TAHLEQUAH, Okla — The Cherokee Nation is officially celebrating its national holiday as it does every year in Tahlequah.
Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner both have 343 days left in their final term in those positions, but they say they're not done yet.
Erika Slade said she and her family live in Coweta and were able to make it to their first-ever State of the Nation address.
“It was life-altering," she said. "I think it was so amazing to be among all of our family.”
Fittingly, this year's theme was "Together", prioritizing unity and "a legacy of community, family and culture".
“To get to hear the State of the Nation, to get to hear everything the Chief and staff as accomplished, to hear the things in the nation we have accomplished together," she said. "I think you get so many different pieces online, but to hear that was really affirming. It is really exciting and we feel very supported and we just can’t wait to continue investing in our own people.”
Slade said she is excited to see the tribe grow even more and improve on its already growing stream of resources.
In his speech, Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. said the Cherokee Nation helped put 4,672 kids through school with scholarship help last year, and plans to help 6,631 by the end of this year.
Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner did say they plan to keep increasing tribal access to branches like healthcare, childcare, school resources, native language development and even substance abuse treatment.
“I think we can at least start a couple of new state-of-the-art child development centers," said Chief Hoskin, Jr. "We certainly need one here in Tahlequah. We've got an opportunity, I think, in Veneta. We've got an opportunity to work with private sector Cherokee citizens who are already operating child care centers or want to start new ones because we really need all hands on deck.”
At last year's State of the Nation, the administration also prioritized healthcare:
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Chief Hoskin, Jr. announced that the nation was able to accomplish some of those goals.
"We built up our healthcare system," he said. "Since 2019, we invested over $1 billion towards that effort. We expanded primary care by 60 percent and expanded access to behavioral health by 350 percent. Our healthcare workforce has grown by 55 percent, and we have more doctors and nurses employed today than any time in the history of the Cherokee Nation."
He also said one of the biggest efforts they accomplished was investing $400 million on the Claremore Health Campus.
The tribe has also invested in preserving and encouraging native art through the Artist Recovery Act.
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"It injected $4 million into our community of Cherokee artists," said Chief Hoskin, Jr. "The ARA helped perpetuate creativity through over 3800 hours of community art classes, and we also purchased more than 600 pieces of art from over 100 artists forever owned in the name of the Cherokee people."
The administration has decided to promote more art in the community.
"Deputy Chief Warner and I propose to make the Artist Recovery Act permanent with the new Artist Resiliency Act, our mission to revitalize language and culture in our time must continue," said Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr.
Deputy Chief Warner echoed the sentiment, saying he plans to make as much of a difference as he can before his term ends.
It’s why he’s excited to open the Cherokee Nation’s Addiction Treatment Facility soon near Tahlequah.
He also said he wants to start a transitional living facility for those recovering.
“You just don't want to throw individuals back out there, you want to give them that hope," said Chief Warner. "Some people, it's different for each person. There's not a an imprinted patent recipe on how somebody heals from addiction. So that time is the key, and we want to give people time. We want to bring those families in.”
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