, which means we educate
students through a Native American language for all subjects.
Our coalition partners operate in a wide variety of
contexts. There are BIA schools or programs, there are State
public schools, charter schools, private non-profit schools.
Coalition partners operate, depending on their capacity, a
different range of programs. There is infant or childcare,
there are preschool programs, elementary schools, secondary
schools and some tertiary education. These schools and programs
currently operate in 18 States and U.S. territories.
So there are hundreds of Native American languages across
the Country with multiple, unique linguistic and cultural
principles that still exist. Despite all of these efforts to
wipe us out, we are still here. And there are unique legal and
political responsibilities to our Native American language-
speaking and learning communities.
Committee members, about a month ago, on April 28th, you
received testimony on COVID-19's effects on Native education.
Our colleague Dr. Kauanoe Kamana described relevant issues
affecting Native language medium schools on that day. We agree
with and support all that Dr. Kamana provided on that day. That
is very representative of the Native American language schools
and programs that are operating across the Country. We have
been disrupted from our language delivery and our learning
spaces this year due to COVID-19. With great grief, yes, I
report that many more of our Master speakers of our Native
American languages have passed away this year. I don't have an
official count, though every language revitalizer in my network
can name speakers who have been lost this year.
The COVID-19 crises of this year in lost connections and
lost lives show us how critically we must address a wide range
of language revitalization strategies.
So when we write the story of Native American languages in
the United States, we envision a healthy future. We dream up
the time and the ability to examine multiple ways to revitalize
our languages, to build capacity in new speakers, in new
teachers, new learning modes, new curricula at all levels,
birth through elderly, to determine how and where our languages
intersect with English and other world languages, to ensure
that protections for Native American language communities will
ensure.
Wellness measures that will include language vitality in
all areas, economy, recreation, ceremonial communities,
infrastructure, energy, jobs, environmental issues. Native
American language understandings can contribute to healthy
futures of all these areas of citizenship for the United States
when we have the supports to grow and do so.
Congress has funded multiple language resource centers at
various universities that serve to improve the Nation's
capacity for teaching and learning foreign languages. But
Native American languages have been overlooked. So this sort of
an invisibility of the unique legal and political rights of the
original languages of the United States of America leaves a gap
in access, and this is a place where we see opportunity for
Congress to fulfil that responsibility to Native American
language communities as intended in the Native American
Languages Act of 1990 as well.
So we wholeheartedly support the Native American Languages
Resource Center Act. We also support the Durbin Feeling Native
American Languages Act, because that can provide even more
representation of our unique linguistic and cultural efforts
and our sorely overlooked efforts.
Miigwech, miigwech, thank you for this opportunity to
testify today. I am happy to answer any questions and I will
also be able to provide any written follow-up as needed.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Harper follows:]
Prepared Statement of Leslie Harper, President, National Coalition of
Native American Language Schools and Programs
Aaniin Committee Chair Schatz, Vice-Chair Murkowski, and Members of
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
Miigwech for the opportunity to testify before you.
My name is Leslie Harper, and I am an enrolled member of the Leech
Lake Band of Ojibwe. I live on our reservation homeland which is in
north central Minnesota. I have worked in grassroots Native American
Language revitalization in community-based adult language learning
projects, and co-founded and served as Director and taught at all
elementary grade levels at our Niigaane Ojibwemowin Immersion school at
Leech Lake. I currently provide consultation to Tribes and
organizations to support community development and evaluations in
Native language communities. I am President of the National Coalition
of Native American Language Schools and Programs. Our Coalition is a
volunteer group that advocates for the use of Native American Languages
as the primary medium of instruction, which means that a Native
American Language is spoken and treated as the language of
communication for all operations and all subjects. The National
Coalition brings together schools and programs that use Indigenous
languages as the medium of instruction under the provisions of the U.S.
federal Native American Languages Act of 1990 (NALA). Native language
medium schools and programs (sometimes called immersion or dual
language programs) educate students through a Native American language.
National Coalition advocates come from a wide variety of
jurisdictions, including Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools,
state public schools, charter schools, and private non-profit schools.
National Coalition advocates range from infant care, preschool
programs, elementary schools, secondary schools to tertiary education.
These schools and programs are currently enacted in eighteen states and
U.S. territories.
In this context in the United States, there are unique linguistic
and cultural principles we work within to revitalize languages. Along
with this, there are unique legal policy principles and unique legal
responsibilities to our Native American Language-speaking and learning
communities. Native American Language revitalization acts in many
places in our communities. While many choose an education setting to
implement, we find that Native American Languages are an important
intervention across many areas of our community vitality.
Committee members, you received testimony on April 28th, 2021 on
Covid-19 effects on Native education. Our colleague Dr. Kauanoe Kamana
described relevant issues affecting Native language medium schools, and
I will refer you to her testimony and agree with all that Dr. Kamana
provided in that setting.
We have been disrupted from our language delivery and our learning
spaces this year due to Covid-19. Some have pivoted and learned ways to
do our best--some have successfully pivoted to online and distance
learning, learned new technology to share space and time to speak our
languages together. Native American language revitalizers are visionary
and are innovators who often propose an alternative way to live our
lives in our languages.
With great grief, I report that many more of our Master speakers of
our Native American languages have passed away this year. I do not have
an official count. Though every language revitalizer in my network can
anecdotally name speakers who have been lost this year. In a time of
dwindling numbers of Elder First Speakers of our languages, Native
American language revitalizers are working as always, against a clock,
to prepare new speakers of our languages for multi-generational,
healthy, living language speaking communities. The covid-19 crises of
this year in lost connections and lost lives show us how critically we
must regard a wide range of language revitalization strategies.
This year has shown us how critically low our stock of speakers is,
and how deeply we work to build new speakers. Native American language
revitalizers have, from necessity, dedicated even more time to
research, dream, build, test, reinvigorate, re-energize, and value our
languages. We have been disrupted again in transmitting our languages
even with the best-laid plans. While our programs and schools have not
been able to provide consistent in-person language support, many
language revitalization plans went into `life-support' mode to continue
to share language with our students and families of students.
Successful exemplary programs develop and create language speakers
across all ages and generations as resources. Language programs create
new child-age speakers of our languages to normalize language
transmission in our lands, and we also focus on creating new adult
speakers of our languages who can teach, design, and support language
learning programs. There are revitalization programs to help
grandparent-age generation passive speakers to re-awaken language that
may have been forcibly removed from them at a young age. Adult language
learners share in the work to create relevant language plans, to write
proposals, to evaluate our actions, to survey community members, and to
maintain our sustaining rituals that keep us going. It is imperative
that we articulate for ourselves and seek critical, relevant,
intentional support to pick up our work to keep moving forward.
When we consider the story of Native American Languages in the
United States, we envision a healthy future: all generations in all
spaces speaking our languages together. We dream of creating that with
fully supported research and development spaces, and the time and
ability to examine multiple spaces needed to revitalize our languages.
We build capacity in new speakers, new learning modes, new curricula at
all levels birth through elderly, determining value measures in
multiple spaces, territories, land contexts. We will determine value
and intersection with other world languages. Policy protections for
Native American Language communities will be ensured. Health and
wellness measures will include language vitality in all areas of
economy, recreation, ceremonial communities, infrastructure, energy,
and environment. These are all spaces in which our languages deserve to
live. Native American Language revitalization can affect the healthy
futures of all these areas of citizenship in the United States--when we
have the supports to grow and do so.
A Native American language resource center that studies and
broadens those realities will help to fulfil unique sovereign, self-
determining, locally understood ways to live our lives, honor our
pasts, and brighten our futures.
This is already offered to World languages in multiple centers--
Congress has funded sixteen Language Resource Centers at various
universities to establish, strengthen, and operate centers that serve
as resources for improving the nation's capacity for teaching and
learning foreign languages through teacher training, research,
materials development, and dissemination projects. However, Native
American Languages have been overlooked. The invisibility of the unique
legal and political rights of the original languages of the United
States of America leaves a gap in the opportunity to fulfil Congress's
support for all languages in our country.
There are about 175 Native American Languages with some speakers
today and an estimated 300 prior to the European invasion of North
America. The Federal Foreign Service reports that it takes 1,100 hours
of study to develop professional level proficiency in a language with
major linguistic and cultural differences from English. Native American
languages meet this criterion, and probably exceed it due to limited
teaching resources. Federally funded language resource centers are
providing the teachers and support for world language immersion and
dual language programs. Those programs are spreading nationally in pre-
school through high school level programs for World languages and
Native American languages are being left behind. We do not yet have an
opportunity to do what the national Language Resource Centers are doing
for foreign languages. Designing Native American Language Resource
Centers as partnerships between skilled local practitioners,
universities, and Tribal Colleges will bring resources together to
support language revitalization in the intensive work that is sorely
needed.
