ga-du-giINVESTING IN YOUTH 2013
PHOTO CREDIT: HEATHER JAMES
herokee Preservation Foundation works to preserve our native culture, enhance our natural environ- Cment and create appropriate and diverse economic opportunities – in order to improve the quality of life for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) and strengthen Western North Carolina. rough the investment in the Foundation made possible by Page 2 GROWING INTO LEADERS e Cherokee Youth the Tribal Gaming Compact, tribal members, EBCI organiza- Council has become a model for other youth organizations tions and partners have been a vital part of the Cherokee Preser- in the region. vation Foundation’s impact on cultural preservation, economic Page 6 PASSING THE TORCH – e Snowbird and Big Cove sum- development and environmental preservation e orts. mer camps are teaching Cherokee youth to speak their native Since 2002, the Foundation has made 783 grants valued at language, and putting them in a position to teach it to others. more than $61 million. is sum, combined with matching Page 10 TRAVELLING THROUGH TIME e Cherokee Trails grants and resources provided by other organizations, has cre- program is changing how Cherokee history, culture and ated a bene t to our communities worth over $150 million. geography can be taught. In the 2013 ga-du-gi report to our community, we focus on Page 14 REVERSING OUR YOUTH MIGRATION An entrepreneur- some of the investments the Foundation has made in youth ship curriculum will be be implemented at schools to give on the Qualla Boundary and in the surrounding region. In young people a means to stay and prosper in our region. total, our youth investments are valued at more than $9.25 million. We hope you will enjoy these stories:
1 GROWING into Leaders
Cherokee Youth Council members learn about traditional gardening methods at Kituwah Mound.
SKY KANOTT
hen Hannah Ledford rst joined the Cherokee Youth Council two years ago at age 13, she Wnever said a word in a Youth Council meeting. But the minute the meeting was over, she would approach Sky Kanott, the Cherokee Youth Council Coordinator, and all sorts of wonder- ful ideas poured out of her. Two years and dozens of experiences later, Hannah has opened up. She freely shares her ideas with the other 40 members of the Youth Council – and she works hard to build support for those concepts because everyone in the group has to want to do something before the Youth Council will take it up. Her experience is one of many remarkable stories of Cherokee Youth Council members growing up both quickly and well.
2 e Cherokee Youth Council was estab- e Youth Council’s activities are wide- Hannah Ledford lished in 2007 to bring back the valued ranging and extensive. Recently, for ex- and Simon Monte- voice of youth that was the tradition in the ample, EBCI members Dakota Brown, longo are among the days of the Cherokee Grand Council and Kevin Jackson and Tim Swayney, have 40 Cherokee Youth enable youth to serve their community and been teaching the youth traditional dances Council members develop leadership skills. In 2011, Youth and stomps, and lessons are followed by whose communica- Council members established the Seven conversations about Cherokee culture. tion and leadership skills have grown by Clans Grant Council (SCGS), which ac- Many of the youth’s e orts focus on the leaps and bounds, cepts youth-written grant applications for promotion of healthy lifestyles. One major according to Sky youth-led projects on the Qualla Bound- initiative is the Seven Clans Grant Council, Kanott (center), ary. Sky Kanott, just three years removed which makes grants up to $2,000 dollars, the Youth Council from college herself, says the maturation of with priority given to youth-led projects Coordinator. the Youth Council members “is just crazy on the Qualla Boundary that address drug to see.” “Twelve to eighteen-year olds are learn- ing how to make grants, which requires understanding budgets and a lot of other things,” she said. “And all their Youth Council activities require being able to develop consensus for their ideas and public speaking, both at Tribal Council and at national conferences such as United National Indian Tribal Youth (UNITY). Each young man and woman has changed tremendously through their involvement in the Youth Council and their leadership skills have become awesome. ey are growing in every way possible.” Before the Cherokee Youth Council was created, young people on the Qualla Boundary longed for the means to come together with other youth who wanted to have fun and opportunities to be part of their community. Cherokee Preserva- tion Foundation developed the concept for the Cherokee Youth Council, in part to address the needs of Cherokee youth, but also to help the EBCI develop the leadership skills of its future leaders. e Foundation provided initial funding and has given nancial and other support ever since, and the EBCI Cooperative Exten- OCUMMA O sion Program has provided supervisory RENDA support and space for the Youth Council. B
