Revisiting the Native American Languages Act of 1990

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2010/07/revisiting_the_native_american.html

At a summit for revitalizing indigenous languages held this week here in Washington, a founder of a Native Hawaiian language-immersion school asked Charles Rose, the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Education, to "please look at" the Native American Languages Act of 1990. The educator was among several founders of language-immersion schools who argued that provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act are in conflict with the Native American Languages Act and a hindrance to running language-immersion schools. I wrote about the educators' petition to Rose for relief from some of those provisions in an article published yesterday by Education Week.

The request of Rose by William "Pila" H. Wilson, the head of the academic-programs division for the University of Hawaii's College of Hawaiian Language, in Hilo, to revisit the Native American Languages Act prompted me to read the act for the first time. I had trouble finding a copy posted by the federal government so I pulled up a copy that had been posted by the National Association for Bilingual Education.

The act says that it is the policy of the United States to "encourage and support the use of Native American languages as a medium of instruction." That means that the federal government is going much farther than simply saying students should be able to study the language of their indigenous community only an hour or so each day. The act is saying the federal government supports students to take actual core academic subjects in a Native American language.

And interestingly, the act goes on to say that it's the policy of the United States to "recognize the right of Indian tribes and other Native American governing bodies to use the Native American languages as a medium of instruction in all schools funded by the Secretary of the Interior." That statement would refer to the schools run by the Bureau of Indian Education, an arm of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

While Native American students may have the right to receive core instruction in the language of their communities at BIE schools, in fact, it appears not to be happening much.

A recent federal study found that at BIE schools, only 23 percent of American Indian or Alaska Native 8th graders who participated in a survey reported that people in their schools talk to each other in a Native American language "every day or almost every day." Forty-one percent of the 8th graders at the BIE schools said people at their school talk to each other in a Native American language "never or hardly ever." (Thirteen percent said "once or twice a month" and 23 percent said "once or twice a week.") The study didn't report if any of these BIE schools use a Native American language as the medium of instruction.

At regular public schools, American Indian or Alaska Native students reported even less exposure to Native American languages than their peers at the BIE schools.

At the summit, Wilson said in a presentation that "the Native American Languages Act says we have these rights in the United States, but that law hasn't really been used."

Native American Virtual Academy (education)

Mission: This is a collaborative effort among Native and Educational Partners. The mission is to improve quality of life for Native American youth and their communities by providing greater educational opportunities and developing a workforce that is culturally aware and responsive to the needs of such communities.
 
We are looking for Tribes, Indian Education Centers, Native American Organizations, Cultural Leaders and Educators to form a collaborative to support the new California Native American Virtual Academy.
 
We have access to a state wide charter which will allow for the creation of these Native American Charter Schools.  We are looking to create 5 sites in Northern California.  Funding and implementation resources for the academic portion of the Charter Schools will be secured through the state.  For the first year our projected budget for these schools will exceed 2.5 million dollars.  We are looking for Native American Partners to provide vocational and cultural components of these Academies.
 
Please immediately contact Chris LaMarr at (530) 310-1975 or by email at withoutrez@hotmail.com if you have questions or would like to submit a request to be considered as one of the five initial sites or if your Native American Center or Organization has an interest in this collaboration.  
 
We are looking to have the sites determine and schools operating by this Fall.  The curriculum will be grades 9th-12th serving ages 16-24.  If you are a student interested in an application please contact us!!!
 
See withoutrezervation.com (yes, with a "z") for more information.
 
Thanks for your support, Chris LaMarr

Title IV-E Grants

New Tribal Development Grants for IV-E Access
Are Announced

On April 5, 2011, HHS published an announcement regarding the notice of funding availability for a new round of tribal Title IV-E Development Grants. These discretionary grants are for tribes that intend upon applying to operate the Title IV-E program. The grants are for up to two years and $300,000 per approved applicant. The purpose of the grants is to support tribal capacity building efforts to be able to operate the Title IV-E program. The deadline for submission is July 5, 2011.

Attached is the funding announcement at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services website.


Tribal Title IV-E Plan Development Grants
HHS-2011-ACF-ACYF-CS-0174
Summary
Funding Opportunity Title: Tribal Title IV-E Plan Development Grants
Funding Opportunity Number (FON): HHS-2011-ACF-ACYF-CS-0174
Program Office: Administration on Children, Youth and Families
Funding Type: Discretionary
Funding Category: Grant
Announcement Type: Initial
CFDA#: 93.658
Secondary CFDA#'s:
Post Date: 04/05/2011
Application Due Date: 07/05/2011
Description
The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement is to solicit applications for one-time grants to Tribes, tribal organizations, or tribal consortia that are seeking to develop, and within 24 months of grant receipt, to submit to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) a plan to implement a title IV-E foster care, adoption assistance, and, at tribal option, guardianship assistance program. Grant funds under this announcement may be used for the cost of developing a title IV-E plan under section 471 of the Social Security Act (the Act) to carry out a program under section 479B of the Act. The grant may be used for costs relating to the development of data collection systems, a cost allocation methodology, agency and tribal court procedures necessary to meet the case review system requirements under section 475(5) of the Act, or any other costs attributable to meeting any other requirement necessary for approval of a title IV-E plan.