The majority of Native American students in the United States
attend public schools and non-Tribal universities. World language
resource centers are supporting the study of world languages in the
schools that these Native American students attend. We encourage
equitable access to the opportunity to study Native American languages.
Tribal Colleges and Bureau of Indian Education Schools should have a
national resource center to help build capacity to learn and design
exemplary practices in the teaching of their languages. In the same way
that world languages often have the support of foreign countries to
teach their languages, we would like to see capacity built for Native
American language expert practitioners here to support teaching of
Native American languages.
Native American language communities also have limited access to
data-gathering design, analysis, and results. Native language medium
schools or program populations are often left out of large-scale
studies on Native learners, due to small n-size in unique
interventions. It is important that we recognize and honor the place
that Native American languages hold in the vitality of our futures in
this country. Timely, relevant data regarding the number of Native
American language speakers, our unique community contexts, and capacity
needs will provide support to justify increasing the resources
available to Native American languages.
``Indapiizikaa gosha,'' some of our Elders would have said in the
past when they were alive, which translates to, ``I'm doing the best I
can with what I have''. This saying, from an Ojibwe perspective, can
mean that I am acting to honor my personal role in the community to the
best of my ability. Historically however, in many of our negotiation
spaces, translations may have been imperfect or biased. At times, this
phrase may have been misunderstood or mis-applied to justify a scarcity
of resources or to avoid addressing barriers in a meaningful way. We
must continue to work together with you and all the other members of
Congress to ensure that NAL revitalization work is mutually understood
and honored.
Miigwech for this opportunity to testify today. I am happy to
answer any questions and can provide written information as follow up
as needed.
The Chairman. [Presiding] Thank you very much.
Next, we have Ms. Ka`iulani Laeha, Chief Executive Officer
of `Aha Punana Leo. Welcome, aloha.
STATEMENT OF KA`IULANI LAEHA, CEO, `AHA PUNANA LEO
Ms. Laeha. Aloha kakou, aloha Committee Chair Schatz, Vice
Chair Murkowski and members of the Committee. Mahalo nui, thank
you for the opportunity to provide testimony on behalf of the
`Aha Punana Leo today.
I am Ka`iulani Laeha, the Chief Executive Officer of `Aha
Punana Leo. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
dedicated to the revitalization of the Hawaiian language. We
are also the longest-standing indigenous language medium
language nest program in the United States.
Over the last four decades, the tireless efforts of
advocates and educators has led to a resurgence of `Olelo
Hawai`i, the Native Hawaiian language. It has also allowed us
the opportunity to encounter and overcome challenges that other
Native language communities will face along their journey of
language revitalization. I believe that both S. 989 and S. 1402
are crucial steps and vital to the progress of Native American
language normalization.
I am going to focus on S. 989. The establishment of a
Native American Language Resource Center would significantly
bolster our efforts. We have been working with Senator Schatz
and seeking the establishment of a center like this for many
years.
The foreign language centers were established in 1990 under
the U.S. Department of Education to provide equitable resources
to foreign language communities. However, the Native American
language communities, which are among the most endangered of
world languages and from communities that are in need of the
support, have yet to see this sort of benefit.
The Native American Languages resource center is overdue
for our Native American language communities, and is needed to
bring about equitable outcomes today and for the future. In
2020, we virtually celebrated the 30th anniversary of the
passage of the Native American Languages Act, or NALA. While it
was a celebration, NALA will only be possible if Congress
mandates specific policies and efforts to ensure effective
implementation and enforcement of NALA.
Historically, the `Aha Punana Leo has worked with an
informal network of similar grassroots organizations with
limited resources across the Nation. With the Center, we can
better support each other, other educational institutions,
media groups, and small businesses focused on language
revitalization by sharing about our experiences. The Center
will be a place of accessible resources for all Native American
language communities, no matter where they are located, no
matter what stage they are at in their language revitalization
efforts.
This resource center is an opportunity to formally develop
consortia with our American Indian, Alaska Native and Native
Hawaiian serving institutions that are working and supporting
school and community-based efforts. In a typical year, we host
over 100 visitors here in Hawaii, seeking support and
assistance and guidance on establishing language programs. A
resource center could provide a coordinated support center to
help develop programs based on best practices that will also
align with the needs of each Native American language
community.
There is also a shortage of researchers that forced small
grassroots organizations to rely upon their own teachers to
develop learning resources, create appropriate learning
methodology, and advocate for themselves. The center would
allow for shared research and collaboration to support the
development of the teacher workforce and learning methodology,
and could also help to ensure that Federal plans, such as the
American Families Plan that currently suggests universal
preschools for all three- and four-year-olds protects and
aligns with our current objectives and does not cause
unintended consequences for our Native languages.
We know that Native American language programs cannot
succeed in a one size fits all type of system. Our Native
American language organizations need and deserve the full
support of a language resource center to be included in the
American Families Plan to ensure that our programs have support
that is aligned with the real needs of the communities that we
serve.
Mahalo nui for this opportunity to provide testimony today.
I am happy to answer any additional questions you may have.
Mahalo.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Laeha follows:]
Prepared Statement of Ka`iulani Laeha, CEO, `Aha Punana Leo
Aloha Committee Chair Schatz, Vice Chair Murkowski and members of
the Committee. Mahalo nui, thank you for the opportunity to provide
testimony on behalf of the `Aha Punana Leo on S. 989, a bill to
establish a Native American Language Resource Center and S. 1402,
Durbin Feeling, a bill to amend the Native American Languages Act to
ensure the survival and continuing vitality of Native American
Languages.
I am Ka`iulani Laeha, the Chief Executive Officer of the `Aha
Punana Leo, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization dedicated to the
revitalization of the Hawaiian language and the longest standing
indigenous language medium language nest program in the United States.
E ola ka `olelo Hawai`i, the Hawaiian language shall live is the vision
that drives our work.
Over the last 4 decades, the tireless efforts of advocates and
educators has led to a resurgence of `Olelo Hawai`i, the Native
Hawaiian language. It has also allowed us the opportunity to encounter
and overcome challenges that other native language communities will
face along the long journey of language revitalization. I believe that
both S.989 and S.1402 are crucial steps and vital to the progress of
Native American language normalization.
S.1402 requires more effective coordination between federal
entities that will minimize the current interdepartmental disconnect
and lack of understanding of what is needed in the communities doing
the work. This bill requires increased reporting to understand areas of
importance to support our efforts and will better evidence and
communicate the progress or shortcomings of the programs in place.
S. 989 the establishment of a Native American Language Resource
Center would significantly bolster our efforts by encouraging Native
American languages as medium of instruction, stimulating broader
adoption of Native American languages across our national education
system, and improving educator support for Native American language
instruction. We have been working with Senator Schatz and seeking the
establishment of a center like this for many years.
Foreign language centers were established in 1990 under the US
Department of Education to provide equitable resources to foreign
language communities; Native American language communities, among the
most endangered of world languages and from communities that are in
need of the support, have yet to see this sort of benefit. In regard to
Native American languages, there is little understanding of the range
of needs in teaching and learning. While being able to fulfill high
school or college level general education language requirements with a
Native American language is a major step in the right direction,
further opportunities to support the learning of Native American
languages are needed for revitalization efforts to continue and reach
their full potential. The Native American Language Resource Center is
overdue for our Native American languages and is needed to bring about
equitable outcomes today and in the future.
On October 30, 2020, together with the National Coalition of Native
American Language Schools and Program, the `Aha Punana Leo held a 30th
anniversary virtual celebration on the passage of the Native American
Languages Act (NALA). It was a celebration indeed, however, the goals
of NALA will only be possible if the Congress mandates specific
policies and efforts to ensure effective implementation and enforcement
of NALA. S. 989, the Native Language Resource Center Act will provide a
national center, accessible to all, and valuable to Native American
language programs and schools at all levels. The importance of the
establishment of a Native American Language Resource center could not
come at a more crucial time, first, with Native American schools and
programs being so heavily impacted by Covid-19, and as our Native
communities have lost many family members, elders, traditional leaders
and some of the only remaining speakers of their Native American
language. And second, as President Biden announces the American
Families Plan to include support for universal preschool, the Congress
must understand the distinct needs of Native communities with early
childhood programs taught in the medium of a Native language. The
federal agencies that have jurisdiction over implementation of programs
like preschools must eliminate barriers Native American language
communities face and support administrative rules that are aligned to
NALA. I note in particular that Hawai`i state law in alignment with
NALA Section 104 (2) is what has allowed our Hawaiian language nest
preschools to develop to our current level of national leadership using
staff whose qualifications other than those involving health and safety
and proficiency in our Indigenous language are left to us based on our
own understandings of best practice from our own cultural
understandings. Early Childhood Development through a Native American
language requires the highest fluency for teachers to transmit the
language to the children. Quality programming in a Native American
language ensures a safe and healthy robust Native American language
environment based in the traditions of the languages and peoples
themselves. These are the standards for such quality programming and it
is the responsibility of those providing the language nest environment
to ensure the success of its program. A Native American Language
Resource Center is needed to support school and community based Native
American language revitalization efforts across the nation.
