The Nantkoke Lenni-Lenape Indians of New Jersey, Inc. received a $50,000 grant through the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM) American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Native Institutions. This grant opportunity is intended to help Native cultural institutions to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and provide humanities programming to their communities. Funds were provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 passed by the U.S. Congress.
Funds support the “Expanding the Reach of Cultural Humanities” programs through the Native Power Hour Project that will implement The Native Power Hour, a public humanities program consisting of live and virtual programs broadcast to an international audience via the Internet. The broadcasts will highlight contemporary and historical indigenous civic and national life from a critical and analytical perspective.
“COVID-19 hit Tribal communities particularly hard. The pandemnic is not only responsible for the loss of culture keepers, Native language speakers, elders, and government leaders, but also the closure of cultural Institutions, furloughed staff, and reduced programming,” said ATALM President Susan Feller. “This opportunity will provide much-needed financial support and create humanities-based programs that bring cultural practitioners and the public together in a dialogue that embraces the civic and cultural life of Native communities.”
The Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Indians of New Jersey, Inc. was selected by an independent Peer Review Committee and is one of 84 awardees to receive funding. Other awardees representing 25 states include Tribal governments and Native nonprofit organizations, as well as higher education institutions and non-native nonprofit organizations working in partnership with state or federally recognized tribal entitles. A total of $3.26 million was granted. A list of grantees is available at atalm.org
“The National Endowment for the Humanities is grateful to the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums for the association’s important work in administering American Rescue Plan funding to help Native American cultural institutions recover from the pandemic,” said NEH Chair Shelly C, Lowe (Navajo), “These grants provide valuable humanities resources to tribal communities and represent a lifeline to the many Native heritage sites and cultural centers that are helping preserve and educate about Indigenous history, traditions, and languages.”
The Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape people (also known as Nanticoke Lenape) are a tribal confederation of Nanticoke of the Delmava Peninsula and the Lenape of southern New Jersey and northern Delaware They are recognized by the state of New Jersey having reorganized and maintained elected governments since the 1970s.
The Association of Tribal Archives, Librares, and Museums (ATALM) is an international association dedicated to preserving and advancing the language, history, culture, and lifeway’s of indigenous peoples. Founded in 2010, ATALM maintains a network of support for Indigenous cultural programs provides professional development training, enables collaboration among tribal and non-tribal cultural institutions, and advocates for programs and funding to sustain the cultural sovereignty of Native Nations. To learn more, visit wasvatalm.org.
