Five ninety Bible. Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome,
welcome, welcome. It's time now for our community connection. On K
one, the one you trust and standing by. We have the Principal Chief
of Cherokee and Agent Chuck Hoskin Junior. Good morning, Chief, how are
you doing today? He tom and doing great well. You know you've been
kind of busy, of course you always are, but summertime is no exception
for the Chief. You are just down the road from us here, so
to speak, in Bartelsville at the BA clinic last week. Tell us a
little bit about Yeah, we like to celebrate when communities show progress, and
of course that happens a lot in the Barnsville area. The VA putting in
a clinic there in the area is a boost for everybody, and we just
wanted to have some folks there to celebrate. I actually couldn't make it,
but our local council member Dour Patskowski, as always, was there, and
our Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Cee Critten was there, and so any veterans
that are listening. In addition to having that wonderful VA clinic there in Bartlesville,
we welcome all veterans in Talent Wall, Tom to come see our Veteran
Center. So if they happen to be in talc Wall, they're always welcome
in our veteran center. Any veteran. Well, you know, healthcare has
been a big thing with Cherokee Nation, not only you know with COVID,
but even beforehand, it's kind of been a cornerstone of your tenures. Chief.
Yeah. Absolutely, healthcare is I think the most important thing that anybody
or any family thinks about, the outside of caring and loving for their family,
is are we going to be healthy? Do we have access to healthcare?
And so we do a range of things at the Cherokee Nation and the
people there in the Basil area. You know that down the road in ocean
An, we've got that wonderful facility, and you can go across the region
Tom and see our presence. But of course we're continuing to build in Tallequall,
we've got a hospital that's underway. It is a massive project, Tom.
In fact, anyone in the commercial construction business right now can find opportunities
to help build this four hundred million dollars healthcare center because we really need all
hands on deck. There's a website by the way, Thomas and whether you're
a handyman wanting to fix an elder's home or you're wanting to help build this
largest in Indian country hospital, Cherokee bits dot org, Cherokee bits dot org.
Everything's there to do business with the Cherokee Nation, and we do a
lot of business. Indeed, you do. I understand that you've contributed quite
mightily do the NSUE School of Optometry, and you attend to that groundbreaking recently
too. The ad is a great success story. So back in nineteen seventy
nine, this is just a great visionary work by a really state of Oklahoma
and education leaders. Back in nineteen seventy nine they founded the Northeastern State University
what they call the Oklahoma College of Optometry. Since then, that's school developed
such a reputation where it is one of the top optometry doctoral programs in the
United States. In fact, there's only twenty three in the United States,
only one in the state of Oklahoma, and it's right in our capital city
of taalok Wall. Now, the Cherokee connections Number one is that it's at
NSUE, which of course has its roots with the Cherokee Nation. But since
nineteen seventy nine we've had this great partnership, so we've been able to care
for a lot of our people in terms of eye care with a partnership with
NSU. So over the years, lots of Cherokees have gone in and gotten
their initial eye exam by one of these NSU students who are learning to be
eye doctors. And that's a great partnership. So that's the reason that we
went in with five millions, what is overall thirty three million dollars new school.
They deserve a new school because where they are right now at NSU is
a well cared for building. Come, but it's an old building. It's
it's the fact that used to be the Indian hospital in Taalok Wall, the
original Hastings and that is really out lived the usefulness as a school. So
they're looking forward to that and we were happy to partner. One added bonus
though, come is that through this partnership, there's going to be a full
scholarship, full tuition and fees for a Cherokee student over the next five years.
So we're going to have more Cherokee optometrist as a result of this.