Historically, the `Aha Punana Leo has worked with an informal
network of similar grassroots organizations with limited resources
across the nation. Because of our long history we have come upon many
challenges that we have overcome or are working through to ensure a
living Hawaiian language and with a Center we can better support other
educational institutions, media groups, and small businesses focused on
language revitalization by addressing and sharing about our
experiences. The Center would be a place of accessible resources for
all Native American language communities no matter where they are
located and no matter what stage they are at in their language
revitalization efforts.
The Native American Language Resource center is an opportunity to
formally develop consortia with our American Indian, Alaska Native and
Native Hawaiian serving institutions that are working and supporting
school and community-based revitalization efforts. There are a range of
needs for Native American language communities that have not been met.
As an example, in a typical year we host over a hundred visitors
seeking support, assistance, and guidance on establishing flourishing
Native American language programs. A resource center could provide a
coordinated support center to help develop programs based on best
practices that will align with the needs of each Native American
language community. Another example is the shortage of researchers that
force small grassroots organizations to rely upon their own teachers to
develop learning resources, create appropriate methodology and advocate
for themselves. The Native American Language Resource Center would
allow for shared research and collaboration to support the development
of the teacher workforce and learning methodology and also help to
ensure that federal plans, such as the American Families Plan that
currently suggests universal preschool for all 3 and 4-year-olds,
protects and aligns with our current objectives and does not cause
unintended consequences for our Native languages. We know that Native
American language programs cannot succeed in a one-size-fits-all type
of system.
The key findings in America's Languages Investing in Language
Education for the 21st Century report by the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences' Commission on Language Learning are:
``the ability to understand, speak, read, and write in world
languages in addition to English is critical to success in
business, research, and international relations in the 21st
century.''
``the study of a second language has been linked to improved
learning outcomes in other subjects, enhanced cognitive
ability, and the development of empathy and effective
interpretive skills.''
``the use of a second language has been linked to a delay in
certain manifestations of aging.''
The `Aha Punana Leo has witnessed these outcomes in our graduates
that have completed the Hawaiian medium pathway of education that is
focused first on exclusive use of Hawaiian language in the early years
and subsequent transferred skills to English graduating high school
fully bilingual in Hawaiian and English. These findings are very
positive in support of language learning however for our American
Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian languages the additional and
most critical benefits are in the relationships of language to
spirituality, genealogy, culture and identity. These are described in
Kumu Honua Mauli Ola or a Native Hawaiian educational philosophy
similar to other Native American language communities' ways of knowing
and well-being. The Commission on Language Learning recognized Native
American languages as distinct in political status and history and
recommended targeted and increased support where our languages are
being used as primary languages of education and for the development of
curricula and education materials. The Native American Resource Center
directly addresses the recommendation of the Commission and could
further support our Native language learners in developing high fluency
in English or other languages.
As we examine our COVID-19 Response a year later, the pandemic has
brought to light the inequities that exist in Native American language
support; the lack of learning resources available to families digitally
or for home use, access to in person care programs for our children,
and the need to increase staff with high levels of fluency that are
needed to meet the standard of care to maintain healthy and safe
settings in our childcare centers. The `Aha Punana Leo operates
language nests on five major islands, Hawai`i, Maui, Moloka`i, O`ahu
and Kaua`i. Our graduates (and families) matriculate to Hawai`i's
public Hawaiian language medium Charter and Department of Education
schools. The `Aha Punana Leo together with our consortium partners, Ke
Kula `o Nawahiokalani`opu`u (Nawahi) and Ka Haka `Ula o Ke`elikolani,
Hawaiian language college, P-20 model demonstrates successful private-
public partnership and best practices in language revitalization.
We have witnessed many positive outcomes including our graduates
raising their own children in Hawaiian language, the key findings
described in the 2017 Commission on Language Learning report and the
exciting recent United Nations declaration of the International Decade
of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032. Our Native American language
organizations need and deserve the full support of a Language Resource
Center included in the American Families Plan to ensure that our
programs have support that is aligned with the real needs of the
communities we serve.
Mahalo nui for this opportunity to provide testimony. I am happy to
answer any additional questions you may have. Mahalo nui.
The Chairman. Mahalo. Thank you very much.
Next, we have Ms. Bernadette Alvanna-Stimpfle, Director of
the Kawerak Eskimo Heritage, Chair, Alaska Native Language
Preservation and Advisory Council, in Nome, Alaska.
STATEMENT OF BERNADETTE ``YAAYUK'' ALVANNA-STIMPFLE, DIRECTOR,
KAWERAK ESKIMO HERITAGE; CHAIR, ALASKA NATIVE LANGUAGE
PRESERVATION AND ADVISORY
COUNCIL
Ms. Alvanna-Stimpfle. [Phrase in Native tongue] honorable
Senators, and mahalo, Chair Brian Schatz, and Quyanaq,
Iliganamiik Vice Chair Lisa Murkowski.
My name is Yaayuk [phrase in Native tongue] Bernadette
Alvanna-Stimpfle [phrase in Native tongue] in English, and I
represent myself here today, speaking in favor of the Native
American Language Resource Center Act and the Durbin Feeling
Native American Languages Act of 2021.
I am speaking to you in the second language that I learned
as a five-year old. Inupiaq is my first language.
I am hopeful that increased budget allocations can be made
towards Alaska Native languages, and more attention can be
given to small tribes who do not have the capacity to write and
manage complex Federal grants. I teach the Inupiaq language and
am mentor to the first-ever Inupiaq immersion class in Nome, at
Nome Port schools. My daughter happens to be the first Inupiaq
immersion teacher.
I want to share with you that we have struggled with
maintaining our classes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nearly every Alaska Native language has fewer speakers now than
when the pandemic led us to a nationwide shutdown over a year
ago. The need to protect our elders, communities, and selves
meant that we had to try to switch to online classes and
meetings. This was difficult because of the limited bandwidth
in rural Alaska, and high cost of internet access in our
communities. In addition, many of our teachers were not
familiar with online teaching and how that changes our
abilities to communicate, teach, learn, and grow together.
Alaska is home to 23 Alaska Native languages. I am the
chair of the Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory
Council, and we have received testimony about the challenges
Alaska Native languages face today. Of those 23 languages, 2
are no longer actively spoken. Seventeen of them have fewer
than 100 remaining speakers. The State of Alaska declared a
linguistic emergency in 2018, but it has done nothing to
improve matters at the State level since that time.
In fact, budget cuts at the University of Alaska and the
neglect to listen to the recommendations of the Alaska Native
Language Preservation and Advisory Council have left us worse
off than when the emergency was declared.
I will share with you what we need to make changes. We need
some substantial shifts in Alaska. Overall, we need to focus on
indigenous language teacher preparation, materials development,
language normalization, and reforming education to be inclusive
of Alaska Native languages. The Alaska Native Studies Council
is working with colleagues in Hawaii and New Zealand to develop
a proposal for the College of Alaska Native Languages. This
college would be housed within the University of Alaska. That
would allow us to develop Alaska Native language teacher
certification and the licensure processes to increase activity
in language documentation and access. This idea needs Federal
support and the University of Alaska and State of Alaska need
to assist and collaborate with the development of the college.
In addition, if the University of Alaska received funding
dedicated to open access, we can develop zero credit online
options for existing courses, so Alaskan people do not have to
pay tuition to learn their own endangered languages. This would
provide healing opportunities because it only adds to the
trauma to charge someone to learn their own language which was
denied to them and their ancestors due to State and Federal
governmental actions and policies.
The Alaska Native Language Center needs to be transformed
into an Alaska Native Language Media Network that produces
multimedia content and creates access to Alaska Native language
materials. We have Alaska Native artists, writers, animators,
filmmakers, and journalists, which can help make sure that
Alaska Native languages are heard, seen, and felt all across
Alaska. This would also need funding and advocacy to bring the
idea into being.
We need your help. Alaska was already in a crisis 30 years
ago with Alaska Native languages, and now the majority of our
languages are on the verge of being lost. It is so hard to
reverse language shift, and our efforts are often pulled into
political battles that have nothing to do with the love we have
for our languages, and the ways we need them to heal us.
I don't know what the future holds, but I hope that it is
brighter than today, and I am hopeful that you will be the ones
who will take the bold steps that are needed to bring us to a
destiny other than loss and sorrow.
