Cherokee Nation marks third anniversary of ‘Speaker Services’ Program

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. - Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner gathered in Tahlequah on Tuesday to celebrate the third anniversary of the "Speaker Services" program. Chief Hoskin announced reforms to the program for first-language fluent Cherokee speakers to make it a sustainable part of the tribe's historic language revitalization effort.

"Three years ago we launched Speaker Services as a way to help make our language revitalization efforts more wholistic, tending to the grass roots of Cherokee culture," said Chief Hoskin. "Our Language Department has made incredible progress by reaching out to our remaining population of first-language fluent speakers, lifting them up and improving their quality of life."

Speaker Services formally launched on Jan. 7, 2022, by Chief Hoskin's executive action with a small budget within the tribe's Language Department and a single employee, program manager Sammy Eagle.

The program grew exponentially utilizing one-time American Rescue Plan Act funding under the tribe's Respond, Recover and Rebuild Plan.

In its three years of operation, Speaker Services invested over $34 million across 1,700 individual support projects for fluent speakers ranging from 66 replacement homes to smaller projects such as replacing 1,200 appliances, along with a range of other services and program operating costs.

Although most assistance took the form of housing rehabilitation and replacement, Speaker Services provided other support services such as transportation and, working with the tribe's Behavioral Health program, a substance misuse peer recovery program.

"Speaker Services is a program that encourages us all to reach out with a hand of support to first language fluent Cherokee speakers in need and it has made such great impact in just three years," said Deputy Chief Warner. "As the program evolves it will not only keep helping our first-language fluent speakers, but it can also help us develop better ways to serve the larger population of all Cherokees in need, particularly our elders."

Cherokee Nation, the country's largest tribe with a population of over 470,000 citizens nationwide, has approximately 1,500 first language fluent speakers remaining, mostly over the age of 70.

Initially a pilot effort, the Council and the Hoskin/Warner Administration took steps in the past year to make the program a permanent part of the tribe's growing Language Department.

"What started as a simple idea in our Language Department is now embedded in the Durbin Feeling Language Preservation Act and the Housing, Jobs and Sustainable Communities Act," said Council Speaker Mike Shambaugh. "With administration's guidance and the Council's support and oversight, Speaker Services has a bright future."

Language Department Executive Director Howard Paden expressed confidence in the program's future.

"Obviously with the era of one-time ARPA funding behind us we need to continue focusing on sustainable annual budgets and sound strategies to continue our progress," said Paden. "Quite simply our language is our culture, our culture is rooted in our communities and we cannot revitalize our culture if we fail to lift up our culture keepers where they live."

On Tuesday Chief Hoskin announced an executive action to ensure that the program contained to "perform impactful work… on a sustainable basis."

Among Chief Hoskin's directives for Speaker Services are:

• Returning the program to the original vision of primarily assisting fluent speakers in receiving existing Cherokee Nation services on a priority basis across primarily housing, health, human services and water and sanitation services.
• Addressing the current waiting list for services and improving communications with applicants.
• Improving coordination and cooperation between departments to serve fluent speakers.
• Build staff and program capacity by investing in more training and technology.
• Build a sustainable budget on top of an earmarked $3,000,000 under the tribe's Housing, Jobs and Sustainable Communities Act over the next three years and utilize funding available under the tribe's Public Health and Wellness Fund Act.

Speaker Services was developed during the largest expansion in Cherokee language revitalization efforts in history under the Hoskin/Warner Administration's Durbin Feeling Language Preservation Act of 2019.

Since 2019 the tribe's Language Department, formerly a program within its Education department, has grown from an annual budget of $4.6 million to the current year budget of $20.7 million. Since 2019, staffing in the Language Department has grown from 60 to 110.

Cherokee Nation's language department operates out of its flagship Durbin Feeling Language Preservation Center in Tahlequah.

In recent years the department expanded to the community of Greasy and will expand to the community of Kenwood later in 2025.

In addition to Speaker Services, Cherokee Nation's Language Department operates a Cherokee language immersion school, a translation program, the Cherokee Language Master Apprentice Program, adapts technology and creative content to language learning and operates a growing "speakers village" providing housing to first language fluent speakers in a culturally rich community next to the Durbin Feeling Language Center.

The tribe's language facility and its landmark language revitalization law was named after the late Durbin Feeling, considered by the tribe to be the most important advocate for the Cherokee language since Sequoyah, the 19th century creator of the Cherokee syllabary.

First Language Fluent Speakers are certified by the tribe's Language Department and sign the tribe's official "speakers roll," making them eligible for Speaker Services and other special language revitalization opportunities.

For more information on Speaker Services, call 918-207-4929.

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