Well, there you go. I like that. It sounds great. Also,
Trek Kinnahan has been busy with the USDA grant for WICK. Tell us
a little bit about that. Yeah, you know, our partnership overall with
USDA has just grown and grown, and tom USDA is a massive agency and
it touches lots of aspects of the economy and people's lives. This is a
particularly important project though WICK. People that may go to the grocery store may
see certain foods or WICK eligible and many many listeners may have been on WICK
at one time. So this is for really for low income moms. And
and the point of this grant, which was a million dollar USDA grant,
was how can we do more outreach to our WICK participants, how can we
get more eligible people participating? Now, keep in mind time we run a
WIK program, but everybody's eligible. We just happen to be the ones that
administer a WICK program in the region. The state administers one too. So
this is a win for everybody because the statistics show, the studies show that
the more people that are low income that get on WICK, the better they
do from a health and nutrition standpoints. We're talking about the earliest years of
a young person a baby. They're going to be better off if they're low
income if they have access to better food. So this million dollar grant will
help us do outreach. And then as an added bonus, we have a
new program where we're giving an incentive to go to farmer's market. Now,
not everybody can reach a farmer's market, Tom, but if you're a WICK
participant this summer, you've got an opportunity to get a farmer's Market voucher.
If a chair connection with participants, just one more way we can give access
to better nutrition, and we're doing that through our program. People going to
visit our Cherokee dot org page and find out more about our wid program.
Jeeve Hoskin, I understand that you're eighteen thirty nine. Cherokee Meat Company is
now accepting SNAP benefits. That's right, so access to good proteins. We're
talking about beef. We're also talking about getting into processing and advising at some
point, Tom, but we're going to keep growing this meat processing plant.
People can go to Talle, call to our facility and purchase it. But
if you've got SNAP benefits, that's what we used to call the food Stamp
program, people can access that that tom is really going to be key to
our future's Cherokee people because it's economically good. I mean, this plant is
just really growing and we're having to really strategize about the future of this facility.
But it's also good for nutrition. It's good for all of us to
have a locally sourced and supplied beef and other other proteins. So it's really
good for everybody. I think we're living in an era tom in which the
few big meat producers in this country, you know, there's a concentration of
that. We saw a big bottleneck during COVID. I think we're going to
be in an era, thankfully, in which that is diversified. You've got
a lot more smaller producers, certainly Cherokee Nation compared to the big corporate monsters
as a smaller producer. But really, this is a story I hope people
continue to follow because it's really good for everybody to have another producer in the
region. We take a lot of pride in it, you know, Chief.
Every now and then I go past to your town of Nita, because
I play music all over the place, and I've been up in Miami and
Grove and that place called Monkey Island, I guess, but I keep seeing
the travel center, the welcoming Center. Is that? What are the hours
on that? Because I think I'm going there and it's a little bit closed.
I want to stop. Yeah, well it's it's it's a it's a
it's a nine to five operation, as I recall, uh and it's uh
and and I think there's a I think it has some hours on Saturday as
well, which is also great because it's right on Root sixty six. And
we have, of course the stable attractions there, which is our gifts shop
and in our gallery. But from time to time we have different events.
Recently we had this wonderful ribbon Skirt fashion show which drew a lot of people.
We've had different artists in residence type galleries in the facility. So if
you live in the region, it's something to go to from time to time.
But if you're traveling across the country, it's another reason to stop in
Oklahoma, spend some time, and let's face it, Tom spend a few
dollars. That's what we also want them to do because dollars in this region
and tourism that is a real factor in the economy, and we like to
play our role in it. So it's a great place that they're on Root
sixty six, just off I forty four. They need to exit, tom
if you've lived around, they need as long as I had. You know
it as the old country clubs. If you tell people the old country Club
and Benita, they know where that is. Yeah, it's changed, It
has changed remarkably. It ever looks so good, and that is absolutely true.
But I will try to get over there a little bit earlier so I
could make that a part of my little quest over there every now and then.
I'm trying to make some extra cash. Anyway, it's always great to
have you on board. We understand that you've been doing some things with roads
and even in your capital city of Telliqua. People don't always understand that the
Cherokee Nation are partners with local governments as well. You helped them out with
a with a fire truck down there. We have so one of the things
we did when we built the or we decided to build a high hospital.