Quyanaq, thank you, honorable Senators, for your time. I am
available for questions should you have any.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Alvanna-Stimpfle follows:]
Prepared Statement of Bernadette ``Yaayuk'' Alvanna-Stimpfle, Director,
Kawerak Eskimo Heritage; Chair, Alaska Native Language Preservation and
Advisory Council
Thank you honorable Senators, and Mahalo Chair Brian Schatz, and
Quyanaq, Iliganamiik vice Chair Lisa Murkowski. My name is Yaayuk
Bernadette Alvanna Stimpfle, and I represent myself here today,
speaking in favor of the Native American Language Resource Center Act
and the Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act of 2021. I am
hopeful that increased budget allocations can be made towards Alaska
Native languages, and more attention can be given to small Tribes who
do not have the capacity to write and manage complex federal grants.
I teach the Inupiaq language and want to share with you that we
have struggled with maintaining our classes throughout the COVID-19
pandemic. Nearly every Alaska Native language has fewer speakers now
than when the pandemic led us to a nationwide shutdown over a year ago.
The need to protect our elders, communities, and selves meant we had to
try to switch to online classes and meetings. This was difficult
because of the limited bandwidth in rural Alaska, and high cost of
Internet access in our communities. In addition, many of our teachers
were not familiar with online teaching and how that changes our
abilities to communicate, teach, learn, and grow together.
Alaska is home to 23 Alaska Native languages. I am the chair of the
Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council, and we have
received testimony about the challenges Alaska Native languages face
today. Of those 23 languages, two are no longer actively spoken today,
17 of them have fewer than 100 remaining speakers. The State of Alaska
declared a linguistic emergency in 2018, but has done nothing to
improve matters at the state level since that time. In fact, budget
cuts at the University of Alaska and the neglectedness to listen to the
recommendations of the Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory
Council have left us worse off than when the emergency was declared.
If we are going to create changes, we need a number of substantial
shifts in Alaska. Overall, we need to focus on Indigenous language
teacher preparation, materials development, language normalization, and
reforming education to be inclusive of Alaska Native languages.
The Alaska Native Studies Council has been working with colleagues
in Hawai'i and New Zealand to develop a proposal for the College of
Alaska Native Languages. This college would be housed within the
University of Alaska that would allow us to develop Alaska Native
language teacher certification, and licensure processes to increase
activity in language documentation and access. This idea needs federal
support and the University of Alaska and State of Alaska need to assist
and collaborate with the development of the college.
In addition, if the University of Alaska received funding dedicated
to open access, we could develop zero credit online options for
existing courses so Alaskan people do not have to pay tuition to learn
their own endangered languages. This would open doors to provide
healing opportunities. It only adds to the trauma to charge someone to
learn their own language, which was denied to them and their ancestors
due to state and federal governmental actions and policies.
The Alaska Native Language Center needs to be bolstered and be
transformed into an Alaska Native Language Media Network that produces
multimedia content and creates access to Alaska native language
materials. We have Alaska Native artists, writers, animators,
filmmakers, and journalists, and we can help make sure that Alaska
Native languages are heard, seen, and felt all across Alaska. This
would also need funding and advocacy to bring the idea into being.
Alaska Native Place names need to be restored, because thousands of
colonial names have come over our land and threaten to eliminate
Indigenous place names and alienate people from their ancestral lands.
Just imagine if Alaska embraced its Indigenous history by restoring the
names on the land and reversed a damaging process of putting the names
of colonizers and explorers on lands that already had names there had
thousands of years of history behind them.
We need your help. Alaska was already in a crisis thirty years ago
with Alaska Native languages, and now the majority of our languages are
on the verge of being lost. It is so hard to reverse language shift,
and our efforts are often pulled into political battles that have
nothing to do with the love we have for our languages, and the ways we
need them and the ways that they heal us. I don't know what the future
holds, but I hope that it is brighter than today, and I am hopeful that
you will be the ones who will take the bold steps that are needed to
bring us to a destiny other than loss and sorrow. Thank you, honorable
Senators, for your time. I am available for questions should you have
any.
The Chairman. Thank you very much for your testimony.
My first question is for Ms. Laeha. When we spoke earlier
this month about Native Hawaiian education, you described the
uniqueness of Native Hawaiian immersion early childhood
programs. I am wondering if you can share some of the
challenges that these programs can face with the one size fits
all Federal early childhood mold.
Ms. Laeha. Absolutely, thank you for that question.
One example that comes to mind is that while we have NALA
that protects and promotes the use of Native American
languages, we need to pay really close attention to these new
plans that could create barriers for language nests, such as
what the definition of quality would mean. Within mainstream
early childcare settings the definition of quality is typically
tied to an accreditation given by a mainstream accreditor with
focus on English language medium schools, rather than on
accreditors that are aligned with quality indigenous programs,
teaching through indigenous languages with focus on
revitalizing those languages.
The Chairman. Thank you. Can you give us some specific, it
doesn't have to be right now, actually, it can be for the
record, but if you have any specific recommendations as we
think about Federal efforts to support universal early
childhood education, so that they can also support Native
language medium programs. Do you have any specific suggestions
about how to configure a program like that?
Ms. Laeha. I do, and I think that assuring that NALA
Sections 104(2) and (3) are followed is very important, making
sure that these Native American language medium programs have a
distinct category of early childhood support. Also making sure
that the qualifications of staff solely focus on the
proficiency in Native American language and the culture of
instruction with best practices in language revitalization-
based measurements of quality.
I think there is also significant need for targeted and
regular funding for the existing and future early childhood
education Native American English programs through government
entities such as OHA, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, tribal
governments, and Alaska Native entities that should further be
enhanced by competitive grants through the Administration of
Native Americans or other entities that might strengthen these
programs.
The Chairman. Thank you very much.
Ms. Sauve, how many qualified Native language grant
applications is ANA unable to service just because of a lack of
funding?
Ms. Sauve. Thank you, Chairman Schatz, for that question.
ANA receives between 60 and 75 applications each year for
both of our competitions. This year, we were only able to fund
11 of them out of the 75 that applied. That trend is pretty
similar in previous years as well.
So there is definitely a great unmet need out there. That
is not even counting those that don't apply because they are
worried they won't score high enough in the competition.
The Chairman. That is one measure, is the number of
applicants. Do you have a sense for what that dollar amount
would be in terms of an unmet need?
Ms. Sauve. Yes. The dollar amount, I can get that to you.
The Chairman. Yes, why don't you take that for the record.
Obviously, the number of applicants is one question, the number
of dollars it would cost to meet all the unmet need is another
one. Thank you very much.
Ms. Laeha, I want to talk to you about best practices. This
is something that I learned a lot about with my great staff
over the last seven or eight years, that a lot of what happened
in Nawahi, with `Aha Punana Leo, and with a lot of the programs
in the state of Hawaii, they were really navigating new waters
and trying to figure out how to maintain quality education in
the context of immersion, and then try to figure out how to
comply with Federal testing requirements and all the rest of
it.
I think we figured this out. Obviously, it is going to be a
continuing learning process.
But I am just wondering if you can speak a little bit to
the value of sharing best practices. Because it is hard enough
to get this stuff right. But if every single Native
organization, Native community, has to figure this out anew,
not having learned any lessons from any other Native community
that may be two or three or five years ahead, that seems like a
waste of resources, especially for the kinds of difficulties
that the small tribes in Alaska are experiencing, where you are
talking about 20 people still speaking the language.
They don't have the resources to develop infrastructure
around Native language immersion, let alone how to integrate
that into a Federal testing regime and making sure these kids
are career and college ready in whatever way that makes sense.
I am wondering if you can speak to the value of identifying
best practices and then sharing them across a broader platform.
Ms. Laeha. Absolutely. We recognize and we know that each
community is unique, and they are going to encounter equally
unique challenges. I think the fact that we have hosted
hundreds of visitors over the year and have had hundreds of
inquiries to see and learn about the program and what we have
experienced really speaks for itself.
It is really evidence that best practices shared amongst
communities is what is needed. It is much more than an
assumption at this point that collaborating and sharing those
best practices between the communities is really vital to
success.
The Chairman. Thank you very much.
Vice Chair Murkowski.
Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
To your point that you just made about tribes that have
limited resources, I recall it wasn't too many years back, but
there was a fire at the language immersion school in Bethel for
the early learners. As tragic as the fire was to the building
and the fact that the kids no longer had a space, but it was
the loss of the reading cards, the materials that had been made
by the teachers. You are not ordering them from some book
company. They had been made and we lost all of that.
So when you think about, I think about resources, some of
it is really pretty basic.
Ms. Alvanna-Stimpfle, it is good to have you before the
Committee. I thank you for your extraordinary leadership when
it comes to language preservation. The Alaska Native Language
Preservation and Advisory Council provides an index of the
various local language programming that is offered by the
schools, non-profits, other heritage centers. These are
detailed maps that are able to highlight the various geographic
areas within the State that are covered by the local tribal and
State outreaches. It is a pretty useful tool, again, given
limited resources that are available.
