Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. highlights Head Start, wellness centers, housing and cancer partnership in State of the Nation address

Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. presented a State of the Nation address to the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council on Monday, outlining recent facility openings and planned investments in early childhood education, public health, housing and regional health partnerships.

“It was the $40,500,000 Head Start, the flagship Head Start building here in Tahlequah, 64,000 square feet, 20 classrooms,” Hoskin said, describing the new facility as an investment “worthy first and foremost, of the young people who will come through that building.” He credited the Berna Thompson Early Childhood Education Act for enabling Head Start replacements across the Nation.

Hoskin described the Carson Wellness Center in Stilwell as “an amazing facility, 75,000 square feet,” funded by the Public Health and Wellness Fund Act, and encouraged council members and residents to visit. He said additional wellness centers will open at other new health campuses, naming a Celina health center and planned wellness elements at the Clamore health campus and at a Tahlequah site.

On education and clinical partnerships, Hoskin said the council supported $5,000,000 to help construct a College of Optometry at Northeastern State University, calling the partnership integral to Cherokee Nation health services.

Housing was a major theme. Hoskin said the Housing Jobs and Sustainable Communities Act is “the largest housing investment in the history of the Cherokee Nation,” and cited a roughly $40,000,000, three-year program for new home construction and other housing initiatives. He said an additional $30,000,000 in public health funds could be added to expand affordable housing. Hoskin cited projects including a housing addition named for Virgil Fields, Cherry Tree, Lost City, Keys, and Redbird Smith Estates in Sallisaw (33 lots, 12 new homes built so far).

On regional health partnerships, Hoskin noted Mercy Health’s ground-breaking for a $41,000,000 cancer center in Fort Smith and said the Cherokee Nation approved an $8,000,000 partnership to help construct that facility. He said a memorandum of understanding will make referrals of Cherokee Nation citizens for cancer treatment more efficient through contract health arrangements.

Hoskin also described outreach to citizens across the U.S., with recent large at-large meetings in Albuquerque, Denver, Portland, Seattle and Oklahoma City, and he acknowledged three council members who were leaving their current seats.

The transcript records Hoskin’s overview and specific dollar and facility figures; it does not include full budget documents, contract texts or the detailed timelines for each project. The Chief’s remarks were delivered during the regular council meeting’s scheduled State of the Nation segment and were largely informational rather than requests for new council action.

What was quoted and what remains to be detailed: the Chief specified project sizes and selected dollar amounts tied to council support; the transcript does not show new motions tied to those figures, nor does it include implementation schedules or appropriation language.