Tulsa World: Grant will fund American Indian education center in Miami

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Grant will fund American Indian education center in Miami

By SHEILA STOGSDILL Oklahoman Correspondent
Published: 3/16/2009 6:05 PM
Last Modified: 4/24/2009 6:45 AM

MIAMI, Okla. — An Ottawa County library received a $500,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for an American Indian education center.

The Miami Native American Language, Culture, Health Education/Empowerment Center will serve as a center for Internet training and economic development seminars. The Miami Public Library and the City of Miami will partner with the Miami Tribe, the Ottawa Tribe, the Peoria Tribe, the Modoc Tribe, the Shawnee Tribe, and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe in the project.

The library will provide reference and training opportunities in American Indian language, art, and history, and will provide a way to better link local tribes with their affiliate universities in other states, officials said.

The Public Library Innovation Grants are funded through the International City and County Management Association with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Nine other organizations across the country also received a grant. By SHEILA STOGSDILL Oklahoman Correspondent

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McAyo, T-Town (3/16/2009 6:40:46 PM)

This sounds great. I'm wondering why the Quapaws aren't in on this. I'm fairly certain the last fluent Quapaw speaker has passed, and that leaves an extinct language.

Anyway, I think this will be great for the NE OK communities.

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JKRichard, Tulsa (3/17/2009 2:08:16 AM)

I hope some of this grant money can be used to make these resources available online. Extensive tribe history, language, and art sites with digital archives would make for invaluable tools for tribal members not living near the learning center.

Ayo, the last stats I could find for the Quapaw language were these: Population 34 (1990 census). Ethnic population: 2,000 (1986 SIL). 34 representing the number of fluent native speakers. That being 19 years ago...well, I hope that what you're saying is wrong, but the odds are definitely stacked against the language surviving. Sadness.

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