Mohegan Challenge Grant Application

As part of the Mohegan Tribe's commitment to education, the Challenge Grant has helped support Connecticut Teachers' goals of introducing curriculum to address issues of Native American history, traditions, and culture, along with Tribal government and sovereignty for over 20 years.

Learn more about the Mohegan Challenge Grant here, or apply by completing the form below. Applications will be accepted from October 18, 2023 through December 20, 2023. 

Note: If chosen as a Challenge Grant Winner, Professional Development with your school or grade-level team can be planned at any time. An outreach program to your school can be planned between February-June 2024. The Tantaquidgeon Museum field trip can be planned between April-June 2024. The number of students and chaperones may not exceed 40 for a field trip.

Please provide a brief description of your program proposal for the Mohegan Tribe Challenge Grant.

• Specify how you will incorporate at least 3 selected themes with your students in your Spring/Fall Semester instruction. 
• Grades 3-8: Oral tradition and storytelling, resources of the land, resources of the river, Mohegan leaders past and present, 13 Mohegan moons, seasons and dwellings in the Mohegan village, Mohegan cultural ways.
• Grades 9-12: Tribal sovereignty, government, oral tradition and storytelling, resources of the land and river, Mohegan leaders past and present, seasons and dwellings in the Mohegan village, important Mohegan historic locations, current events in Indian Country, Mohegan cultural ways.

• Explain how a one-hour outreach program with a representative of the Mohegan Tribe to your school can benefit your classroom.
• How will your classroom utilize the field trip to the Tantaquidgeon Museum and the online resource collection?
• To help your school meet the needs of the CSDE mandate to integrate Native American Studies into the classroom, the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Mohegan will lead a 2–3-hour professional development session with educators at your school. This could be structured as a whole school, grade level team, grade bands, departments, etc. Please explain what this could look like and how it could benefit the instruction at your school. 
• Explain [briefly] how $1,000 to fund educational materials for the classroom can benefit your program proposal and enrich your current Native American curriculum.
• Explain the timeline for your program.