TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Leaders of the Cherokee Nation gathered to celebrate the permanent reauthorization of the historic Durbin Feeling Language Preservation Act on Wednesday morning inside the Durbin Feeling Language Center in Tahlequah.
The landmark 2019 law is helping revitalize the Cherokee language and represents the largest language investment in Cherokee history. The permanent reauthorization, proposed by Chief Hoskin and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner, and approved by the Council of the Cherokee Nation, locks in a minimum operating funding budget of $18 million annually.
The new legislation deems the loss of the Cherokee language to be a national emergency for the Cherokee people and along with the minimum annual funding, includes $35 million in new capital projects, including a proposed $30 million Cherokee language immersion middle school to extend enrollment and space for the current pre-K through eighth-grade language immersion program.
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