Grants

MIAC has successfully awarded all legacy language revitalization funds for fiscal years 24 and 25. The next MIAC RFP for Language Revitalization grants, subject to reauthorization by the Minnesota Legislature, will not occur until May/June 2025.

Minnesota Indian Affairs Council
Dakota and Ojibwe Language Revitalization Grant
Request for Proposals

According to the language set forth in the 2023 Minnesota Session Laws, 93rd Legislature, Chapter 40, Article 4, Sec. 2, Subd. 9, funds were allocated for the Indian Affairs Council to provide grants to preserve Dakota and Ojibwe Indian language and to foster education programs and immersion programs in Dakota and Ojibwe language. There are two funds available. There is $1,300,000 available for two-year competitive language grants or $650,000 per year. There is $1,200,000 available for two-year immersion grants or $600,000 per year. All thorough and complete applications must be submitted to and received by the office of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, at 161 East St. Anthony Avenue, Suite 919, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55103, Attention: Keegan Flaharty or emailed Keegan.Flaharty@State.mn.us - no later than 4:30 p.m. on August 9, 2023. No late proposals will be considered.

The Dakota and Ojibwe Language Revitalization Grant program, which funds revitalization of Minnesota’s first languages, is underwritten by an appropriation from the state’s Legacy Fund Amendment, MN Legacy Fund Amendment Information. The eligible project areas are intentionally broad and somewhat flexible to allow creativity and innovation with intent that a diverse array of projects can be funded. Recognized educational institutions in Minnesota, and 510 (C)(3) non-profits located in the State of Minnesota and currently registered with the Secretary of State’s office are strongly encouraged to apply.

Tribal nations receiving language funding from the tribal funding stream are eligible to apply for either RFP opportunity. All applicants can apply to both competitive and immersion RFPs; however, if selected grantees will only receive an award from one funding stream. If wanting consideration for both RFPs please submit two separate applications; however, applicants can reuse the same materials.

Please submit any questions via email to keegan.flaharty@state.mn.us by August 2, 2023. All responses will be posted on MIAC website by August 3rd. Please no phone calls.

To view the RFP documents:

On page 4 of the grant, it states that the Project Narrative is to be 3-5 pages, but on page 5 it says that the Grant Narrative is a maximum of 13 pages. Are the Project and Grant Narratives the same or does the Grant Narrative combine certain sections? When I add up page limit for all sections except the Budget and Budget Justification it comes to a mx of 10 pages, or does the GN include those sections as well? Can you please help me understand?
1. The Grant narrative you reference is the total amount of pages of all the sections. The 13 number is incorrect and a typo. We shortened the original page limits of multiple sections and must have missed editing the referenced line mentioning 13 pages. You are correct that the limit of all the sections minuses budget and budget justification sections is 10 pages. We apologize for this typo and thank you for bringing it to our attention.
What is the difference between the immersion grant and competitive grant, except for funding amount – that part I understand.
1. At this point in time the only major difference is which funding stream is used to fund an awarded grant proposal. We are in the process of defining exactly who and who is not eligible for immersion funds compared to competitive funds; however, those rules are not in place for this RFP. We invite everyone to apply for both competitive and immersion funds. You can even submit relatively the exact same application. We ask that you submit two applications if you want to be eligible for both. There is a question on the cover sheet where you can make that distinction. Although we are allowing organizations to apply for both, if selected to receive an award you will only get funding from one of the funding streams.
I am working on the immersion grant application and have a question about the formatting mentioned on page 6 of the RFP. It states, "Immediately preceding each narrative response, please type the question being answered." Is the intention that we would, for example, put 1. Organization/Tribal Background then below it provides the narrative response? Or would we do that and list all the information provided in the prompt for each respective question?
1. You only must put Organizational/Tribal Background and then your response bellow. The information bellow is just things the grant readers will be looking for in this section of the application.
Do we as a tribal nation need to submit a resolution/letter of support for this grant? Also, how much detail to you need when it comes to the organization since we already have a MIAC grant? Do we have to meet page limits listed for sections?
1. You are required to submit a resolution/ letter of support. The page limits are limits for how much information you can include but if you feel like you can explain the section without reaching the section limit, that is up to you. You can go under, but you cannot go over. Your tribal noncompetitive grant has no impact on this process. The grant reviewers are not employees but rather contracted and so they are not as familiar with the noncompetitive grants.
I noticed that on page 11 of the RFP it says to include Open/Closed Grant Status Update Form. I don’t see where to find the form and it is not included on page 16 with the list of required attachments. Was this a typo or can you direct me to where I can find it. a. This was a typo and you can ignore.

Contact number 218 205 4752