TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner launched millions of dollars in new health career scholarships and grants and extended the deadline for all scholarships to June 30 in a signing ceremony Thursday, June 4, in Tahlequah.
“Today we are not only launching millions of dollars in new health care scholarships,” said Chief Hoskin. “We are also pursuing a strategy to ensure that Cherokee Nation citizens living anywhere maximize their opportunities to get their education and enter the health care industry, ideally working for Cherokee Nation.”
Earlier this year the Council of the Cherokee Nation approved legislation proposed by Chief Hoskin and Deputy Chief Warner to build a $30 million “Cherokee Nation Nursing and Allied Health Education Center,” established a new $5 million health education endowment with the Cherokee Nation Foundation and committed $2 million annually to new health scholarships and career training grants in across Cherokee Nation’s Education and Career Services program.
The new investments are on top of a 2023 endowment for behavioral health careers, also administered by CNF, and a record setting number of general scholarships through the Cherokee Nation’s Education Department in the current academic year.
“We simply must match the billion-dollar investments in health clinics and our new hospital with an historic investment in boosting our workforce,” said Deputy Chief Bryan Warner. “I’m excited that a new generation of Cherokee health care professionals will get a major boost thanks to these new investments.”
Chief Hoskin and Deputy Chief Warner established, by executive order signed on Thursday, a multi-department work group, led by the tribe’s Health Services Department.
“The new Health Education and Workforce Work Group will identify our internal hiring goals and analyze trends in the region’s health labor market,” said Chief of Staff Dr. Corey Bunch. “This means we will have more effective strategies of helping educate Cherokees in healthcare jobs that are in high demand, meet our needs and meet the needs of the region’s healthcare industry.”
Chief Hoskin and Deputy Chief Warner also formalized the deadline extension for all Cherokee Nation scholarships for the 2026-2027 academic year, from June 15 to June 30.
Cherokee Nation officials estimate that the tribe will spend $30 million in the coming academic year in scholarships and grants in all fields of study across its Education Department, Career Services Department and Cherokee Nation Foundation scholarship programs.
“Our investment in higher education and career training programs will be record setting this year and we will launch the largest investment in health education and career training in our history,” said Chief Hoskin.
Cherokee Nation will begin construction on its Nursing and Allied Health Center later this year, remodeling the former WW Hastings Hospital facility after the tribe opens its $450 million new hospital in July. The remodeled facility will be the home of a new University of Oklahoma College of Nursing branch campus open to all applicants.
“As a nurse myself, I am beyond grateful for the RN scholarships offered through Cherokee Nation for our citizens. These scholarship awards incentivize scholarship recipients to become employees within Cherokee Nation's Health System, and that is a win-win,” District 1 Councilor Sasha Blackfox-Qualls said.
Cherokee Nation operates the largest health system in Indian Country, delivering more than three million patient services per year to members of all federally recognized tribes at 11 health care facilities across the 7,000 square mile Cherokee Nation Reservation with a workforce of more than 5,000.
For information on Cherokee Nation’s scholarship programs, visit: https://www.cherokee.org/all-services/education-services/
For information on Cherokee Nation’s career training support, visit: https://www.cherokee.org/all-services/career-services/
For information on Cherokee Nation Foundation scholarships, visit: https://www.cherokeenationfoundation.org