With the Durbin Feeling Native American Language Act, it
would require survey of Federal programs that support Native
language, theoretically to help inform Federal decision makers
about what the resources are, if the Federal agencies are
living up to their responsibility to preserve and support
preservation and revitalization of Native languages.
How do you think this helps us? Would having access to
information about these Federal Native language resources help
to inform the collection and programming for the work that is
done within the Preservation and Advisory Council? Is this
helpful from a national perspective, or do we need it to be
more organically driven?
Ms. Alvanna-Stimpfle. Well, I am very proud of our young
people that have worked tirelessly in trying to revive our
language with elders as our mentors. The one thing for the
Inupiaq region, that would include North Slope, the
[indiscernible] region and Kotzebue, and then Bering Straits,
where I am from, they put it upon themselves to do a survey,
language survey, who speaks fluently, who are the beginners and
the ones in between.
So between our young people and the elders that are out
there, I think working cooperatively that way would really
bring a good picture to the status of our languages. For
example, the villages east of Nome, maybe there are one or
fluent speakers left in their small community. It is beginning
to look that way of the villages north of Nome, Shismaref,
Diomede, Wales. King Island is what I speak.
So working with our young people, and making sure we are
coming at it with teachers that are able to speak the language
with mentors is very important. So having the statistics,
number of speakers is very helpful. Thank you, Senator
Murkowski.
Senator Murkowski. Let me ask one more quick question of
you. We are also looking at the effort to foster the
relationship between Native language programs and institutes of
higher education, so you have Ilisagvik up north, and wanting
to encourage that. But is this something where, in your view,
we need to be focusing on the early learners, the kids, and
getting them part of this, so that the language is continued?
Or is it something that at this point in time we need to be
focusing on the connection with those in higher education?
I think there is a sense of urgency in so many of our
communities, because as you say, we are losing our Native
speakers. So maybe we need to focus on everybody. It just can't
be the children. It can't be those in college. It needs to be
that whole gamut.
Ms. Alvanna-Stimpfle. Thank you for that question. I
believe it is really important to work with our young people
for them to become speakers of our language. Also, it is very
important for them to learn how to speak to our children.
Because our language, Inupiaq, is very long. It can be one
sentence in English.
So how we speak to our children is very important. They
need to grow into becoming fluent Inupiaq speakers as they get
older. So starting with our young people, late teens, early
20s, to get them comfortable in speaking. Because we still have
generations, older generations, that have been hurt from their
past and traumatized for not speaking their language, language
that they don't really want to share or they get angry if young
people aren't saying things correctly.
So when to put those young people in a safe place,
especially to learn how to talk to our children, and trying to
kill all the birds with one stone, so everyone is included. And
also making sure that we are protecting our elders. My
daughter, who is the first ever Inupiaq immersion teacher, she
prepared for this when she was in high school, by the way. She
felt like she couldn't invite any elders into her classroom
during COVID, the 70- and 80-year-olds.
But my niece and I, who is only a few years younger than
me, she told me yesterday, you are in your early 60s, so with
the protection that we both had, with all the students, we were
able to go in every day. My niece went in every day and I went
in two times a week to mentor.
When I listened to her teach and say maybe a vowel wrong
within a long word that I [indiscernible] repeat, repeat it
correctly. So those are the situations we need to create. Thank
you.
Senator Murkowski. Thank you. You have done a great job
with your daughters. I know that personally. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Senator Smith.
Senator Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I really appreciate this conversation. It is very
interesting. I would like to follow up with some of the same
kinds of questions as Senator Murkowski was asking, and direct
them toward Leslie Harper. It is wonderful to be with you, Ms.
Harper.
I am really interested in talking about the role of Native
elders in language revitalization and preservation. We know
also of course that the pandemic has hit Native elders hard. We
don't have great data on what has happened with the pandemic's
toll on Native speakers. But I know that in Minnesota's Native
language programs, including Niigaane, that you have founded,
you rely a lot on elders. As I understand it, you pair up
Native speaking elders with people who speak Ojibwe as a second
language in your programs for kindergarten through sixth grade.
Ms. Harper, could you just talk a little bit about how you
have seen the pandemic affect Native elder language speakers,
and your work to preserve and revitalize the Ojibwe language?
Ms. Harper. Miigwech, thank you for that question, Senator.
I always love hearing your Ojibwe language, too.
[Laughter.]
Ms. Harper. So in our Minnesota context, we are losing our
master speakers, our elderly population of speakers. They are
aging out. In the decade that I spent with our language
immersion school, we did keep a really grim census, a count of
our elderly language speakers who were master speaker resources
upon whom we could rely.
We found at that time we had a couple hundred folks who we
could go out into our communities and choose from. By 2012, by
the year 2012, it had greatly reduced. By the year 2014, that
number had greatly reduced. Our people have shorter life
expectancies. They have different health issues.
So we were already having a shrinking pool of elder first
speakers to work with. And that was our dream. They are quality
control, these that are our master speakers. Folks our age, we
had to work as adults to learn the language and to be existing
in these environments and to create intentional language-rich
environments. So we have the gift of these master speakers to
pair up and to do this with.
Fast forward from 2014 even until now, our master speakers,
the population is going down, and really, it has been a
difficult, difficult year. The pandemic really has hit us hard.
So that is speaking from my own, my very own community. We
have Dakota communities in Minnesota who already had critically
low numbers, even really a couple years back could say, we can
count on one hand. Now our Dakota relatives cannot even count a
handful of our speakers.
So this goes across the Country. We are now relying on, are
we training and supporting our adult language learners to honor
the legacy that these elder speakers have left for us? We have
recordings and we have documentation and all of these models.
We may not have our living speakers with us in so many of these
contexts.
So now it is on the coming generation to say, indeed, are
we honoring, are we learning to a level that is far enough and
deep enough to support these efforts, as well as bringing up
our kids in our languages.
Senator Smith. So what I am hearing you say is that it is a
combination of connecting with and doing these language
immersion programs, but also, you have to simultaneously reach
out to older, to adults. Maybe you could just talk a little bit
about this question. I have heard from others, you and I
haven't spoken about this, I have heard about this from other
tribes in Minnesota that are doing language and culture
centers. The question of how you get adults to connect with
learning the language, which of course is difficult, if they
are not first speakers. Also, that learning is associated with
all sorts of trauma related to Federal Government programs
around separation and boarding schools. So you have that on top
of it.
I know I am out of time, but could you just take a minute
to say what you are learning about how to make that connection
and bridge that trauma where you can?
Ms. Harper. We reach out to the other Native language
programs that we meet that are active in our State, but even
across the Country. When we see folks doing something that is
working to produce new speakers and to work through those
losses and those pains, we say, what are the principles
underlying that? Can you tell us more about that? Can we try to
recreate that here?
These are all really intentional practices that need to be
intentionally considered and designed and given strong capacity
to operate. We don't want to throw in one overworked language
worker, language revitalizer, into doing a job that really
takes many, many members, many good relatives in the community
to do, to build a healthy communicating language speaking
community. Does that help?
Senator Smith. Yes, thank you very much. We are grateful
for you. Miigwech for joining our Committee. I will see you
soon.
The Chairman. Senator Hoeven.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN HOEVEN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
What I would like to ask each one of our witnesses today
is, how the two bills that we are considering, were considered
in our business meeting and we are working on, how can those
two bills help preserve Native languages, number one. And the
second, what do you think would be the number one thing this
Committee could do to help?
I would ask each of the witnesses, if they would, to
address that. We can start with Commissioner Sauve.
Ms. Sauve. Thank you, Senator Hoeven.
I would want to defer to my fellow witnesses on this,
because some of it is outside the purview of HHS. I know that
the language resource center will be housed at Department of
Education, so I look forward to hearing their responses to this
question.
Senator Hoeven. And do you have any recommendations for
this Committee, something that you would like to see us do that
you feel would be particularly helpful?
Ms. Sauve. What I would do is hearken back to a project we
did in ANA several years ago through HHS Ignite. We spoke with
our grantees and while we shared, what they shared with us is
that that peer-to-peer learning is particularly important. So
they want more of that. We do try to do that through the
National Native American Languages Summit that we have been
doing as part of the memorandum of agreement we have with the
Department of Interior and the Department of Education. We have
had seven annual Native language summits.
But much more than the bills that you have proposed that
take what we have been able to do, just sort of on a shoestring
budget, much further. Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Senator Hoeven. Who would like to go next?
Mr. Hoskin. Senator, just briefly, the resource center will
be vital. I certainly can see the wisdom in that.
