Lakota immersion day care gets $4K grant
PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) -- A Lakota language immersion childcare program on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation has received a $4,000 grant.
The Lakota Immersion Childcare is a full-immersion language initiative for infants and toddlers. It started in November with a small cohort of children under the age of 2.
The Rapid City Journal reports that the Minnesota-based Honor the Earth Foundation awarded the $4,000 grant to the organization.
Peter Hill is the day care's director. He says exposing infants to the language is a critical step in building a successful K-12 school-based curriculum.
There are fewer than 6,000 Lakota speakers -- less than 14 percent of the Lakota population in North and South Dakota, and the average age of a Lakota speaker is 60.
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