Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Vice Chairman Jordan Tannenbaum signed the historic Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on Native Languages on September 28, 2022, at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Reno Franklin, the ACHP’s Indian Tribe and Native Hawaiian Member, and Ira L. Matt, the ACHP’s Director of the Office of Native American Affairs, witnessed the signing.

The ACHP now joins 10 other agencies and departments who have already committed to joining the MOA, which is an effort to support the protection and preservation of Native languages spoken by federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes, Native Hawaiians, and other Native American groups in the United States. 

The ACHP will advance its involvement in the MOA through participation in the White House Council on Native American Affairs’ Education Committee. It will focus on how the Section 106 process can better accommodate and account for Native languages as they relate to historic properties of religious and cultural significance to Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.

The MOA includes specific interagency goals, including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Identifying statutory or regulatory barriers that impede federal implementation of Native language activities;
  • Identifying research that explores educational attainment and Native language retention and/or revitalization;
  • Simplifying the process to integrate Native language instruction and language and other cultural activities into educational settings, including libraries, museums, cultural and historic preservation programs, and in the arts;
  • Strengthening Tribal consultations on the issue of Native languages.

Learn more about the ACHP’s work with Native American groups.

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