The Durbin Feeling Act to do a survey of resources is very
important. At Cherokee Nation, we have a talented staff of men
and women who scour the Country, particularly D.C., for those
opportunities. But I think it will help all of Indian Country.
It is easy to say that more dollars will help save the
language. That is a true statement, as simple as that is. The
truth of the matter is, at Cherokee Nation, what we are trying
to do is increase the supply of those speakers through our
efforts to create fluent speakers, so we can combat this loss
of our fluent speakers.
One thing we have to do is we have to create the demand for
speakers. I think it varies across tribal lands what the
opportunities are. But anything that Congress can do and the
Federal agencies can do, the relevant agencies can do, to help
support the creation of a way for Native speakers to make a
living speaking their language, and this is in the space of
teaching the language, it is in the space of creative arts,
which is particularly exciting to me. We have a Cherokee
language cartoon that we have developed and want to continue to
develop, and other tribes have explored different strategies,
but also strategies surrounding cartoons to reach out to young
kids.
I think we have to remember that part of losing a language
is that it was robbed of its relevancy. Anything we can do to
renew and revitalize what it means to use the language every
day we should do. I think that could take some resources from
the government of the United States to help us to do that.
So I would just make that future pitch for that particular
use of resources.
Senator Hoeven. Ms. Harper?
Ms. Harper. Miigwech, thank you for asking that question.
I turned in a much longer testimony than five minutes of
oral statements gave me. I would like to talk about, at the
amazing levels, the heroic levels of work and the multiple
pieces of work that people do to revitalize languages in any of
our communities, then our Native language medium programs and
schools that are operating. Those people are doing tons of
work. They are. They are developing curriculum; they are
looking at ways to teach all of these different age levels.
They are creating materials. They are developing
infrastructure. They are developing new philosophies for our
tribal and for local governments to base different policies on,
branching out from educational spaces.
So that means we have a lot of opportunities in there. I
really appreciate that Chief Hoskin said the creative side of
this. Every piece of our community can be tended to with Native
American language support. So a language resource center that
helps develop all of those abilities to help build capacity for
communities to reach and build new speakers and new domains for
our language to be active in is going to be really helpful.
Then we also talk about an issue with, very specifically,
with our Native American language schools and programs is again
this idea around invisibility. There is not a lot of language
medium schools operating yet in the Country because they are a
really big thing to take on, to operate all day in a Native
American language with all these school groups of kids.
So we often get left out of data. So even if you see pieces
of studies where they say, Native kids are doing this, this,
and this, sometimes you don't see language medium school
students, sometimes you don't see the immersion language nest
or language school students included in there. Because we are a
small population within this broader area.
So being able to look at the Durbin Feeling Language Act
and really, really develop those ways to collect the data and
to report it back out is going to show a better picture and
provide better representation for our Native language efforts
in a lot of different areas around our communities.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you. I am sorry, Mr. Chairman, I am
over my time. I had better stop there. Thank you.
The Chairman. It was a good question, Senator Hoeven. Thank
you.
Chief Hoskin, let's step back just a little bit. Why did
the Cherokee Nation decide to undertake the Cherokee Special
Rule Project and do you think a national survey of Native
languages and speakers as proposed in Durbin Feeling would have
similar benefits with other Native communities?
Mr. Hoskin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe it would.
The survey of language speakers did something pretty powerful
here in Cherokee Nation. It seems simple to say, how many
speakers do we have. We have estimates. But to not only see a
more accurate number, but to also witness what it meant for the
speakers, many of whom are on in years, over the age of 70, to
feel as if they were memorializing their special and unique
place in the world is really of immeasurable benefit.
It also though has allowed us to sort of identify where
across our reservation they live. That is informing some of our
strategies to not only invest here in our capital of Tahlequah,
but to look at where we might expand immersion schools, look at
where we might create new speaker villages close to where they
live. It is important to keep communities together for so many
reasons, but particularly language speakers.
The other thing it did was unexpected when we did the
speaker survey and began that a couple of years ago. This gets
a little bit off the topic of language preservation, but still
relevant. When we put fluent speakers at the front of the line
for COVID-19 vaccines, we had that document to go by. I am so
proud to say that even though, in the Cherokee Nation
reservation, our vaccination rates are far too low, and we are
making efforts every day to increase that, our fluent speakers
are vaccinated at a rate of around 70 percent because of the
efforts we undertook, and because we had that survey.
It got us thinking about how else we might improve the
quality of lives of our speakers. Every Cherokee deserves good
housing, education, and to have a place in the economy that
works for them. But we have to focus on our speakers, and this
survey allows us to find them.
So for so many reasons, some of which were unexpected when
we started this, it has been a very powerful tool.
The Chairman. Thank you very much.
Ms. Harper, at our COVID-19 impacts on Native education
hearings, one of our witnesses, Dr. Kamana from Nawahi
Immersion School spoke about the challenges she had both prior
to and during the pandemic with immersion materials development
and teacher training. Are these issues that you see popping up
across your coalition members?
Ms. Harper. Certainly, Senator. These issues are consistent
across language medium schools and programs out here.
As I was just saying, our language medium [indiscernible]
educators at our site, all of these materials. They are the
ones creating and delivering the teacher training for their
local sites, for their languages. We can go anywhere in Indian
Country and see this happening. They are doing it locally.
Because they are the world class experts. This is the last
place where our languages exist. There aren't outside sources
to go to for these developments and any of this.
So Native American languages and our cultures are making
their resources right onsite. We hear that. Any one of the
other folks who testified here today too would say we hear that
in national conversations when we talk about Native language
revitalization issues.
The Chairman. Thank you.
My final question, for Ms. Sauve, has ANA heard concerns
from Native communities about the copyright of Native language
materials by non-community members? If you have heard about
this, can we work together on solving this?
Ms. Sauve. Thank you, Chairman Schatz, for that question.
We have heard about this in a couple of cases. In fact, we
wanted to know what we should do about it. So we have had
tribal consultation last summer, and this was one of the topics
for ANA. There were definitely mixed recommendations for it.
Some of the recommendations are that we shouldn't be
paternalistic.
So requiring that tribes or others have, the copyright
belong to the tribe, that was one of the suggestions we
mentioned. But they said, you know what, that is paternalistic,
so please just do more education for grantees so they
understand the risks when they get into partnership.
So that is what we are doing. We have been doing webinars.
We addressed it at our National Native Language summit. And we
are including information about that in our funding
announcements so that folks can make sure they know that this
could potentially be an issue and take steps to do it.
So we would absolutely like to partner with you to
strengthen the copyright so that the languages remain with the
people.
The Chairman. Okay. I don't want to overreact here, but I
would like to understand the extent of the problem and also the
extent to which Congress could actually, or the Executive
Branch, could do anything about it. Let's continue this
conversation.
Vice Chair Murkowski.
Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Very
interesting. Hadn't thought about that part of it.
Another question for you, Acting Director Sauve. We heard
certainly from Ms. Alvanna-Stimpfle the issue of capacity and
the fact that small tribes have just limited capacity when it
comes to writing and managing complex Federal grants to help
support their language programs. Your testimony talks about the
tremendous time, effort and resource investment that
communities have to undertake in order to implement Native
language projects.
So just recognizing again, capacity limitations, all that
we have seen, the additional stressors with this past year due
to COVID, what has ANA done to alleviate some of these
burdensome administrative requirements that just compound the
challenge for some of our tribal communities to be able to
access these grant opportunities?
Ms. Sauve. Thank you for that question, Vice Chair
Murkowski.
In order to support our current grantees, ANA exercised the
flexibilities provided through the Administration for Children
and Families and OMB. We extended reporting deadlines, any
requests for a carryover budget or no-cost extensions. We also
streamlined the continuing application process and we worked
with our Office of Grants Management so we could request enough
information but not overly burdensome for our current grantees
to continue to receive funding from ANA.
I am very happy that we worked across ACF with our General
Counsel to create a very streamlined application for the
emergency language awards that will greatly reduce the time and
effort to apply as well as the reporting burden. So we do
understand that communities are under extreme stress and are
trying to alleviate whatever burdens we can.
Senator Murkowski. So it seems that you are trying to be as
attentive as possible to that. I appreciate that.
Let me ask my last question to Ms. Laeha. I want to thank
you and the rest of the State of Hawaii for hosting our Alaska
Native language speakers as they are working on their advanced
studies. I mentioned that in my introduction of Ms. Alvanna-
Stimpfle. As I mentioned earlier to Chairman Schatz, our two
States have a lasting relationship where Alaska sends Hawaii
our Native speakers and you send them back ready to train and
instruct the next generation of Native speakers.
In your testimony, you discuss the need to formally develop
a consortium between American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native
Hawaiian serving institutions that work to support school and
community-based language revitalization. I guess the question
to you today would be, what more DOI and ANA programs can do
working in a coordinated manner to support the development of
this Native language preservation and this partnership? I look
at the value and the benefit. I think we can see how that plays
out between Alaskans and Hawaiians, and how we can do more to
further this.