3 what makes the accomplishment even more noteworthy is that Simon is 15 and most of the national board members are 18. After Youth Council members connected at UNITY with Chief Swag (a.k.a. Jef- frey Duarte) a hip-hop artist and advocate for a drug- and alcohol-free lifestyle, they invited him to Cherokee in the past year to present a free concert to local youth, and 300 attended. e concert could be free because Youth Council members had con- ducted silent auctions and other fundrais- ing activities to pay for him to come. ANOTT
K Now the Youth Council members have KY S come up with their biggest healthy lifestyle Chief Swag (a.k.a. and alcohol addiction, suicide, disease and idea so far. ey want to start a local gro- Jeffrey Duarte), a illness, abuse, poverty and homelessness. cery store that will provide locally grown hip-hop artist and Before the SCGC could begin making meat and produce to tribal members who advocate for a drug- grants, the youth had to create a grant have diabetes. e concept is so important and alcohol-free application process that includes funding to them that they have gone through an lifestyle, presented guidelines, grant selection methods, grant Indianpreneurship class at the Sequoyah a free local concert monitoring policies and grant evaluation Fund to prepare them to develop a after the Cherokee measurements. business plan. Youth Council raised e Cherokee Youth Council has also Hannah Ledford is excited to be learning funds to bring him to facilitated a community conversation about how to run a business. “ e grocery Cherokee. about teen pregnancy by creating a video store idea is helping a lot of members see on the topic, recruiting members, friends how we could start businesses after col- and family members to give their testimo- lege,” she said. “It gives us a really good nies about the impact of teen pregnancy career option.” on their lives. Youth Council members In its early years, the Cherokee Youth Right: e Chero- learned how to work behind and in Council put most of its energy into its Go kee Youth Council front of a camera, and then they Green Team, which expanded recycling created a uniquely learned how to excel in front of on the Qualla Boundary and made a Cherokee spin on re- a big crowd, presenting their big di erence through community cycling by putting the lm to approximately education, getting 1,000 recy-recy traditional Cherokee 1,000 native youth at cling bins into EBCI governgovern- symbol that means the UNITY conference. ment buildings and 2,000 “endless” on recycling Simon Montelongo was reusable shopping bags out into bins and reusable elected to represent the the community. e traditional shopping bags. Southeast Area Caucus at the Cherokee symbol meaning “endless” 2012 UNITY conference, making that the Go Green Team put on the him the rst EBCI member to serve recycling bins and the reusable bags put a on UNITY’s national board. Kanott says uniquely Cherokee spin on the e ort.
4 Youth in Haywood, Jackson, Swain, Clay, the councils plan to undertake a joint Macon, Graham, Clay and Cherokee project that addresses an important counties have paid close attention to the regional issue. Cherokee Youth Council, and today, each “ e youth came together to network at of these counties has its own youth coun- the Summit, and each council wore a dif- cil, with support from Cherokee Preserva- ferent color of t-shirt,” Kanott said. “At tion Foundation and county-based orga- rst, the kids clustered with kids from their nizations such as 4-H. All of them focus own council, but before long, colors were at least partially on environmental sustain- mixed throughout the room and you could ability projects. tell everyone was making new friends. Eight youth councils In November, members of the Cherokee Youth from the newer councils told the came together at a Youth Council and the seven county Youth Cherokee kids they admire how we’ve built recent Regional Youth Councils came together at the fourth an- our program around our culture. ey Council Summit, with nual Regional Youth Council Summit at asked us how we’ve been able to get to participants wearing Fontana Village Resort. e sixty youth where we are today, and as we told them, dedicated the Summit to the ght against the members of the Cherokee Youth t-shirts in different bullying, honoring the late Damien Heater Council are a family.” colors to demonstrate where they live. of Macon County. In the coming months, A really cool family. ANOTT K KY S
5 PASSING the Torch
Brett Jones aspires to succeed Shirley Oswalt as a teacher of the Cherokee language when he graduates from col- lege, which pleases her greatly.
