CATOOSA, OK – Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner recently proposed a plan to target more small business capital to low income and high poverty areas of the tribe’s 7,000 sq. mi. reservation and surrounding counties. Chief Hoskin first announced the concept of “opportunity zones” at his State of the Nation address on August 30 in Tahlequah.
Chief Hoskin provided more details of his administration’s plan to leverage mostly existing tribal and federal loan funds to areas lacking capital investment during the tribe’s 18th annual TERO Certified Indian Owned Business Awards Banquet in Tulsa.
“We have a strong bottom line by many measures, but I suggest those measures are incomplete,” said Chief Hoskin. “We need a new bottom line based on equity so that no community is left behind.”
The plan would designate U.S. Census Bureau tracts as new “Cherokee Opportunity Zones,” based on various factors such as poverty levels, concentration of Cherokee citizens, fluent speakers and existing Cherokee Nation infrastructure. Entrepreneurs starting or expanding small businesses in these areas would have access to direct micro loans from the tribe’s Economic Development Trust Authority and access to the tribe’s new federally backed SSBCI fund, which matches loan funds dollar for dollar.
The Cherokee Opportunity Zone plan, to launch in 2026, would add up to $2 million in new micro loan funds for the new zones, which would be designated in every county of the tribe’s reservation as well as contiguous counties. The tribe would also target more of its on-the-job training funds to small businesses that invest in opportunity zones.
“We know that there are still some communities in the Cherokee Nation where poverty is high, hope is low and there is a feeling among community members that the rest of the world forgot about them,” said Deputy Chief Bryan Warner. “This plan is one more way we can demonstrate that Cherokee Nation did not forget about them and that we want to help these communities succeed.”
