Earth Action Network (formerly Sacred Earth Network) Endangered Languages Program (ELP) aims to support the preservation and restoration of Native languages and the Earth-honoring worldview at their core. Small, effective teaching programs for languages that are endangered in North/Central America and Siberia will be given priority. One of the overarching goals of this grant program is to help revive indigenous traditions, ways of life, and continuity in knowledge transmission through preservation of the language.
ELP will look for a few, approximately 10, good-quality projects with low overhead for which we can make a difference with our funding. Some of these projects may already be established, but some may not. We are soliciting proposals both from established projects and from new initiatives. The projects will be chosen primarily according to the level of urgency to protect the language and the likely effectiveness of the proposed projects.
Grant requests range from roughly $500 to a maximum of $3000.
Deadline
Applications are due May 16
Request for Proposals
Examples of funded projects
Lakota Children's Language Programs
Grantee: Tusweca Tiospaye, Pine Ridge, SD
The project provides language and cultural programs to children and families of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. These programs include Lakota language classes that require parental involvement, Lakota camps where children attend language classes and are taught traditional Lakota arts and crafts, music and games in Lakota language, and a pow-wow. All these activities are designed to teach, promote, and strengthen the Lakota language and way of life among the youth in the community.
Preservation of Shor Folklore Heritage
Grantee: Alexander Archabakov, Kemerovo, Southern Siberia, Russia
The Shor people live in Kemerovo Oblast in South Siberia, Russia, and according to the 2002 Census they number 12,000. The Shor language belongs to the Khakass subgroup of the Uigur-Oguz group of ancient Turkic languages. Out of these 12,000 Shor people living in the mountainous areas of Shoria and Khakassia, only 1,000 people can speak their native language fluently. These are mostly elderly people who live in far away Shor villages. The task of collecting, preserving and learning the unique heritage of the Shor people is now of the utmost importance. A large part of the Shor folklore are heroic tales which include throat-singing accompanied by a two-string musical instrument called the komus. In order to preserve a large number of unique audio recordings of this folklore, this project will convert audio tapes into digital format to preserve the quality of sound for generations to come.