The Chippewa Cree Tribe of The Rocky Boy Reservation

Grantee: The Chippewa Cree Tribe of The Rocky Boy Reservation

Investment: $82,609

Success: The Chippewa Cree Tribe of The Rocky Boy Reservation used ARP funds to support instructors preserving to language. In 2020, the Tribe surveyed 650 tribal members and 3% self-identified as first language fluent speakers and 0.003% self-identified as a Chippewa Cree language speaker. The Menominee Tribe shared how they had a language training program where they hired language learners and made it their full-time job. The Chippewa Cree Tribe decided to hire 9 trainees and two grandmothers who were retired educators. The trainees started in January 2022 and will finish the program in March 2023. When they started, some trainees were only able to count to three in their language, and now they can hold short conversations with their grandmothers. They are working on the Cree language right now and would like to move into working on the Chippewa language in the future. Their goal was to have trainees speaking on a four-year-old level, and they reached that goal in January 2023. In January 2023, trainees took a certification exam to allow them to teach Cree in the Montana school system. They are now meeting with the local school system to offer Cree language in their local schools as a part of the foreign language program.