WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven (R-ND), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, today provided remarks at the National Native American Languages Summit and received a Native American Languages Legacy Award for Organizational Leadership from the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
“I am honored to receive the 2020 Native American Languages Legacy Award for Organizational Leadership, along with my colleague and Vice Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee Senator Udall,” said Hoeven. “We have worked with Commissioner of the Administration for Native Americans, Jeannie Hovland; Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar; and my fellow Senate colleagues, to help maintain and increase ways for Native Americans to preserve and learn their native language. It is important that Congress, and our nation, find ways to revitalize, maintain, and restore Native American languages for future generations, as Vice Chairman Udall and I have done through our leadership roles on the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.”
The virtual event took place during the 7th Annual National Native American Languages Summit, which is co-hosted by the Administration for Native Americans, the Department of Education, and the Bureau of Indian Education. On September 13, 2018, representatives from the Departments of the Interior, Education, and Health & Human Services entered into a Memorandum of Agreement “to work together and encourage programs and projects to include instruction in and preservation of Native languages.” The annual Summit was made part of the MOA and this year’s theme is “Building Upon Our Resilience Through Our Languages.”
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