New VA center in Sequoyah County expands health care capabilities in northeast Oklahoma

America’s veterans, including many Cherokee men and women, committed a portion of their lives to preserving our collective freedoms. They deserve the best possible health care we, as a country, can provide. I am proud the Oklahoma Veterans Commission recently selected the city of Sallisaw, a community in the heart of the Cherokee Nation, for a new state veterans center in Oklahoma. The planned veterans center in Sequoyah County will be located on a 90-acre plot on Sallisaw’s south side for easy accessibility. It will be a great complement to our Redbird Smith Health Center, located nearby.


In fact, the commission’s selection of Sallisaw for the new center will be an excellent addition to the wide range of health advances and investments Cherokee Nation has already made throughout northeastern Oklahoma. We’ve expanded and built new clinics across our 14 counties. Next year we will dedicate a new, 469,000-square-foot health care facility at the W.W. Hastings campus in Tahlequah, and we’ve secured an agreement with the OSU School of Medicine to launch the first-ever medical school on tribal land.


The center is a relocation from Talihina to Sallisaw. The commission could have selected many terrific locations from across our great state, but they chose to be right here in Cherokee Nation. That’s not by accident. Our corporate arm, Cherokee Nation Businesses, stepped up to make investments that made relocation to Sequoyah County viable and attractive for such a move. The leadership of Cherokee Nation Tribal Council members E.O. Smith and Bryan Warner was essential to help form the alliances that made this possible. This outcome is a model for how public-private-tribal partnerships should work. Successful partnerships like this one will only make our entire region stronger and healthier.


The brand-new facility will be constructed and opened within three to five years, and will employ about 275 people, adding a large number of quality jobs that will support economic growth and add to the area’s tax base. Cherokee Nation’s Career Services Department will lend its support to recruit and fulfill the new center’s workforce needs. We know the people of Sallisaw will embrace this new opportunity and be warm and welcoming not just to the veterans and veterans’ families, but to the center’s employees and their families as well.


It is my honor to say that Cherokee Nation supports veterans through many means. Our Cherokee Nation Veterans Center provides a place for veterans of all eras to gather for fellowship. Employees there assist veterans in accessing necessary Veterans Administration benefits. The Cherokee Nation and VA hospitals have an agreement to provide better care for Native veterans by providing primary care and sharing chart information. We provide veterans across our region access to healthy food via a unique partnership with the Eastern Oklahoma Food Bank. Cherokee veterans are honored monthly during Tribal Council meetings, and our annual Cherokee Warrior Flight takes Cherokee veterans to Washington, D.C., to see the memorials built in their honor.


It’s exciting to see our vision at Cherokee Nation for healthier citizens and communities, especially for veterans, is shared by others. We welcome the new VA center at Sallisaw with open hearts and open arms.

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Saving our Cherokee language by identifying fluent speakers

Cherokee Nation is embarking on a huge undertaking: surveying our citizens for an accurate number of fluent Cherokee speakers. Knowing our baseline number of speakers is essential as we continue our aggressive work in Cherokee language revitalization. As of today, our Community & Cultural Outreach department has identified nearly 2,000 fluent speakers. Just a few years back, we estimated that number at about 4,000. We are losing our speakers at an incredibly rapid rate.

Our Cherokee language is sacred, and we have an obligation to save it. It’s a battle we must win. Toward that end, we are investing more than $50,000 to conduct this community survey. Once it is finalized and complete, we can use the data to apply for additional national funding for language preservation programs.

This survey and the information collected are critical steps in growing the Cherokee language.  The vast majority of our fluent speakers are over the age of 60. As those elders pass away, we lose speakers far more quickly than new speakers emerge. Thus, this effort becomes even more urgent, as we know we must identify as many first-language speakers as possible so that they can share their knowledge with a new generation. As part of the survey, Cherokee Nation will award special medallions to the identified fluent Cherokee speakers.