Ms. Laeha. Mahalo for that question.
I think that we definitely learned a lot between sharing,
about our resources and our experiences. I do think that these
two bills that we have here would help to support that.
In addition, I know that we talked a lot about funding for
projects like these. A lot of what is coming up, I want to echo
what everyone is saying, we face similar issues in terms of
what we have access to, what are staff are required to do.
So really just leaning into each other and being able to
share amongst each other is very important. I think paying
special attention to the other things I brought up earlier,
which are how we as communities, as indigenous language
communities, or Native American language communities, define
what is needed for the program in order for that program to be
effective. A quality program is a very important point as well.
Senator Murkowski. Thank you for that.
To what extent, I know we have all been doing business
differently, whether it is by Zoom or virtually, we figured
things out because we had to in this time of pandemic and
living in different bubbles, working in different bubbles. To
what extent can these relationships, for instance what we are
talking about with, between Alaska and Hawaii, benefit from the
fact that we are just doing so much more virtually? Or is this
something where you really need to be present and on the ground
as you are going through these kinds of training?
Ms. Laeha. I definitely think that all of the communities
and industries have learned a lot about working remotely and
what works and what doesn't. I think there are a lot of ways
that we can collaborate virtually. However, there is just
something about being in the presence of a thriving language
program that helps you really understand and believe what is
possible for your own community. I think that is something that
we can't say can be achieved as effectively over a virtual
medium like this.
Senator Murkowski. Yes. I appreciate what you shared there.
I think you are probably right, we figured out ways to make it
work. But it can be made to work better if it truly is that one
on one.
Mr. Chairman, thank you. This has been an important
hearing, again, from so many levels. It is not just the words
that are spoken, it is the culture that is attached to these
incredible languages. The ability to highlight that through the
Committee today is greatly appreciated.
The Chairman. Thank you, Vice Chair Murkowski.
If there are no more questions for our witnesses, members
may also submit follow-up written questions for the record. The
hearing record will be open for two weeks. I want to thank all
of our excellent witnesses for their time and for their
testimony and for their service today.
This hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:23 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
Prepared Statement of Sylvia M. Hussey, Ed.D., CEO, Office of Hawaiian
Affairs
Aloha e Chairman Schatz:
Mahalo for the opportunity to provide testimony on the May 26,
2021, Oversight Hearing on ``Examining the COVID-19 Response in Native
Communities: Native Languages One Year Later'' and Legislative Hearing
to receive testimony on S. 989 and S. 1402. Mahalo a nui loa for your
continued leadership in ensuring the federal government meets its trust
responsibility owed to all Native Americans, including American
Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. Your leadership is
especially appreciated in the preservation, protection, and promotion
of Native American languages. We must support the expansion of Native
American language teaching and learning because language is the key to
Native culture and identity. As we have seen in Hawai`i, the COVID-19
pandemic has threatened Native American language survival and the
programs that support Native American languages. Native American
language inclusion in federal language programs can help to offset the
harms inflicted by this pandemic. With this in mind, the Office of
Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) Board of Trustees (BOT) formally voted on April
29, 2021, to support your bill, S. 989, the Native American Language
Resource Center Act of 2021, as it was introduced on March 25, 2021. We
look forward continuing to work with you and to supporting your work to
enact this legislation into law.
The Role and Responsibilities of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs
Established by our state's Constitution, \1\ OHA is a semi-
autonomous agency of the State of Hawai`i mandated to better the
conditions of Native Hawaiians. Guided by a board of nine publicly
elected trustees, all of whom are currently Native Hawaiian, OHA
fulfills its mandate through advocacy, research, community engagement,
land management, and the funding of community programs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ HAW. CONST., art. XII, 5 (1978).
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Hawai`i state law recognizes OHA as the principal public agency in
the state responsible for the performance, development, and
coordination of programs and activities relating to Native Hawaiians.
\2\ Furthermore, state law directs OHA to advocate on behalf of Native
Hawaiians; \3\ to advise and inform federal officials about Native
Hawaiian programs; and to coordinate federal activities relating to
Native Hawaiians. \4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Haw. Rev. Stat. 10-3(3).
\3\ Haw. Rev. Stat. 10-3(4).
\4\ Haw. Rev. Stat. 10-6(a)(4).
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The Federal Trust Responsibility Owed to Native Hawaiians
As you know, the federal government owes a trust responsibility to
all Native Americans, including American Indians, Alaska Natives, and
Native Hawaiians. To meet this obligation to Native Hawaiians, Congress
has enacted programs and policies to promote education, health,
housing, and a variety of other federal programs that support Native
Hawaiian self-determination. Similar to American Indians and Alaska
Natives, Native Hawaiians have never relinquished our right to self-
determination despite the United States' involvement in the illegal
overthrow of Queen Lili`uokalani in 1893 and the dismantling of our
government.
Over 150 Acts of Congress consistently and expressly acknowledge or
recognize a special political and trust relationship to Native
Hawaiians based on our status as the Indigenous, once-sovereign people
of Hawai`i. Among these laws specifically benefitting Native Hawaiians
are the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, 42 Stat. 108 (1921); the
Native Hawaiian Education Act, 20 U.S.C. 7511; the Native Hawaiian
Health Care Improvement Act, 42 U.S.C. ch. 122; and the Hawaiian
Homelands Homeownership Act codified in the Native American Housing
Assistance and Self Determination Act, Title VIII, 25 U.S.C. 4221.
Background on the History of `Olelo Hawai`i
In pre- and post-contact society, Native Hawaiian cultural
practitioners passed down traditional practices orally through `Olelo
Hawai`i (Hawaiian language). Native Hawaiian society and the Kingdom of
Hawai`i valued education for its people. In addition to the oral
cultural education passed down through generations, `Olelo Hawai`i
became a written language and was the medium in schools established in
the Kingdom of Hawai`i. In the 1800s, over 250 Hawaiian language medium
schools were in operation. During that time, almost all Native
Hawaiians were literate, and the Kingdom boasted one of the highest
literacy rates in the world.
The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and United States'
participation in the overthrow changed the trajectory of `Olelo Hawai`i
and Native Hawaiian education. During this time, the United States
maintained control over the government of the Territory of Hawai`i. The
President of the United States appointed the Territorial Governor who
in turn appointed the Territorial Board of School Commissioners. The
President also appointed the Territory's non-Article III judges, and
the United States Congress maintained the right to amend or invalidate
laws passed by the Territorial Legislature. American-run schools banned
the speaking of `Olelo Hawai`i on campuses. The federal government also
enforced a policy of assimilation upon the Native Hawaiian people
similar to those forced upon American Indian and Alaska Native
communities during that same era. By the 1960s, `Olelo Hawai`i was near
extinction. Only 2,000 speakers remained in the 1980s. However, around
that time, the Hawaiian Renaissance began to take hold and Native
Hawaiian leaders worked tirelessly to revive Native Hawaiian
traditional practices and `Olelo Hawai`i.
In 1983, Native Hawaiian leaders and community members created
Punana Leo, a Native Hawaiian immersion preschool. The first group of
students educated entirely in `Olelo Hawai`i graduated from high school
in 1999. Their success was the direct result of continued advocacy from
the families involved with the immersion school movement. Hawaiian-
medium education has grown since those early days, and it is now
possible to receive an education in `Olelo Hawai`i from preschool
through doctoral program. These programs not only revitalized Native
Hawaiian traditional practices and `Olelo Hawai`i, but they also
continue to offer students a sense of connectedness and place through
this education system. Despite the successes of these programs, the
COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented burdens on Native American
language programs and tested the survival of Native American languages.
The successes of these programs, and the extensive impact of the COVID-
19 pandemic on them, emphasize the need to continue to include Native
American languages in language programs across the federal government.
Supporting the Native American Language Resource Center Act
Native American language preservation, protection, and promotion is
a critical component of honoring the trust responsibility owed to
Native Americans. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
already administers several Native American language programs through
the Administration for Native Americans. However, Native American
languages should be supported through programs administered across all
federal agencies. More work is needed to include Native American
language education in general federal language programs.
To this end, OHA supports the incorporation of Native American
languages into Title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1123, 1132-37) by creating the Native American Language Resource
Center (NALRC) within the International and Foreign Language Education
(IFLE) office in the Office of Postsecondary Education at the U.S.
Department of Education. This office is well-equipped with the
knowledgebase to administer the NALRC in addition to existing Language
Resource Centers. IFLE programs support domestic and international
language instruction, professional development for educators, and
curriculum development for education at all levels. These programs
expand access to language learning, particularly in underserved
communities, and support teaching and research on critical world
language issues, among other things. Language Resource Centers, in
particular, allow for the development of language learning materials;
provide professional development; and conduct research to strengthen
language teaching and learning.
