Cherokee Nation has awarded $1.8 million in grants to 34 entities to support access to opportunities to improve public health and wellness, including five in Sequoyah County.
In February Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Deputy Chief Bryan announced the launch of the Public Health and Wellness Partners Grant program, initially funded at $1 million to assist schools, local governments and non-profits with projects that can improve their local community’s public health, such as pilot wellness programs or capital projects to create or enhance access to physical activities.
Chief Hoskin said the volume of impressive applications led to increasing the budget to $1.8 million.
“Our Public Health and Wellness team received so many great applications to further the cause of public health in our communities that we felt compelled to add funds to this great new program,” Chief Hoskin said. “These grants are an investment in healthy living and they are an investments through which we will see a great return.”
Grants ranged from one time operations funding for an initiative to address homelessness in a rural county, to public restroom facilities at municipal parks to a tornado siren in an underserved area.
Sequoyah County awardees include:
• City of Sallisaw, $150,000, for remodel/update of restrooms at Brushy Lake Park
• Gore Elementary PTA, $66,951.99, for materials and resources for Gore Elementary to provide physical activity and education inside and outside the classroom (two phases)
• Marble City Farmers & Art Market, $68,850, for a sustainable community garden with solar panels, fans, restrooms, storage areas, refrigerators/freezers, and water collection for garden
• Marble City Fire Association, $35,087.16, for updated bunker gear of jackets, pants, boots, helmets, gloves, suspenders and nomex hoods, 16 complete sets at $8,771.79 each
• Town of Gore, $10,000, to finish walkway for handicap access to park “These funds are gadugi, the Cherokee word for ‘working together,’ in action,” Deputy Chief Warner said. “I know our Public Health and Wellness team was excited to review all of the submissions and we will all be eager to see how these dollars make a positive local impact.”
The new grant program is funded under the tribe’s Public Health and Wellness Fund Act. Chief Hoskin and Deputy Chief Warner proposed the law in 2021, which was enacted by the Council and provides funds for public health and wellness programs and services using a portion of revenue generated in the tribe’s health system.
PHWFA has funded major capital projects and operations since 2021, including the recently opened Mary (Holland) Carson Wellness Center in Stillwell. The Act also funds separate grants for the tribally affiliated Community and Cultural Outreach participating organizations across the tribe’s reservation and across the United States.
Deputy Secretary of State Canaan Duncan, who helps oversee the new grant program, said the program will return for the tribe’s next fiscal year. He said a number of applicants that did not receive an award this year should consider reapplying.
“Part of the key to our prosperity is that we share our resources with our friends and neighbors,” Duncan said. “Nonprofits and other eligible entities can look forward to the grant returning in December.”