Announcement File (Current Version)
Full Announcement: Download (pdf - 255 kb ) View HTML

Assembly Bill No. 770
CHAPTER 124
An act to add Sections 16000.5 and 16000.6 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to Indian tribes.
[Approved by Governor August 5, 2009. Filed with Secretary of State August 6, 2009.]
legislative counsel's digest
AB 770, Torres. Indian tribes: foster care and adoption programs.
Existing law provides for child welfare services, which are public social services directed toward, among other purposes, protecting and promoting
the welfare of all children, including those in foster care placement.
Existing law includes specified findings and declarations of the Legislature relating to child welfare services.
This bill would make it the policy of the state to maximize the opportunities for Indian tribes to operate foster care programs for
Indian children pursuant to the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008. This bill would require the State
Department of Social Services to negotiate in good faith with the Indian tribe, organization, or consortium in the state that requests
development of an agreement with the state to administer all or part of the programs under specified provisions of federal law relating to foster care and adoption
assistance, on behalf of the Indian children who are under the authority of the tribe, organization, or consortium.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 16000.5 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
16000.5. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-351) provides Indian tribes with the option,
effective October 1, 2009, to operate a foster care, adoption assistance, and, at tribal option, a kinship guardianship assistance program under Title
IV-E of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 671 et seq.). The federal government will share the costs of a tribe operating an approved Title IV-E program.
(b) It shall be the policy of the state to maximize the opportunities for Indian tribes to operate foster care programs for Indian children
pursuant to the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.95
SEC. 2. Section 16000.6 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:
16000.6. The State Department of Social Services shall negotiate in good faith with the Indian tribe, organization, or consortium in the state that
requests development of an agreement with the state to administer all or part of the programs under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. Sec. 671 et seq.) on behalf of the Indian children who are under the authority of the tribe, organization, or consortium.
O95Ch. 124 - 2 -

STEM Teachers Project (opportunity)

The College of Menominee Nation has a great new project funded by USDA and they are looking for a new employee to work as a liaison across CMN, UW Madison, and the Menominee Community to help train classroom teachers and strengthen their classroom curriculum to help develop more culturally-based STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) educational materials for grades 6-12.  The official UW media release is here: http://ecals.cals.wisc.edu/highlights/2011/02/07/new-partnership-aims-to-prepare-rural-youth-for-bioenergy-related-careers/.  CMN has asked me to send this out to contacts I have so please email me if you have any questions.  I am the evaluator of the grant and I also contributed to writing the grant. 
 
UW Madison is the administrator of this $4.7 million dollar USDA grant and CMN is the primary partner.  All work would be carried out in Shawano andMenominee County.  The primary school targets are Menominee Indian School District and Menominee Tribal School.  At some point other local schools may be asked to join especially if UW/CMN want higher participation levels.  Please note that CMN would be your employer and you'd have an office at CMN for this 5 year grant.  The job description from CMN is here if you are interested in applying (I would apply this week if interested):
http://www.menominee.edu/uploadedFiles/CMN/Jobs/10_Nov/STEM_Research_Coordinator_2nd.pdf.   
 
In closing, if you are not interested, please share it with someone who is.  In these economic times this e-mail might come to someone as an especially welcomed opportunity to start a new phase in their career.  Thanks and have a good night!
 
Nicky Bowman (Mohican/Munsee)
Owner/President, Bowman Performance Consulting
www.nbowmanconsulting.com
Shawano, WI
Phone:  715-526-9240
Fax:  715-526-6028

Bone Bungling (legal/desecration)

Native Americans get short shrift as LA Plaza downtown opens under a cloud

http://www.laweekly.com/2011-04-14/news/bone-bungling-at-old-cemetery/

The law — California Health and Safety Code 7050.5.b — is clear. When human remains are found during a project excavation "in any location other than a dedicated cemetery," all work must stop. But what if the discovery occurs in an old Catholic cemetery in downtown L.A. that supposedly had been emptied of all human remains? And what if many skeletons were Native Americans who converted to Christianity?

NACIE FYI (education



The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Indian Education is hosting the second public meeting of the National Advisory Council on Indian Education (NACIE), April 18-19, 2011, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EDT at the Holiday Inn – Washington Capitol in Washington, DC.

Please register for this important event.

Monday, April 18, 2011
Public Meeting: 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Public Meeting: 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Public Comment Period: 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Holiday Inn Hotel Washington - Capitol
Columbia Ballroom
550 C Street SW
Washington, DC 20024
202-479-4000

More information on NACIE can be found here: possiblefraudstart "r20.rs6.net" possiblefraudend http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oese/oie/nacie.html. 

More information on the U.S. Department's Indian education initiative can be found here:possiblefraudstart "r20.rs6.net" possiblefraudend http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/indianed/docs.html.

For additional information, e-mail info@nacie-ed.org.