BRENDA OOCUMMA
n his Facebook page, Western Carolina University freshman Brett Jones writes that he is a teach- Oing assistant at the Cherokee Language Summer Camp in Snowbird and that “my future job, when I get out of college, will be to be the big teacher (:” If that ambition comes to pass, the big teacher, Shirley Oswalt, will be thrilled. Oswalt is a native Cherokee speaker born and raised in Snowbird, and her life’s work is to motivate EBCI members to be speakers of their native lan- guage and give them the tools to succeed. She has spent many years teaching the Cherokee language at Robbinsville High School and at evening classes and summer camps in Snowbird. Restoring uency in the Cherokee language is crucially important. Doing so will reverse the impact of actions imposed on Native Americans decades ago, when Native American children were sent to boarding schools and
6 OIE V A L IKE M forbidden to speak their native language. Bird monitoring at is policy has led to the situation faced to- Cowee Mound has day by the Cherokee and many other tribes: become a highlight native speakers are few and the language is at of the Snowbird and risk of fading away. Big Cove culture and language camps. Revitalizing the Cherokee language is a criti- cal component of the mission of the Chero- kee Preservation Foundation. It has invested signi cant resources in multiple activities, including the immersion program o ered by the Kituwah Academy that enables children to learn Cherokee as their rst language, as well as e orts in EBCI communities to teach Cherokee as a second language. e sum-
mer language and cultural camps o ered in ANUS M the Snowbird and Big Cove communities – C M
and this year in Robbinsville at a new camp EDI T
7 language further,” said Oswalt. “I want the kids to be proud of what they know. When you know something that gives you pride, you usually want to know more.” So starting in June, approximately 25 children and teens will be arriving at Robbinsville High School every weekday for six weeks to learn and have fun at the Snowbird camp. ey will absorb funda- mental concepts in the Cherokee language, including vocabulary, colors, numbers, animals, family members’ names and basic conversation, and they will acquire enough knowledge to be able to write short stories using the Cherokee syllabary. ELLEME B
IKE Much of their language discovery will M come from learning rst-hand about their organized by the cultural traditions during some unique Graham County eld trips. By participating in an annual Indian Education IVER bird survey at the Cowee Mound, for R program – are im- example, campers become familiar with portant parts of the native bird species, the Cherokee names
UCKASEGEE Cherokee language
T for these birds and the Cowee Mound.
THE revitalization e ort.
OF On another eld trip, the children learn eir many sup- porters, in addition about sh and the way they were once to the Foundation, caught. e Cherokee used sh weirs, SSOCIATION
A include the Kitu- v-shaped man-made constructions of rocks wah Preservation that directed the sh into a central loca-
ATERSHED and Education tion, where the larger sh were collected W Program, EBCI and the smaller sh were allowed to pass Learning the Cherokee Parks & Recreation, Western Carolina through the rocks. language is the central University’s Cherokee Studies program, e grand nale of the Snowbird camp purpose of the sum- the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, the experience is a dramatic play. Each year, mer camps. Sometimes Junaluska Museum, the Snowbird Library, Mary Brown, who helps Oswalt teach language discovery the Graham County Indian Education Cherokee and run the camp, writes a new comes from learn- Program, the Knights of the Round Table play based on a tribal legend. Last year, ing about cultural Youth Council in Graham County and elders took on some of the larger speaking traditions such as fish Graham County Schools. roles for the rst time, allowing the audi- weirs. One hat that Shirley Oswalt wears is ence to enjoy more complex conversations. head teacher and organizer of Snowbird Brown serves as narrator and provides Language and Culture Camp, which she enough English translations that everyone helped establish in 2007. “My goal for the understands what is going on. camp “is to teach what I can in six week “It’s good for the community to see el- and then have the kids want to pursue the ders speaking the language,” said Oswalt.
8 “ ey learn what we can accomplish if we being measured, too. e Snowbird camp keep building on our Cherokee language was the rst program to use a uency as- program.” sessment tool developed in 2010 by part- Restoring tribal Children are not only learning the lan- ners of the Cherokee Language Revitaliza- members’ fluency in guage, but their improved pro ciency is tion initiative. Understanding the progress being made is important. the Cherokee lan- guage is why native ree years from now, Oswalt would like Cherokee speak- to be able to transition from teaching to ers such as Myrtle translating more books into Cherokee to Driver (below) and help teachers develop their lessons, so she is Shirley Oswalt have keeping an eye on the progress Brett Jones dedicated so much of is making in college and his career goals. their time and effort How would she respond if the young man’s to summer language ELLEME
B goals remain unchanged and he’s ready to and cultural camps IKE take her place in three years, she is asked. M in the Big Cove and “Praise the lord,” Oswalt said. Snowbird communi- ties, respectively.
