The effort to preserve the Dakota language and lifeways received a major boost this week as Dakota Wicohan was named the 2025 Greater Minnesota Bush Prize: Minnesota Recipient.
The prestigious award recognizes extraordinary organizations leading their communities toward creative and equitable solutions. Dakota Wicohan is the first-ever rural Native nonprofit to receive the Minnesota Bush Prize. The organization will receive $250,000 in unrestricted funding to further its mission of preserving Dakota as a living language and transmitting Dakota lifeways to future generations.
“From a competitive pool of nearly 200 applications, Dakota Wicohan emerged as the organization that best exemplifies the values of the 2025 Bush Prize: Minnesota in Greater Minnesota,” said Kari Onyancha, Senior Director of Partnerships at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation. “We are deeply honored to recognize Dakota Wicohan’s creative, intergenerational work to promote and preserve Dakota language and culture.”
Founded in 2002, Dakota Wicohan has become a leading force in revitalizing Dakota Iapi (the Dakota language), which was nearly lost due to decades of forced assimilation. Nearly all Dakota language teachers across the region have received training or mentorship through Dakota Wicohan, which continues to teach Dakota to youth, adults, and elders throughout Cansayapi, the traditional Dakota homelands.
The organization’s impact extends beyond language to cultural preservation and education. Its Sunktanka Wicayuhapi (We Care for the Horses) program is the only Native 4-H initiative in Minnesota, and it remains the only organization in the state actively making and preserving Dakota horse regalia, an art form with deep cultural significance.
Dakota Wicohan also developed Mni Sóta Maḳoce: The Dakota Homelands, a curriculum designed to correct the historical exclusion of Dakota history from Minnesota classrooms. Aligned with state sixth-grade social studies standards, the curriculum has reached tens of thousands of students statewide since its launch in 2016.
“This award honors not only the work of Dakota Wicohan, but also the vision and persistence of the elders who have walked before us,” said Doris Stands, Dakota Wicohan Executive Director. “It’s a powerful recognition that Dakota people, language, and lifeways continue to endure, evolve, and flourish.”
