Native Village of Paimiut gets $900,000 to teach Hooper Bay Yup'ik

The Native Village of Paimiut will receive $900,000 in federal funding to teach the Hooper Bay dialect of Yup'ik. The tribe says only 72 elders still speak it as a first language.

All 72 are 65 or older. More than 85% of residents speak fewer than 15 words in the dialect, and no structured dialect-specific courses exist, according to the tribe's federal award description. No independent count appears in the award record.

The Administration for Children and Families awarded the grant, which runs 36 months, from Sept. 30, 2026, to Sept. 29, 2029. That is the maximum a three-year project could draw under the federal language preservation funding notice, which expected about 12 awards nationwide from $10 million and requires recipients to cover 20% of total project cost.

The tribe will hire a lead language instructor and two part-time support speakers. They will build a two-level curriculum, one on foundational vocabulary and one on verbs and conjugation. Elders will validate 20 lesson modules. Staff will record pronunciation archives, produce printed, digital and USB audio materials, and take part in three professional development workshops.

At least 30 learners are expected to enroll through in-person and hybrid classes. Oral assessments before and after are meant to show a two-level gain in proficiency. The tribe also plans to design a teacher credentialing system, credential three local instructors and finalize a sustainability plan.

The program reaches past Hooper Bay to Scammon Bay, Chevak and enrolled tribal members in Anchorage and out of state. The award names the Native Village of Hooper Bay and a partner it identifies only as LYSD for continued use of the materials.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska Native Language Center lists Hooper Bay-Chevak as one of five Central Alaskan Yup'ik dialects and puts the language as a whole at about 10,000 speakers out of roughly 21,000 people.

State lawmakers have raised the same concern. "We really have a crisis in our Alaska Native languages here across the state in that we are not producing the speakers that we want to," Rep. Andi Story, co-chair of the Alaska State House Education Committee, said at a May 4 committee hearing.

The grant clock starts Wednesday.