First, this chapter locates heritage language policy and planning (HLPP) within the broader context of traditional language planning and policy (LPP). Much of the focus for HLPP falls under the conventional domain of acquisition planning, which generally relates to educational language planning. Next, the chapter presents a typology of language policy orientations and considers their implications for HLPP. The chapter then revisits the influential work of Ruíz regarding the language-as-resource policy orientation which has been especially prominent in HLPP advocacy. Next, a discussion follows of major historical ideological shifts that have affected policy for heritage language (HL) communities within the US historical context. The chapter then revisits contemporary HLPP advocacy and reviews recommendations for promoting macro K-university policies that could encompass HLPPs. Lastly, the chapter concludes that the ongoing legacies of restrictive ideologies of the past need to be confronted as we strive to foster more inclusive engagement with HL communities of the present to ensure successful policymaking.

Nation-states are key players in the design and implementation of language policy. Language communities can rarely fully decide the future of their language, but they often have their own strategies to revive and strengthen their language. This chapter defines top-down and bottom up language policies, exemplifying how they may be implemented in different types of language planning (corpus, status, prestige and acquisition planning). It identifies issues that may arise in dealing with policy makers. Language rights are supported by various international legal instruments (such as the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages and the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights) and activists may refer to these for support, although appeals to such charters have rarely been successful in law. The capsule presents the Mexican Indigenous Language Promotion and Advocacy project (MILPA), a model of community-based language maintenance and advocacy work creating programs that foster language maintenance, multi-literacy, social justice, and Indígena pride.