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COVID-19 Federal Relief Funding Helps To Create Crow Dictionary To Preserve Language

Official Flag of the Crow Tribe
Crow Language Consortium
Official Flag of the Crow Tribe along with the logo for the Crow language Consortium.

A program working to preserve the Crow language received federal Covid relief funding this week that will help build the biggest Crow dictionary to date.

The Crow Language Consortium received ten thousand dollars from Humanities Montana and SHARP, the Sustaining Humanities Through the American Rescue Plan. The grant program allocates money to museums, historic sites, and other humanity based programming.

Micheal Joseph is with the Crow Language Consortium and says this funding will be used to support...

“The most extensive Crow dictionary to ever be made, as well as other language learning materials, like textbooks, alphabet books, storytelling books, apps, online media players, and kind of not only preserving the language, but also kind of bringing it into, you know, the modern world.”

Joseph says Indigenous communities are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic more than white communities. Programs like the Crow Consortium want to preserve the knowledge of elders who are more vulnerable to the virus, especially during the recent surge of cases caused by the delta variant.

Taylar Stagner is Yellowstone Public Radio's Report for America Indigenous Affairs reporter.

Taylar Stagner covers tribal affairs for Yellowstone Public Radio.