CATOOSA, OK – The Cherokee Nation held its annual Community & Cultural Outreach (CCO) Conference at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tulsa, drawing nearly 900 attendees from more than 75 participating organizations across the Cherokee Nation Reservation and the country. The two-day event featured breakout sessions, panels, networking, keynote remarks from Cherokee Nation leadership, and an awards banquet for community groups and organizers.
“Our history tells us that Cherokees have always organized at the grassroots level, before our government was nationalized in the 1800s, we operated exclusively in tight-knit communities, even with an estimated population of two million,” said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. “We ought to invest into the grassroots community efforts and not administer our government and culture from the top down. Organizing through CCO groups and providing a formal structure to historic lifeways tells the Cherokee government where we need to invest and share in the joy of being Cherokee.”
Deputy Secretary of State Duncan delivered keynote remarks on the first day, emphasizing that community organizing has been a continuous tradition within the Cherokee Nation since the 18th and 19th centuries.
The CCO program supports Cherokee community organizations by providing educational and technical assistance, helping groups secure and administer funding, and fostering partnerships across the reservation and at-large communities. Attendees this year included representatives from the Cherokees of Northern Central Valley in Sacramento and the Neighborhood Association of Chewey, who participated in sessions on leadership development, cultural enrichment, and grant writing.
The CCO budget has grown from approximately $2.7 million in fiscal year 2018 to a proposed $10 million-plus in fiscal year 2027. The Cherokee Nation supports CCO organizations through Public Health and Wellness grants, cultural and language programming, community gardens, health events, walking trails, and nutrition initiatives, among other categories.
Since 2019, under the Hoskin administration’s Housing, Jobs and Sustainable Communities Act, the Cherokee Nation has built 10 new community buildings and expanded or remodeled more than 20 others, with additional construction planned. A community organizing task force led by Deputy Secretary of State Duncan has identified additional needs, and the administration has begun implementing recommendations that include new grants, expanded existing grants, and additional field technical assistance staff. The tribe has also installed 15 generators in community buildings over the past year as part of a nearly $1.3 million grant program.
The Cherokee Nation currently has 89 CCO participating organizations on the reservation and at-large.
