Neʻepapa

Neʻepapa is an outreach program which includes providing technical assistance to Native American groups interested in the revitalization and survival of their traditional languages. The outreach for Native American languages technical assistance began in September of 2001. The program targets indigenous community leaders and educators interested in visiting us.

After working to remove the ban on the use of Hawaiian in Hawai‘i’s school system, the ‘Aha Pūnana Leo joined with Native Americans to reverse federal policy to remove Native American languages from Native American communities. Since the passage of the Native American Languages Act in 1990, there have been increased efforts throughout the United States to save the some 200 remaining Native American languages from extinction. Many of these languages have only a handful of speakers and only twenty still have fluent children speakers. The ‘Aha Pūnana Leo is the nationally recognized model for Native American language revitalization programs in the United States.

Through donations and grants, other indigenous groups visit ‘Aha Pūnana Leo model sites and programs. These visitors also meet with key individuals responsible for the success of our programs.