Two Oklahoma tribes are among sixteen finalists for the American Tribal Governance Awards, an annual event recognizing outstanding work in Native American government.
The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government picks the cream of the crop from the 550 Indian tribes in the country.
"Honoring Nations is grounded in and inspired by the Harvard Project's seventeen years of research and legwork, which consistently finds that tribal success in economic, social and cultural spheres depends, to a large extent, on tribes' ability to function as self-governing political entities," said program director Andrew Lee, a member of the Seneca Tribe.
The sixteen finalists were picked from a pool of 114 applicants. Officials say contestants are judged by the effectiveness, significance, creativity and sustainability of the programs.
The Oklahoma tribes vying for the award are the Cherokee Nation's National Children's Choir and the Chickasaw Nation's Chuka Chukmasi Home Loan Program. The choir was started in 2000 and has performed at venues all over the country, using music to educate people about the Cherokee language. The home loan program was launched in 1998 to generate home ownership among the Chickasaws. 200 people have purchased homes through Chuka Chukmasi.
Eight of the 16 winners will be selected. Each winner receives $10,000. Results will be announced in November.
The other finalists are:
-The Gila River Indian Community's Assuring Self-Determination through an Effective Law Enforcement Program.
-The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indian's Community Injury Prevention Program.
-The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation's Cultural Resources Protection Program.
-The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indian's Family Violence and Victim's Services.
-The Gila River Indian Community's Gila River Telecommunications, Inc.
-The Lac Courte Oreilles Bank of Lake Superior Chippewa Indian's Honoring our Ancestors: The Chippewa Flowage Joint Agency Management Plan.
-The Organized Village of Kake's Circle Peacemaking Program.
-The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin's Community Center of Chicago.
-The Navajo Nation's Na'Nizhoozi Center.
-The Navajo Nation's Corrections Project.
-The Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation's Northwest Intertribal Court System.
-The 43 federally recognized tribes of Oregon, Washington and Idaho's Northwest Portland Indian Health Board.
-The Tulalip Tribe's Quil Ceda Village.
-The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe's Trust Resource Management Program
Reprinted with permission from the Native American Times www.okit.com