Recently, we hosted our first Cherokee Language Speaking Employee Appreciation Day. It was exciting to see more than 150 fluent Cherokee-speaking employees gather to discuss ways to continue growing the language. All of the tribal government’s various language programs, including the Cherokee Immersion School, the Cherokee Language Master Apprentice program and the Cherokee Translation Department came together to share ideas and look at ways to coordinate efforts.


Our investments in language are having a visible impact. I now see young Cherokee children and even teens who are becoming fluent, something we once thought was gone forever. We are experiencing a true language revival. I believe through our hard work the Cherokee language is regularly heard, seen, appreciated and being used more by all generations.

The Cherokee language is a defining aspect of our culture; it is an integral part of our identity as Cherokee people. If our language disappears, we will be without the core of the vibrant and thriving culture we share from generation to generation.

I commend the commitment and determination of our CCO department and look forward to what this survey will yield in our language efforts. For more information on the identification survey of Cherokee speakers, contact the Cherokee Nation’s CCO department at 918-207-4995.

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Cherokee Nation Angel Project: A brighter holiday for children in need

All children deserve the joy of a bountiful Christmas morning and the experience of tearing open a gift especially selected and wrapped for them. As a father, grandfather and now great-grandfather, it is a tradition I never grow tired of watching. At the Cherokee Nation, we are blessed to have a wonderful program in place for low-income children that ensures they don’t miss out on that magical feeling on Christmas morning.

 

Cherokee Nation’s Angel Project is gearing up to serve thousands of children in need, allowing them the special feeling of knowing there is a present waiting under the Christmas tree for them this holiday season. Last Christmas, almost 2,000 Cherokee children were provided for—kids who might not otherwise have had anything to celebrate on Christmas morning.

 

Our Angel Project started in the early 1990s and has continued to expand each year. It serves Cherokees 16 and younger who reside within our 14-county tribal jurisdiction.

 

The angel tree stands in the lobby of the main tribal complex in Tahlequah, and the paper angels hanging on it represent children in our communities. Each ornament contains a child’s information and his or her Christmas wish list. The children’s needs range from simple necessities like socks, shoes and coats, to the fun toys and games little ones enjoy so much. No matter the gift, we know with your help, we will create a happy holiday memory that will last these children a lifetime.

 

I also want to take this opportunity to thank our generous employees for their participation in the annual program. Every year, I am amazed at how they pull together and ensure all the angels are provided for. And for the team of Cherokee Nation employees who run the Angel Project, it is a massive undertaking. They coordinate this program during one of the busiest times for families, while still keeping up with their regular job duties. Wado, Angel Project staff!

 

The Angel Project runs completely on donations with the assistance of the local community, but it also draws interest far and wide. People throughout the country often send donations, if they aren’t able to travel here to pick up an angel in person.

 

As Christmas draws closer, please help us make sure that every wish of every angel is fulfilled. To adopt an angel, visit the W.W. Keeler Tribal Complex, 17675 S. Muskogee Ave., Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and select an angel ornament off the tree. Presents should be returned unwrapped to our Cherokee FIRST desk in the lobby by Dec. 7. Our staff will wrap and deliver them anonymously to the angel’s family. Additionally, if you want to make a financial donation to the Cherokee Nation Angel Project, please visit www.cherokee.org, scroll to the bottom and click on “Giving to the Cherokee Nation.” You can designate “Angel Project” as your intended recipient.

 

I encourage each of you to find it in your heart to adopt a Cherokee angel, even two or three, if you have the means.

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Remember the Removal Ride builds personal bonds and raises cultural awareness

There is no better education than first-hand experience and Cherokee Nation’s Remember the Removal Ride program is one of the most successful educational programs we have.
 
Each summer a group of young people from Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in Cherokee, North Carolina, team up and retrace on bicycle the Trail of Tears, our ancestors’ removal route from our homelands in the east to modern-day Oklahoma. This is a significant year, as we commemorate the 180th anniversary of the Trail of Tears.
 
This a special group of young people who will retrace our tribe’s route to Oklahoma. The Remember the Removal effort enables some of Cherokee Nation’s strongest emerging leaders to participate in a unique event that is focused on individual growth, teamwork development and, most importantly, sharing Cherokee history and heritage.
 
