Guest opinion. The beating heart of Cherokee culture is when we can come face to face with other Cherokees, valuing and learning from each other from generation to generation. Cherokee Nation is committed to keeping this culture alive, including making significant investments in rural community centers. The recent grand openings of new community centers in Marble City in Sequoyah County and Kenwood in Delaware County are cornerstones of our renewed efforts to support Cherokee families where they live and work.
This week we celebrated Kenwood’s grand opening of the Woody Hair Community Center. The expansive 30,000-square-foot facility is designed to meet a variety of needs for the nearly 26,000 Cherokee citizens who live nearby, from Cherokee elders to our youngest citizens. The $21 million building will be a future gathering point and source of unity and pride for the community, including a senior nutrition program, a Head Start childcare facility, spaces for traditional games and more.
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At Kenwood, we’ve also been working to expand Wi-Fi and Internet access so Cherokees can stay close to their families and communities while still participating in the broader world. Our successful partnership with AT&T allows young students to study from home, seniors to see a doctor remotely, and small business owners to take orders online. Kenwood is just the beginning, as we have identified fifteen more areas across the 7,000-square-mile Cherokee Nation reservation to improve connectivity.
Likewise, the Marble City Community Center, which opened its doors in late May, is a testament to our infrastructure improvement strategy across the 14 counties we call home. The $10 million, 22,800-square-foot facility now includes a clothing center, food pantry, wellness areas, education spaces, new playground equipment and a basketball court. These facilities will support both the physical and cultural health of Sequoyah County and provide valuable space for Cherokee scholarship.
The new centers are beacons of hope. They provide safe, beautiful and permanent spaces for the community to come together. By investing in these rural areas, the Cherokee Nation is not only improving the quality of life for Cherokees for generations to come, but also protecting the continuity of Cherokee culture and values found in these close-knit communities. These are communities that many people have forgotten, but the Cherokee Nation never will.
By working with Deputy Chief Bryan Warner and the Council of the Cherokee Nation, we have shown the state and country a powerful example of how Cherokee Nation can uplift our citizens, live our values and build a prosperous future. These centers are more than just buildings. They will be the heart and soul of traditional Cherokee communities.
Chuck Hoskin, Jr. is the chief of the Cherokee Nation.