9 TRAVELLING through Time EBCI Tribal Historical Preservation Officer Russ Townsend (left) and Lamar Marshall of Wild South have worked together to identify ancient Cherokee trails that are the basis of Cherokee cultural geography.
BRENDA OOCUMMA
project begun several years ago to map ancient Cherokee trails has led to priceless bene ts for Amembers of the EBCI, and for people everywhere who want to understand the rich history of the Cherokee people in the southern Appalachian mountains. For example, thanks to the magic of Google Earth, virtual tours of Cherokee trails and towns in the 17th and 18th centuries are now available, and soon the tours are expected to have added features such as realistic 3-D renditions of Cherokee homes and gardens. Wild South is a Western North Carolina-based conservation organization that has 20 years of experience in protecting cultural resources on public lands in the South, with a focus on land conservation and cultural heritage. rough its
10 work with the Southeastern Anthological team plans to run on Institute on a Trail of Tears project in 2006, regularly after the trail Wild South’s Cultural Heritage Director, is improved. Lamar Marshall , noticed a lack of research “Healthy Roots and the on ancient Cherokee trails. Cherokee Trails program He reached out to the EBCI Tribal His- have been a natural t,” torical Preservation Oce (THPO), the said Tinker Jenks, Healthy National Park Service and others so that Roots Coordinator. the Cherokee could realize the cultural and “One of the goals of the economic value of identifying these ancient Healthy Roots project trails, which became the basis for modern- is to increase awareness day transportation in the Southeast. e and use of traditional EBCI and Wild South have worked to- ways of being active, gether to develop a comprehensive map of so for the young people Cherokee cultural geography, beginning to help identify trails with the European contact at about 1700 the Cherokee histori- up until the mid-1800s. Support from cally have walked and Cherokee Preservation Foundation made it run along has been possible to collect rare archives, early land important.” records and surveys, and to conduct exten- By early 2012, the sive eld surveys, photograph geographical results of the Chero- sites and lm oral histories. kee Trails project were e completed project became the prop- already impressive, with erty of the EBCI, and THPO Ocer Russ 15 major trails mapped Townsend said it has created for the EBCI that include 153 miles one of the premier research capabilities con- in National Forests. e cerning the traditional aboriginal territory U.S. Forest Service has of the Cherokee people. “For far too long, committed to applying much of these indispensably important ar- special protective desig- chival materials have been scattered through nations to trails on land the United States at various federal, state under its care, which and university archives, and accessible only could potentially extend ARSHALL
to those few who have the time, knowledge to 64,000 acres. But M
and funds to travel from facility to facility,” then the project elevated AMAR Townsend said. to a whole new level. L Support from Cherokee Marshall has logged many miles on the Each year, Google Earth awards a small Preservation Founda- trails with tribal members, including number of grants to nonpro t organi- tion made it possible Cherokee youth participating in the Chero- zations that have compelling ideas for to collect rare archives, kee Choices Healthy Roots program, who cutting-edge maps for the public good. In early land records and helped inventory potential recreational December 2012, Google Earth announced surveys, and to conduct trails that can be accessible to tribal mem- that Wild South had been awarded ones of extensive field surveys bers. e young people mapped trails on these grants to create an interactive, web- and photograph geo- the Raven Fork and Oconaluftee River, one based Google Earth Map, virtual tours graphical sites. Fifteen of which the Cherokee High School track and a mobile application that will provide major Cherokee trails have been mapped. 