This is the best classroom I could ever imagine. Riders make stops at museums, gravesites, national parks, churches and other historic sites along the way. The experience reshapes how these young people view life and their heritage. The riders travel about 60 miles per day over a three-week period and pass through seven states: Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
 
It is a grueling journey on a bike, but the struggles on the ride offer greater understanding of what our ancestors experienced along the Trail 180 years ago. An estimated 16,000 Cherokees were forced to make the journey on the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory and more than 4,000 died from exposure, starvation and disease.
 
Remember the Removal ensures our future leaders don’t forget the past and always honor the sacrifices our ancestors made. Our riders serve as ambassadors along the road in the towns they ride through. Since this program was started in the mid-1980s, every participant has dug deep to find untapped reservoirs of strength and perseverance.
 
They ride every day and with every mile, they learn more about the Cherokee experience in America and the true history of our people. We are here today, as the largest tribal government in the country, because of that fortitude.
 
We try to make the ride as public as possible so that followers back home can follow along on social media. Photos and blog posts are updated daily to the Remember the Removal Facebook page at www.facebook.com/removal.ride and on Cherokee Nation’s website at http://remembertheremoval.cherokee.org.
Also, follow along on Twitter and Instagram by searching for the hashtags #RTR2018 and #WeRemember.
 
The 2018 Remember the Removal cyclists are:
 
• Emilee Chavez, 18, Tahlequah, Sequoyah High School
• Daulton Cochran, 21, Bell, Tulsa Community College
• Courtney Cowan, 24, Kansas, Northeastern State University graduate
• Lily Drywater, 21, Tahlequah, Northeastern State University
• Dale Eagle, 23, Tahlequah, Tahlequah High School graduate
• Jennifer Johnson, 48, Oklahoma City, mentor Rider
• Autumn Lawless, 22, Porum, Northeastern State University
• Amari McCoy, 21, Sallisaw, Carl Albert State College
• Parker Weavel, 21, Tahlequah, Northeastern State University
• Sky Wildcat, 22, Tahlequah, Northeastern State University

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The need for Cherokee foster families continues

The month of May is annually Foster Care Awareness Month across the globe, and at Cherokee Nation, we continue to recognize and celebrate the essential role strong families play in creating a secure foundation in our communities.  A safe family home provides the love, identity, self-esteem and support our Cherokee children need to grow into healthy and happy adults.

At Cherokee Nation, we continue to address the issues that have the biggest impacts on our people, including educational opportunities, health care coverage, homeownership and career development. These can affect generations of Cherokees and improve lives. One area we still are in dire need is foster and adoptive families for our Indian Child Welfare program. Our children ensure the continued existence of Cherokee values and heritage. They are our future.

Sadly, across the country, more than 1,550 Cherokee youth are in need of a safe, secure and stable home environment with qualified foster families. Sometimes these beautiful and innocent children simply need a temporary place until family reunification can occur. Other times we need higher degrees of permanency, including the lifetime commitment of adoption.

Right now, we have 108 families certified as Cherokee Nation foster families that are providing care to Cherokee children. Every foster opportunity is a success story for Cherokee Nation. Last year we created a specific family leave policy at Cherokee Nation for employees who foster. I am proud that about 15 staffers have utilized this program in the past 12 months.

Cherokee Nation is lucky to have such dedicated individuals within our ICW department. They look for creative ways to collaborate with state- and faith-based partners to the benefit our tribe. I know they work diligently every day to ensure the protection of our children within our tribal communities.

As Cherokee people, we believe we share in child-rearing practices in accordance with our Cherokee cultural values that children are our most precious resource and they ensure our continued existence as a tribe.

I urge Cherokee Nation citizens, agencies and organizations to keep collaborating to raise awareness for the need of foster families for Cherokee children. And I encourage all those who can to consider becoming a foster parent. Visit www.cherokeekids.org for more information.

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New law incentivizes more home construction within Cherokee Nation’s 14 counties

Legislative success is an essential tool in maximizing the prosperity of Cherokee Nation.  Partnerships with federal, state and local entities enhance our ability to provide essential services to our citizens.


