Each month leading up to June, the Hownikan will feature the history and background of each scheduled honored family selected for the 2021 Family Reunion Festival, including the Bruno, Darling, Hardin, Higbee, Lewis, Nadeau, Slavin and Smith families. The first in this series is the Bruno family. Like many French-Canadian settlers with ties to the Potawatomi, the Brunos were once successful fur traders and trappers.
While many potential foster parent applicants hesitated during 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, Tribal member Lacey Buettner opened up her home for the first time. After working with FireLodge Children & Family Services, she felt confident in stepping up to the task.
Attending Family Reunion Festival as a child exposed Ragan Marsee to Bodéwadmimwen for the first time, which inspired her to connect with her Potawatomi culture and language. Today, she serves in the CPN Language Department as an aid, teaching students Bodéwadmimwen.
CPN’s Women, Infant and Children’s programs found new and innovative ways to continue serving clients across 7 counties in central OK during the pandemic. WIC assists more than 1,400 individuals each month, providing access to nutritious foods & education to low & moderate-income clients.
The Oklahoma Legislature pushed all but a few bills aside in order to pass a budget and conclude the 2020 session. A number of bills that could impact Oklahoma tribes are likely to resurface in 2021.
Language Department Director Justin Neely discusses ways to learn Potawatomi during the upcoming year and what staff accomplished in 2020.
The First Peoples Fund recently extended its partnership with the Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation until June 2021. Between 2016 and 2020, the two organizations have assisted more than 90 Native American artists with business development training, credit counseling and asset building.
In 2020, total CPN citizenship surpassed 35,500 due to the global pandemic and need for CARES Act funds. Charles Clark has been director of the CPN Tribal Rolls Department for 19 years, and this past year has been the busiest yet.
In 2020, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Workforce Development & Social Services staff expanded the number of families they served with their annual Thanksgiving Food Basket Drive, from 185 to 225.
Jim Thorpe’s family, fellow Native Americans, elected officials and fans are fighting to restore his recognition as the 1912 Olympic decathlon and pentathlon’s sole gold winner once more.