11 a geographical and cultural history of the connect to it at www.wildsouth.org and Cherokee people of Western North can also download the free Cherokee Trails Carolina. Android app (additional apps will be avail- e project is a rst-of-its-kind, interac- able later). tive atlas of Cherokee historical geography, With momentum from the Google Earth including photography, oral history video grant project, well over 1000 miles of clips and historical data such as the ancient Cherokee trails have now been identi ed. trail system and towns of the Cherokee In Western North Carolina, these include homeland. It features a progressive account 29 trails crossing National Forests in North of the migration of the Cherokee Indians as Carolina and 13 additional trails along the they were pushed o their traditional lands, Blue Ridge Escarpment just south of High- rst by British colonists and later by the lands and Cashiers. United States government during the One tour on the Cherokee Trails website Removal Period. e web-based map pro- covers the Cherokee territorial claims, vides a new way to appreciate a landscape trails and towns from 1700 to 1776. It and its people. begins at Charleston, the British trad- e Google Earth/Cherokee Trails site was ing capital of that time, and follows the launched in April. Interested explorers can Cherokee Trading Path through lower South Carolina and e second phase of the Lower Towns the Google Earth to the mountains project, which Wild of Western North South hopes to make Carolina. It ies available to the public over the Middle in 2014, will be the Towns of the Little development of truly Tennessee River, virtual 3D graphics the Overhill Towns that will allow viewers of the Tuckasegee to move through life- and Oconaluftee like settings from dif- Rivers, the Val- ferent eras of Cherokee ley Towns and the history. e technol- Out Towns. Future ogy developed by the tours in the pipe- Center for Advanced line are William Spatial Technologies Bartram’s travel at the University of to Cowee Town Arkansas to depict in 1775 and the these Nodena villages Cherokee Wars of in Arkansas will be 1759-61 and 1776. used to create histori- Marshall is excited cally accurate Missis- about how the web sippian Era (1000 – tools will enable 1450 A.D.) Cherokee not only Cherokee villages of the Appala- Central Schools and chian Summit.
12 ENKS J INKER T
regional school systems to incorporate the Cherokee history. Marshall says the experi- Cherokee youth resources into their geography and history ence “will be almost like time travel.” participating in the curricula, but will be accessible to schools Is anyone up for a ight over William Healthy Roots pro- and individuals everywhere. Holland omas’ house and store in gram that promotes “ e American school curriculum has gen- Quallatown? Or how about Cowee or the healthy living helped erally neglected the complete and truthful Judaculla Rock? Cherokee culture, history inventory potential history of native peoples,” Marshall said. and geography have never been more recreational trails. “Google Earth recognized the value of pre- approachable. senting far more than the Trail of Tears, and now we have a means to show how Cherokee history, culture and geog- raphy span millenniums. Tourists are another key audience for the Cherokee Trails website and mobile app.” e second phase of the Google Earth project, which will be available to the public in 2014 if funding is available, will be the development and incorpo- ration of truly virtual 3D graphics that will allow viewers to move through life-like settings from di erent eras of
13 REVERSING our YOUTH MIGRATION Dylan Shook (left) and Dustin Bryant plan to establish a radio station to connect and entertain the Nantahala community – they already have the tower. They are sharpening their on-air skills by making school announcements to fellow Nantahala School students.
SCOTT WALLACE
hen Nantahala School students Dylan Shook and Dustin Bryant entered a business plan Wcompetition open to high school youth in westernmost North Carolina, their motivation for planning a radio station that will serve the Nantahala community ran deeper than winning scholarship money for college. Creating a radio station that will connect their community better really matters to them. And for Dustin, the radio station could be his ticket to earning a good living in a place he loves after he learns to be an audio engineer in college. e migration of young people who have left for better career opportunities elsewhere has been hollowing out com- munities in Western North Carolina and is threatening community vitality. But small towns in the region can play an important role in economic recovery and growth. Teaching young people how to start and grow their own busi- nesses in Cherokee, Nantahala, Andrews and other towns in the region promises to be the key.
