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Laura Grant, Program Director
Kawaiisu Language and Cultural Center
18100 Churchill Street, Tehachapi, CA 93561
(760) 920-7516 telephone, email address: bigheadlg@earthlink.net
Professional Activities
2007 – present Kawaiisu Language and Cultural Center, Program Director,
Kawaiisu Language Instructor
2012 – 2015 “Owot Abigip Nuwa” 3-Year language teacher and curriculum development
project, Administration for Native Americans Grant 90NL0553 ($480,660)
2012 – 2014 “Kawaiisu Conversations and Landscapes”, 18-month pilot project
National Science Foundation Documenting Endangered Languages Grant BCS-
1160669 ($125,980)
2010 – 2013 Alliance for California Traditional Arts Sustainability Grant
3-year project for non-profit organization development ($30,000)
2009 – 2011 “Kawaiisu Practical Grammar” 2-year language documentation and curriculum
development project, Administration for Native Americans Grant 90NL0487
($243,400)
2007 – 2009 Alliance for California Traditional Arts Living Cultures Grants
for documentation and teaching materials of indigenous traditional survival skills
and “Voices in Your Pocket” digital media training program ($13,250)
2011 – present Indigenous Languages Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Consortium of Indigenous Language Organizations, Instructor
Immersion language acquisition techniques and curriculum development
2009 – 2011 Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, Santa Ynez, CA
Samala Language Program, Chumash Tribe
Training consultant for “Say It in Samala” language teacher and curriculum
development program, Administration for Native Americans Grant
2006 – present Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival, Vallejo, CA
Mentor for the Advocates Master Apprentice Language Learning Program and
Training consultant for immersion language learning techniques
Program development and project coordinator for the Language at Home
program, Sociological Initiatives Foundation Grant
1997 – 2006 Owens Valley Career Development Center, Bishop, CA
Nüümü Yadoha Language Revitalization Program
Program Developer and Director
Developer of indigenous language teacher training program replicated in Inyo,
Kern, Tulare, Kings and Fresno counties in California for Paiute, Kawaiisu,
Tubatulabal, Wukchumni, Yowlumni, and Mono communities. Paiute language
instructor, training consultant for community teams in immersion-based
instruction, curriculum development, digital audio and video recording, and the

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creation of archives. Recruitment of specialists such as linguists to assist in the
development of writing systems, database dictionaries, and reference grammars,
and programmers to develop interactive teaching materials.
Annual budget 1.2 million
1992 – 1995 International Billing Services, El Dorado Hills, CA
Editor
Leader of a documentation team of up to nine individuals for a company that
creates software and hardware for automated factories. I created, maintained, and
enforced documentation standards and edited material for diverse departments
such as Human Resources, Engineering, and the Executive Team in addition to
editing duties in Information Systems. I tracked and recorded documentation
team performance and document user comprehension.
Publications
Grant, Laura and Julie Turner with Leanne Hinton. (2012) Bringing Our Languages Home, Language
Revitalization for Families, Chapter 12, The Kawaiisu Language at Home Program. Heyday Books.
Spence, Justin, Laura Grant, Jocelyn Ahlers. 2012. Kawaiisu Practical Grammar. Kawaiisu Language
and Cultural Center.
Documentary Films
Grant, Laura, Sandy Clark. Forthcoming. Mono Basketweaving, Mono Basketweavers of Northfork
Grant, Laura, Julie Turner. (2010) Building a Kawaiisu Havikanhi,
Kawaiisu Language and Cultural Center.
Grant, Laura, Julie Turner. (2009) Kawaiisu Traditional Uses of Plants for Food and Medicine, Kawaiisu
Language and Cultural Center.
Grant, Laura, Qwina West, Sr., Raymond Andrews, Mark McNally. (2000) Traditional Survival Skills of
the Owens Valley Paiutes. Owens Valley Career Development Center.
Education
B.F.A., 1987 Fine Arts and Writing, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia
2007-2009 Member of the ZeroDivide Fellowship to promote social justice, equity, and access through
community technology and diverse social change initiatives in underserved communities.
Among my other clients for language and cultural revitalization are the Paiute Tribe of Pyramid Lake,
Nevada, the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut, and in California, the Mono Basketweavers of Northfork, the
Tule River Tribe of Porterville, the Karuk Tribe, the Bridgeport Indian Colony, the Big Pine Paiute Tribe,
and the Washoe Woodfords Indian Education Center.
California is well known for the diversity of the indigenous languages it holds and also for the extreme
endangerment of those languages. I have been working towards the revitalization of California’s
languages and cultures as a program director, field researcher, filmmaker and teacher since 1996. As a
resident within native communities, the relationships I have formed with the last native speakers has
allowed me to identify motivated individuals and groups, like the Kawaiisu, and then design and conduct
successful projects around their needs. I form a bridge between the indigenous communities of isolated
rural regions and the academic and technical resources vital to the restoration, documentation and
preservation of heritage languages.