Juneau’s Tlingit Culture, Language, and Literacy program received a $14,000 food sovereignty grant. The money comes from Native Movement, a nonprofit supporting grassroots-led projects that ensure Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
The grant helps with the “the revitalization, reclamation, and sustainability of traditional Tlingit food practices, cultural knowledge, and language,” explained TCLL Principal Molly Yerkes. TCLL is a place-based, cultural-based optional program in the Juneau School District.
The funding allows about 120 elementary and middle school-aged children to work with elders, cultural specialists, and language teachers this school year. They’re learning about harvesting, preparing, preserving and sharing traditional foods, like salmon, seal, moose, clams, herring eggs, seaweed, berries, traditional potatoes, as well as medicinal plants.
“These activities strengthen students’ connections to their cultural heritage, ancestral lands, and traditional ways of knowing,” Yerkes said.
The following photos were provided by TCLL, and selected for sharing by KTOO staff.