14 e business plan competition sponsored by WNC EdNet is just the beginning of a major entrepreneurial education initiative that will be implemented in all grades at schools on the Qualla Boundary and in the seven westernmost counties this fall as part of a STEM (science, technology, engineer-
ing and math) curricula. e planning grant OCUMMA behind it was provided by Cherokee Pres- O ervation Foundation out of a desire to help RENDA B create excellent career opportunities for the region’s youth within their communities. Entrepreneurial education has been available Regional educators, e Swain County Schools system has been to some students for many years in the form including Bob Byrd spearheading the planning for the e ort, of vocational training such as shop class. But of the Western Region with assistance from the Western Region the e ort that will be launched in several Education Service Education Service Alliance (WRESA), months will systematically link the STEM Alliance, have been a consortium of school districts and com- curriculum to entrepreneurial education in collaborating to plan munity organizations that provides educa- Western North Carolina, and the reason is an entrepreneurial tional services to members, and Haywood that STEM is where the great jobs are in education initiative County-West Schools. Each school system today’s economy. Another aspect of work that is linked to the will choose which elements will be avail- today is that it doesn’t matter where one STEM (science, tech- able in its schools. is located, as long as the person is digitally nology, engineering e goal is to help young people see that literate, knows how to market globally, and and math) curricula. instead of complaining about what isn’t o ers a good product or service. e entre- in their communities – such as an organic preneurial curriculum will also be valuable grocery store – they should recognize these to students who want to make a living as voids as opportunities they can seize by artists, craft persons or writers. creating a business. “ e ip side of nothing So what will students learn? Let’s say they is an opportunity,” said Bob Byrd, School are in a science class learning about robot- Improvement Coordinator for WRESA. ics. Before, the class may have focused on It has happened in westernmost North how robots are made and what they can Carolina before. In 1954, Clyde Drake do, but now teachers will go further and opened what soon became a successful tax help students understand that robotics is a preparation business in Franklin. Clyde’s huge eld with business opportunities in son Phil took the business in a new direc- electronics, mechanical engineering, soft- tion in the 1970s, when he stopped prepar- ware engineering, mathematics, physics, ing tax returns and shifted his focus to the chemistry, psychology and biology. development of tax software. When the e curriculum will go well beyond text- IRS rst implemented electronic ling of books so that students become digitally tax returns, Phil Drake embraced the new and nancially literate, and know how technology. In 2004, Drake Software won to create strong business plans. Students the IRS’s Modernized e- le Pioneer Award will have real-life learning experiences by and today the company has more than 300 participating in inventor clubs, technology employees. application competitions, site visits, job
15 ALLACE W COTT S
Students in Nantahala shadowing and more. ey will have ac- Foundation, the Community Foundation School’s entrepreneur- cess to mentors, too. Educators at Western of WNC, the North Carolina Rural Center ship class (left to right) Carolina University and the region’s com- and other sources. – Jake van Rossum, munity colleges will be among those who Most of the competitors in the WNC Ed- Brian Gatti, Dustin will serve as mentors and help students Net business plan competition were from Bryant and Dylan create prototypes of their products. Nantahala School, and not surprisingly, a Shook – prepare for a One of the challenges in developing the teacher is the reason. Eli Mauch, a recent region-wide business entrepreneurial curriculum has been to graduate of Appalachian State University plan competition with prepare teachers, most of whom have never and rst year teacher, wanted to teach an their teacher, created a business, so they will be able to entrepreneurship class in the 2012 school Eli Mauck. help students learn what they need to year. “ ere are a lot of needs in our area know. Part of Cherokee Preserva-Preserva that are not yet ful lled, said Mauck, who Environmental Preservation tion Foundation’s planning grew up in Robbinsville. “If our students 158 grants grant was allocated to teacher learn entrepreneurial skills and some of 21% Cultural Preservation training in the spring from them become motivated to grow their own Economic 386 grants the North Carolina Rural businesses here, that’s our best way to cre- Development / 49% Employment Entrepreneurship ate high paying jobs.” Opportunities through Action 239 grants “ e main outcome we are seeking is for Learning (NC 30% students to learn the knowledge and skills REAL) program. to develop an intentional plan for their Cherokee Preservation Foundation grants have fueled Cherokee Complete devel- lives,” said Bob Byrd of WRESA. “If a language revitalization, perpetuation of Cherokee artistic traditions opment of the student can learn to visualize ten years out and leadership development programs for EBCI tribal members. entrepreneurial what kind of high quality job and life they They have supported entrepreneurship to diversify the regional curriculum will want to have in our region, then they can economy, helped teachers use technology-based learning tools so require further start back-mapping and gure out how to our students can compete with students anywhere, and given rise funding, which is to renewable energy and energy e ciency programs. For more get where they want to be. at’s part of being sought from the way we can help our youth and our information, visit www.cpfdn.org or contact the Foundation at the Golden Leaf 828/497-5550. communities have a great future.”
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