The Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation works to finance, promote, educate, and inspire the entrepreneurial growth, economic opportunity and financial well-being of underserved Native populations. Cindy Logsdon, CPCDC CEO writes about how her team works to help people move forward in life, which benefits all Oklahomans by creating strong families and communities.
Each year, AARP awards Native American elders for their contributions to the improvement of their tribes and communities. Citizen Potawatomi Nation member and Emergency Management Department Director Tim Zientek was chosen in 2021 as one of 47 elders recognized for his “achievements, community service and impact,” according to the organization.
Oklahoma voters narrowly approved the expansion of Medicaid eligibility in June 2020, helping thousands of previously uninsured residents qualify for health coverage through the Affordable Care Act. Citizen Potawatomi Nation Health Services officials are ready to ensure new patients efficiently receive services and CPNHS can cost-effectively administer care. Apply for Medicaid at mysoonercare.org or by phone at 800-987-7767. Benefits specialists at the CPN clinics are also available to assist with enrollment.
In September 2021, CPN introduced him as the head coach of one of TBL’s newest expansion teams, the Potawatomi Fire: Derrick Rowland, who most recently coached TBL’s Albany (New York) Patroons. Along with helping the next generation of players develop both personally and professionally, Rowland is excited about the chance to represent something even bigger: pride in Indigenous identity. The Fire are the first professional sports team to be owned by a tribal nation in Oklahoma.
CPN Behavioral Health will build a new clinical building thanks to a grant from the U.S. Indian Health Service. The current clinic is 4,300 square feet with care provided by eight professional staff, including one psychiatrist, three psychologists and five counselors. The new building is expected to house more providers, therapy rooms, a larger space for group therapy and a planned observation deck.
CPN Language Department Director Justin Neely gives a language update for February 2022 which discusses course work at Shawnee Middle School and teaching at the CPN Child development center.
February 2022 is the 155th anniversary of the Treaty of 1867, the last of several treaties that the Citizen Potawatomi signed with the U.S. federal government. This treaty was the final push for the first Citizen Potawatomi families to move from Kansas to Indian Territory. The U.S. Government officially ended treaty negotiations with Native American tribes in 1871.
During this episode, we visit with an author about her new book that tells stories from a Tribal elder’s childhood, a domestic violence prevention specialist about National Stalking Awareness Month and a historian about the 155th anniversary of the last treaty CPN signed with the federal government.
The Hownikan features history of the Higbee family as a part of a series highlighting archival holdings on founding families.
The once-bustling Potawatomi reservation settlement of Uniontown in present-day Kansas is today a small cemetery. The Citizen Potawatomi Nation and Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation have rich histories tied to the area that was the center of the tribes’ universe in the mid-19th century. Stories passed down for generations about the community located along the Oregon Trail inspired recent geological research from experts in the state.