At the state level, we were vocal advocates of House Bill 1334, a recently passed law authored by Cherokee Nation citizen and State Rep. Chuck Hoskin. HB1334 gives school districts with surplus, undeveloped land the ability to transfer that land to a tribal housing authority.


This new law will enable tribal housing authorities, including Cherokee Nation’s New Home Construction Program, to build affordable single- or multi-family homes for tribal citizens, while benefitting the local school district.


Previously, state law required schools to sell land for fair-market value; however, some public schools, particularly rural schools, have surplus land that is difficult to sell on the market. While this property often offers no value to school districts, it will enable tribal housing authorities to build quality homes at a low cost for tribal citizens. Cherokee Nation can develop the property for real growth that benefits local communities, Cherokee families and the school district itself.


The Cherokee Nation Housing Authority builds quality three- and four-bedroom, single-family brick homes, each with a monthly payment of about $350, which includes taxes and insurance. Since 2012, we have built more than 660 of these homes. This program has also put Cherokees and our neighbors to work by creating 35,156 job opportunities for local contractors throughout northeast Oklahoma. HB1334 further increases our ability to build more homes.


The real advantage for local school districts will be in the form of additional revenue, as $2,800 per student will annually go to the school via Federal Impact Aid. School districts will be able to take advantage of this new law by collecting this aid for each student living in the homes constructed by the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation.


Additional impact aid revenue could lead to reduced class sizes, more teachers, newer textbooks and improved facilities. This desperately needed funding, through federal education dollars into Cherokee Nation’s 14 counties, will drastically enhance the educational experience our children receive.


Our partnership with public education in northeast Oklahoma continues to advance in creative and mutually beneficial ways. HB1334 presents yet another opportunity for tribes and schools to collaborate.


Cherokee Nation is a proud partner with the state of Oklahoma. We will continue to champion legislation like HB1334 that creates solutions our state needs to leverage tribal investments and improve the quality of life for all Oklahomans.

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Addressing food insecurity for veterans in northeast Oklahoma

Cherokee Nation is steadfastly committed to our military veterans, those men and women who have sacrificed so much for our tribe, our country and our collective freedoms. Recently, we established a formal partnership with the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma to help ensure these real-life heroes do not suffer from hunger and food instability. Nobody in Oklahoma, especially a military veteran, should go hungry.


This collaboration, which is the first time a tribal government has been involved with this local food bank program, means regular access to healthy and nutritious foods, and that will translate to better and fuller lives. It is a blessing that we are able to help, and it is the least we can do for those who have done so much for us.


This endeavor will launch a mobile food pantry to the Cherokee Nation Veterans Center quarterly. The first distribution of 10 pallets — about 10,000 pounds of food — will be May 29. The tribe will help identify and distribute tickets to veterans in need, as well as provide volunteers to help run the mobile pantry. Fresh produce, bakery items and nonperishable food items will be made available for about 125 veterans or widows of veterans.


Today, the Cherokee Veterans Center offers a wide array of activities for veterans. It serves as a place to sign up for benefits, play bingo or attend other activities, and now we are adding a food pantry. It is just one more way we can meet the needs of our people.


The Cherokee Nation continues to look for ways to honor and serve our veteran warriors, and this partnership with the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma is another avenue to reach those in need. Food insecurity is a very real issue for families in northeast Oklahoma, and almost 20 percent of the households the Food Bank serves has a military veteran who resides there and utilizes the program. Additionally, national studies show veterans are affected more by hunger and food insecurity than the general population. Many struggle to put food on the table because of a myriad of issues, from employability after service to mental health and related trauma or an unwillingness to seek help.


Collaborating with the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma means we are increasing and expanding its coverage and furthering its mission. Just like Cherokee Nation, the food bank wants to provide for our veterans so that they have what they need to prosper.


The Cherokee Nation also offers a food distribution program, which some veterans may also qualify for. For more information on the Cherokee Nation Veterans Center and food pantry, call 918-772-4166.

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