Again, mahalo a nui loa for the opportunity to provide testimony
for the record and for your continued support of the Native Hawaiian
people and Native American language preservation programs. As we slowly
emerge from the pandemic, we must rebuild and recover. Supporting
Native American language programs will help to restore Native identity
through language preservation, protection, and promotion. We hope that
you will incorporate Native languages into federal language programs
across all agencies.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Ben Ray Lujan to
Michelle Sauve
Question 1. In 2020, I was proud to work with Sen. Udall to pass
the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Programs Reauthorization
Act into law. This law made important changes to the Administration for
Native Americans language grant programs, including the Esther Martinez
Immersion and Preservation & Maintenance grant programs, to reduce
class sizes for Native American Survival Schools (for school age
children from 15 to 10 students and for students under age 7 from 10 to
5 students) and extend the maximum grant period (from 3 to 5 years).
Ms. Sauve, how have the smaller class sizes and longer grant period
benefitted grant recipients of both programs, especially during the
pandemic?
Answer. In the two years since the Esther Martinez Native American
Languages Programs Reauthorization Act has passed, we have yet to
gather and analyze enough data to indicate how this reauthorization may
have benefitted these new EMI programs in terms of longer project
periods or smaller class size. We receive consistent feedback from our
grantees in support of small classroom instruction and anticipate
increased benefits from the reauthorization.
Our grantees continue to stress that smaller classroom sizes and
longer grant periods increase learning benefits and to make survival
schools more accessible to communities. Our grantees have voiced that
the speaker to learner ratio should not exceed 1:7 with ideally two
speakers of the target language so that the learners can hear speakers
conversing, not just speaking didactically. A small classroom size
allows children to deeply engage with teachers and allows teachers to
create specialized learning plans for their students.
Question 2. In 2019, the Ohkay Owingeh Department of Education was
awarded the Administration for Native Americans Native Languages
Preservation and Maintenance Grant for the funding years 2019-2022. The
Ohkay Owingeh Tewa Language Program has benefited tremendously from
being awarded the ANA Language Preservation and Maintenance Grant and
the Pueblo is grateful that they are able to keep Esther Martinez's
legacy of language preservation efforts alive in her home of Ohkay
Owingeh. This program was one of two reauthorized in the Esther
Martinez Native American Languages Programs Reauthorization Act, named
for Esther Martinez who led her life to further language preservation
in her own Pueblo of Ohkay Owingeh. Thanks to the changes included in
the reauthorization that allowed for smaller class sizes of grantees,
current and future grantees have been able to host smaller, in-person
classes. Ms. Sauve, what benefits have you seen to allowing for smaller
class sizes for program grantees of both the Esther Martinez Immersion
and the Preservation & Maintenance grant programs?
Answer. Our grantees from both the EMI and P&M projects emphasize
that smaller class sizes are always favorable. Increased participation
and individually focused curriculum allow students to deeply engage
linguistically and culturally. We have visual confirmation that small
classroom sizes allow creativity in lesson planning such as teaching
cultural traditions in tandem with language education. Grantees have
brought culturally specific lesson plans such as pottery lessons, or
cooking classes, into their language classrooms. Moreover, they
emphasize that it is important to engage students in their language,
but also the language's inherent connection to cultural activities.
Such creative lesson plans would not have been possible with a large
number of students due to budgetary or logistic concerns.
Question 3. Ohkay Owingeh has hosted Tewa classes during the
pandemic by bringing back a small group (capped at five people)
consisting of Tribal and community members and two Tewa teachers. They
have also been able to host two groups of five youth participants in
their Tewa Summer Youth Program. Ms. Sauve, how has the Administration
for Native Americans changed program guidelines and reporting during
the pandemic to allow for flexibilities for grantees like Ohkay
Owingeh?
Answer. We applaud the persistence and creativity of projects that
yield innovative ways to offer continuing services. Our program
specialists and technical assistance providers work closely with
grantees to ensure that changes in activities or approach are still in
line with the overall goals and objectives of their funded project.
We recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic has put a strain on tribal
resources and personnel. The Administration of Children and Families
has released several iterations of grant policy flexibilities. Notably,
we have allowed flexibilities regarding reporting deadlines, and
increased time for expiring No-Cost Extensions. Increased time for
reporting allows ample time for recipient assessments, the resumption
of many individual projects, and a report on program progress and
financial status. Expiring no-cost extensions also allow for an
additional 12 month project extension to finish project activities and
spend funds. It is our priority to assist tribes in ensuring that they
have ample time to complete their project successfully. Per HHS pre-
existing funding guidelines, grant recipients are able to reallocate up
to 25 percent of their budget within existing line items without prior
approval, so this is an additional flexibility that allowed the
projects that had travel budgeted into their projects to reallocate
those resources to other areas.
Question 4. Ms. Sauve, many of our witnesses noted the impact that
the loss of fluent speakers has had on language preservation efforts.
Noting this, there is a role for digital media to play in building
healthy language communities in the wake of this pandemic. Ohkay
Owingeh Pueblo, for example, has created a Tewa Zoom Class to allow
Tribal and community members to continue to learn their language and
culture while maintaining social distancing guidelines during the
pandemic. These virtual class offerings have enabled the Pueblo to
bring their language and culture to Tribal members who live out of
state, including those in Arizona, California, and Connecticut.
Additionally, Ohkay Owingeh began recording and saving all Tewa zoom
classes to external hard drives to kick start the process of digitizing
its language and culture instructional materials. Ms. Sauve, what is
the Administration for Native Americans doing or plan to do to support
Tribal Nations who wish to digitize or transfer language materials to
new media? And what is the Administration for Native Americans doing to
educate grantees on the dangers of allowing access to digital language
materials to non-authorized users?
Answer. The pandemic has brought about a unique opportunity to
engage students and teachers with digital material. We have seen
increased participation through digital language learning platforms
that can reach new language learners who would previously have been
unable to attend in person classes. ANA recognizes the creative
benefits of digital language materials and encourages grantees to
prepare for virtual learning. We have encouraged investment in digital
technology through allowing flexibilities to adjust their budgets to
allow for additional purchasing of equipment, or technological
training.
ANA highly encourages tribes to be aware of their rights to
intellectual property rights and data sovereignty. In the past, we have
provided trainings at grantee meetings and webinars through ANA's
Training and Technical Assistance centers. In addition, ANA included a
statement in all FY 2021 FOAs encouraging applicants to educate
themselves on intellectual property rights and the protection of
ownership of Native language materials, ceremonies, music and dance,
and other forms of knowledge and cultural practices that originate from
Native communities. However, due to the variety of laws, rights, and
jurisdictions of these matters, ANA leaves this up to the discretion of
grantees and applicants.
Question 5. Despite COVID-19 challenges, Ohkay Owingeh and all
Tribal Nations remain committed to cultural traditions and practices.
For example, the Ohkay Owingeh Community School, and their Ohkay
Owingeh Head Start, continued Tewa Zoom class sessions for Head Start
and elementary students as a way to connect students with each other
focused on Tewa curriculum during the pandemic. Tewa teachers, who
teach in all grades and various styles of classes, have been innovative
and creative with teaching language and traditions. The Administration
for Native Americans grant is a step toward supporting their larger
goal of Tewa fluency and cultural engagement, but right now the
Administration is only able to support a handful of grantees like Ohkay
Owingeh through its competitive grant process. However, with the
historic decision to allocate funding to all Tribes that opt in thanks
to $20 million provided in the American Rescue Plan, the administration
stands to make an incredible impact on Native language programs across
the country. How will the Administration for Native Americans document
and share the impact that this funding will have on potentially
hundreds of Tribes during the pandemic?
Answer. ANA will require ARP emergency language award recipients to
submit a post project report. In this report, ANA will ask grantees how
the funds helped their communities use language and culture
revitalization to recover from the devastating effects of COVID-19.
Grantees will also be asked about how the materials created, teachers
trained, and student instruction helped preserve and protect their
Native language. ANA will compare data from the applications describing
the current condition of the language prior to the community receiving
funding with a post-project data survey. This will allow us to measure
the impacts of the funding on the community and language and share the
story of this distinct set of grantees.
Question 6. You note that the Administration for Native Americans
was only able to fund 11 of the 75 applications between both of its
programs in the most recent year. How many Tribal Nations were served
by funded applications out of all the Tribal Nations represented in the
entire applicant pool? And what was the average funding amount per
applicant in the most recent fiscal year?
Answer. Of the 11 new awards last year, ANA was able to fund five
out of the 42 applications from Tribal Nations. The average funding
request for FY 2020 was $228,202 for both EMI and P&M.
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