Metro State University
The overall purpose of this initiative is to welcome more American Indians into the University to increase the number of speakers of the Dakota and Ojibwe languages. This will be done by the enrollment of adults in the Dakota and Ojibwe language immersion model classes, as well as, enrolling youth into the youth classes. The University will offer immersion model 100-level courses in Dakota and Ojibwe languages and provide scholarships to ensure accessibility and participation.
These languages embody irreplaceable worldviews. They express, reflect, and maintain communal connections and ways of understanding the world. Deeper than the disuse of vocabulary or grammar, the loss of an indigenous language is destruction of a complex system for ordering the relationships among people and the natural world, for solving social problems, and connecting people to something beyond themselves.
$550,000 the first year and $550,000 the second year are for grants for programs that preserve Dakota and Ojibwe Indian languages and to foster educational programs in Dakota and Ojibwe languages.
The youth workshop evaluations were overall positive and indicate many students did not know any Ojibwe or Dakota words prior to attending class, can now speak more Ojibwe and Dakota words due to the workshops, and indicated they would like to take more Ojibwe and Dakota language classes.