Cherokee Nation develops two new student scholarships
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (KFOR) - The Cherokee Nation is working alongside Northeastern State University and the new Cherokee Nation Foundation endowment to support Cherokee students.
According to the Cherokee Nation, the tribe it looking to invest in its behavioral health careers by developing two new scholarship opportunities for Cherokee students.
In February, Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner announced the Cherokee Nation would start a $5 million endowment fund with the Cherokee Nation Foundation to help citizens living inside and outside the reservation as they go into behavioral health fields.
The tribe says it has also teamed up with NSU to support scholarship opportunities that will help its public health efforts.
“Through these scholarships we will better address the challenges we see throughout the reservation and across the country by encouraging and supporting more Cherokee students going into the field of behavioral health,” Chief Hoskin said.
“Generational trauma affects every facet of our tribe and our society, so we must continue to address this plight head-on. Cherokee Nation took on the opioid industry and secured over $100 million in settlement funds for the Cherokee people. Earlier this year Deputy Chief Bryan Warner and I asked for and received the Council’s support in investing $5 million of those settlement funds into a permanent endowment to support Cherokee students going into behavioral health fields. This coupled with the new Public Health scholarship through NSU means more Cherokee students will have the opportunity to one day work for their tribe. Together we can break the chains of addiction and help put many of our citizens on the path to recovery.”
The tribe's Behavioral Health Scholarship, supported by Cherokee Nation's opioid industry settlements and distributed through the Cherokee Nation Foundation, is accessible to eligible undergraduate Cherokee Nation students who show the possibility of offering those services within the Cherokee Nation Reservation after successfully completing their education.
The scholarship is also available to eligible graduate or doctoral recipients who are agreeable to a period of grant payback in service to the Cherokee Nation for a period that is equal to the number of scholarship years given while studying for a behavioral health graduate degree.
“We’re investing in opportunities to work together as community partners with the same end goal in mind: educating Cherokees who have an interest in serving their people and bettering the lives of our communities,” Deputy Chief Warner said. “We know that tribal populations are better served with demonstrably better outcomes when cared for by a clinician who understands their cultural worldview. These scholarships are the first step in a long-lasting plan for the betterment of our people and our health care needs.”
The Cherokee Nation is also offering a separate Public Health scholarship, which would provide more than $76,000 a year for three years for four eligible Cherokee graduate students completing the Masters of Science in Counseling Program at NSU.
For the Cherokee Nation Foundation endowment, full eligibility requirements and the application, visit cherokeenation.academicworks.com. The deadline to apply for this specific endowment scholarship for 2023-’24 is July 31, 2023.