Myaamia Center receives $2.1 million grant

The Mellon Foundation awarded the Myaamia Center a $2.1 million grant to expand the National Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages (National BoL). The institute helps tribal communities revitalize their language by using archives and technology.

This grant marks the largest external grant in the Myaamia Center’s history.

The Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival to revitalize Indigenous languages in California inspired the National BoL Institute to start a similar program. Members of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and other Indigenous communities wanted to take a similar approach at the national level.

According to the United Nations, one Indigenous language is estimated to disappear every two weeks. Indigenous languages are essential to cultural identity and preservation, yet the consequences of colonialism and assimilation practices have caused many communities to lose their language.

National BoL is looking to change that. Since its inception, the institute has worked with 65 tribal communities to help revitalize their languages, teaching them how to locate, analyze and digitize archival documents. They are currently working with approximately 13 communities, with 10 participating in their community archivist apprenticeship program.

Washington, D.C., held the first workshop for the national program in 2011. In 2014, the Myaamia Center became the institutional home of National BoL, where it utilized the same techniques from the revitalization of its own language.

The Myaamia Center previously received a $510,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation in 2021 to support National BoL programming. The grant helped support the development of the ILDA, the software National BoL uses to assemble primary source material and facilitate analysis.

“After working with the foundation through that initial funding period and learning more about it, it became clear to our staff at the Myaamia Center that the Mellon Foundation is dedicated to supporting research developments in Native American communities,” wrote Stella Beerman, communications specialist at the Myaamia Center, in an email to The Miami Student. “This encouraged us to apply for this more recent funding.”

Beerman said the center has been dedicated to revitalizing its language for the past 30 years and has built software and technology that can benefit other communities.

“After we built [the software], we were like, ‘Oh, that was kind of a lot of work,’” Beerman said. “We think other communities could use this too, so we wanted to offer it to other communities so that every community engaging in this work wasn't starting over from scratch.”

Through the grant, National BoL plans to double the size of its apprenticeship program from 10 to 20 apprentices and initiate a fellowship program for advanced revitalization efforts. The fellowship’s goal is to help apprentices turn archival documents and research into educational resources for their communities.

The institute is also seeking to hire a full-time staff dedicated to advancing its technology, supporting the Indigenous Language Digital Archive (ILDA) and creating an educational portal for community language learning.

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Beerman said the time and dedication it takes to engage in cultural revitalization is equivalent to a full-time job in itself.

“What this grant money allows us to do is fund people to spend the time that it takes to do this,” Beerman said. “I think that's really important to have a foundation like Mellon say this work is so important we will help you.”

Jerome Viles, National BoL archives development trainer, said he has felt the positive impact of language revitalization in his own community, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, primarily located in Oregon. He said he began learning his language in his 20s, while his son has spoken it since birth due to increased revitalization and educational efforts.

“Language revitalization is a lot like a fire,” Viles said. “It starts small, it starts with a spark, but then you add fuel, and it gets bigger and bigger. We’re starting to see it in my community and the tribes that share our language, there are more people getting interested.”

Viles said much of the narrative around Indigenous languages is negative, centered around language loss and extinction.

“We’re really trying to tell a different story,” Viles said. “If you find dedicated people in your community, you can revitalize your language, and with it, your culture, histories and community. It’s a positive vision of health, community connection and continuing in the future as tribal people.”

Indigenous communities have historically been misrepresented and inaccurately reported on by the press, including The Miami Student. To address this history, we work with Stella Beerman and occasionally Kara Strass, Myaamia Advisers to The Miami Student, to ensure that each story, including the Myaamia Center and the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, is accurate.

smith854@miamioh.edu