May/June 2012: Helping Save Old Pomo Languages With New Technology

There are 21 federally recognized Pomo Tribes of California, but many of them have as few as three Native language speakers, making the Pomo languages highly endangered, or more accurately, near extinction.  To lose them would mean forever losing cultural and historical treasures of tremendous value.

First Nations Development Institute doesn’t want that to happen.  In our effort to strengthen Native American nonprofits and encourage new ones, we also focus on empowering Native youth through the Native Youth and Culture Fund, which is supported by the Kalliopeia Foundation and other donors. We believe Native youth represent the future success and well being of our communities, and that cultural and language preservation is a key aspect of that.

To that end, we provided $19,400 in funding to the California Indian Museum & Cultural Center to conduct a Pomo Language Preservation Youth Summer Day Camp, where Native youth worked with linguistic specialists and Native speakers to document the Pomo language and create an online curriculum.  It was a great “hybrid” event involving old languages and new technology.  The project taught digital media technology skills while creating teaching and learning resources that fostered conversational speakers of the languages.

“First Nations funding will help ensure that the Pomo languages remain living languages and that, by interacting with their elders, youth understand the skills, determination and creativity it takes to be language leaders,” said Nicole Myers-Lim, executive director of the California Indian Museum & Cultural Center, based in Santa Rosa.  

You can help First Nations in its mission and programs such as the Native Youth and Culture Fund. Please give generously online or through the mail.