It's a four story building. What we realized and what the local fire department
mentioned to us is hey, by the way, chief, we don't have
a fire truck that can go up four stories in the town of Taliquaw and
so we were glad to help. Of course, it's it's a win win
because we have to have fire protection. But it turns out that that you
know, really I think it's a multimillion dollars fire truck. That fire truck
turns out to be good for everybody because it lowers the ratings that we have
to determine our insurance rates in this area. So that's a win. But
you know, that's on top of tom about thirteen million dollars, nearly fourteen
million dollars that we're providing two first responders and public safety through our Public Safety
Partners program. This is a one time program, but these this means that
fire departments, police department, sheriff's departments, in emergency nine one one EMS,
departments, ambulance services. They're getting up to fifty thousand dollars right now,
which checks are going out the door to equipment so that the firetruck catches
the news because it's a big investment. But hey, y'all, and with
the region, we're helping because we're all in this together when it comes to
first responding. What I could tell you our county Commissioners appreciate the partnerships that
have been formed with Cherokee Nation. It seems like every couple of weeks or
so we keep hearing about new partnerships or a new agreements and memorandum is of
understanding and all. What it means is that we're working hand in hand with
each other. That's right, that's right, and we love it and we'll
get a lot done that way, and it takes care of a lot of
business. Hey, what's on the future. I know what's coming up.
It's the big national holiday. Is it too early to tell folks about that?
It's never too early to talk about the cheregy national holiday, because the
people are planning to visit, particularly planning to book a room. The clock
is taking because tom is you know, one hundred thousand plus people to send
on Teleclaw a town still of about seventeen thousand people for the cheery national holiday.
But it's a great time. The Labor Day weekend and multiple days of
events. We've got an inter tribal powow. We've got you know, some
civic activities such as the State of the Nation address, which I'll be proud
to deliver again. We've got cultural activities. We've got people selling wonderful Cherokee
arts and crafts. So I'm just scratching the surface on lost you can do.
But what people can go to our Cherokee National Holiday website. I could
rattle off a lot of websites. One of my favorites I always mentioned here,
Tom, that was a visit Cherokee Nation. That's the hub of all
cultural tourism, including that Cherokee National Holiday. So Tom, it's never too
really to talk about it. It's the end of this summer. We're looking
forward to it, and folks who can't visit in person, we still have
a lot of stuff that we put on non social media in the Internet.
I like a day, Folcus, is that you're not going to get bored
because there's always something to see, something to do, something to enjoy,
something to learn, something to eat, something to drink, and then plenty
of room to walk around. Now. I don't know if you still do
this or not, but this, this I think was in the early two
thousands. First time we were we were there, they had the Cherokee Nation
World Series of Softball. You know, we still do a softball tournament,
and I love that we still have a softball tournament and it's one of the
one of the favorites. Uh. You know, our creatures, a car
culture is a growing and evolving tom and so you know today it's in this
air, it's inclete softball. So there you go. And it was just
one of the things I said, that was the last thing that I was
thinking I was going to see. I'm sitting this is pretty good. But
you know, by the way you've taken over the the one part of that
one museum, I do believe, or the center that used to be in
private hands in Telentqua. Bring me up to speed on it, because I'm
so we I think we've how to be talking about the Cherokee National History Museum,
and just a brief history. That is the capitol building that our people
built in about the eighteen sixties. As I recall, so middle late nineteenth
century is the era we're talking about. For most of the twentieth century was
in the hands of the state of Oklahoma as a county courthouse. We got
it back, you know, probably a journey chief man Killer's time. But
since then, as we've prospered, we've been able to put some resources into
it. It is a first class museum, Tom, in fact that it
is worth visiting. You disclosed our Cherokee Freedom and Exhibit, which was a
powerful exhibit about the enslavement of people by the Cherokey nation under our laws and
their emancipation and their experience since then. The good news is that exhibit will
travel, and we don't have a full schedule yet. I think tuls is
what we're going to take it next. But in terms of that museum,
and people come to downtown Tlacola, which is just pitt your esque, you've
got to visit that building, even if you are in there in the evening.
Just looking at that building where it minds people, certainly reminds me of
the grit and determination of the Cherokee people and the fact that we are still
here. And so I think it's a great thing to just look at.
And for folks who are curious, once you walk in and you start the
tour, you're going to find out where the Cherokee came from, and that
is an awesome story in and of itself. Absolutely, Hey, Chief,
thank you very much for being with us today. Tom Good as always,
all right, Chief Chuck Hoskin, Junior Principal Chief of Cherokee Nation with US
on Community Connection