Phillips Wicoie Nandagikendan Dakota and Ojbwe Language and Culture Immersion Program

Senator Jon Tester Visits Language Program in Phillips

by Laura Waterman Wittstock

Jon Tester won office in 2006 and has wasted little time since then to look deeply at the needs of tribes and nations. He became chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs this year when former chair Maria Cantwell stepped down.

Senator Tester”'s visit to Minneapolis and the Wicoie Nandagikendan program is an example of how seriously he takes his chairman role: he wants to see Indian communities in action. He told Wicoie executive director Jennifer Bendickson that Congress needs to hear from people like her and others who are teaching Dakota and Ojibwe in the state. He said he enjoys his visits but the voices of the people are critical to restoring language.

This year, Senator Tester, along with four other senators, introduced and the Senate passed the ”˜”˜Native Language Immersion Student Achievement Act.”'”' Under the Act, those eligible for funding include schools or private tribal, nonprofit organizations that have plans to develop and maintain, or to improve and expand, programs that support schools using Native American languages as the primary language of instruction of all curriculum taught at the schools.… Read the rest “Phillips Wicoie Nandagikendan Dakota and Ojbwe Language and Culture Immersion Program”