Screenshots from the Blackfeet Language App

Tribes in Montana are sharing $2 million in grants to preserve their languages.

The Montana Legislature created the Montana Indian Language Preservation Pilot Program last year. Eight tribes each received $250,000 to develop programs specific to their languages.

"What we're trying to do now is get it electronic - make it more feasible make it more accessible to everybody - not just in the schools here," Ray Cichosz, a program coordinator for the Fort Belknap Indian Community, told KXLH.

As part of the effort, the Blackfeet Community College has been working with Native Teaching Aids, an Indian-owned company to develop a web site, PiikaniPaitapiisin and smartphone apps to preserve the language of the Blackfeet Nation.

Get the Story:
Project aims to preserve Native American languages in Montana (KXLH 9/9)
St. Ignatius tech company brings Native language in the digital age (The Char-Koosta News 8/18)