Siyo nigad!
I’m the co-founder of a language learning webapp called BLOOM that is developing free online courses specifically for Indigenous and minoritized languages. We partner directly with language communities who want a course and give them full control of what gets put into the course, so their product is ultimately made by the community, for the community. We just supply the template and technology!
Our goal is to not only boost fluency, but more importantly, to empower communities by making their languages accessible.
Right now, we’re gearing up for our first launch. In spring, our Cherokee course (developed in partnership with the Cherokee Nation, in which I’m an enrolled citizen) will become live, and we’re so excited about that!!
In order to make it until launch, though, we’ve been fundraising. We have a team of eight, and although this is a passion project for all of us (we are all members of an Indigenous or minoritized community), we still have to pay bills.
So! We’ve created a g o r g e o u s zine that we are giving for donations! It’s called “This is how we heal: A series of intimate thoughts on language and decolonization.” Here’s a sneak peek:
We’ll send out a pdf version for any donation, and we’ll send a printed copy for donations of $15+. If you are interested, you can donate on Facebook here, or you can PayPal us here (make sure to send your email and/or mailing address), or you can become a monthly patron here.
And for more information on us, or if you want to pre-enroll in our Cherokee course, visit us here. Also, if you are interested in collaborating with us, drop us a line! We LOVE expanding our team. <3
Language work is not very lucrative, and that’s fine -- we’ll do the work anyway because it’s necessary. But any donation helps us get to a place where we can focus on building instead of stressing about money.
Wado nigad!

















