Cherokee Preservation Foundation (CPFdn) announced on Wednesday, March 21 it has awarded 24 new grants totaling $1.8 million that support cultural preservation, economic development, job creation and environmental preservation. They include:
A grant to the Museum of the Cherokee Indian to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Emissaries of Peace, host the Southeast Tribes Festival, and continue the Snowbird Cherokee language camp. The Emissaries of Peace anniversary will be celebrated with seven events across four states, utilizing a new lightweight traveling exhibit. Events include:
- Actors from “Unto These Hills” portraying Lt. Timberlake and Ostenaco, the Emissaries of Peace, at the Oconaluftee Indian Village throughout the summer.
- A second group of actors reenacting the Emissaries’ trip to London and other sites they visited in England in 1762.
- The grand reopening of the Emissaries of Peace exhibit during the Cherokee Voices Festival.
- An exhibit and reenactment events at the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum and Fort Loudoun, both in Vonore, TN, and Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Pennsylvania.
- An historical interpretation of Timberlake and Ostenaco at Williamsburg, with dances by the Warriors of AniKituwhu and a Cherokee camp.
- A grand finale event in Cherokee during the Southeast Tribes Festival with traditional dance, crafts, stickball games, blowgun competitions, living history demonstrations, and from Williamsburg, historical interpreters and a fife and drum corps.
A grant to help the EBCI Tribal Government achieve greater energy, fuel and water efficiency and lead efforts to create a more sustainable environment. The grant enables three actions: the purchase of a pilot group of five highly fuel efficient vehicles for tribal departments (the Tribe will be paying the amount associated with conventionally fueled vehicles and the Foundation’s grant will be used to pay for the higher cost of the fuel efficient vehicles) ; the retrofit of ten buildings and completion of the solar thermal installation on the Ginger Lynn Welch facility; and the purchase of two rainwater cisterns, one which the EBCI Building Construction Department will use to store and harvest water for cleaning its vehicles and the other which EBCI Transit will use to reduce its intake of fresh water.
A grant that will enable the new Cherokee Children’s Home to include a number of green components that will pay for themselves over time, including geothermal heating and cooling, solar heated water, rainwater harvesting and a solar photovoltaic system to generation electricity. The grant will also provide matching funds for a fundraising campaign for the new facility and other needs.
A grant that will enable Swain County Schools to develop a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum plan that is entrepreneurial-based and will prepare preK-20 students to take on positions as leaders and producers of knowledge. The curriculum will emphasize digital and financial literacy, business planning, best practices in environmental responsibility and economic development, real world experiences and academic achievement. It will be used by students at Cherokee Central Schools and in Swain, Jackson, Haywood, Clay, Graham and Cherokee counties.
Grants to continue to support the Cherokee Youth Council as it promotes leadership development opportunities and to establish new youth councils in Clay and Cherokee counties that are modeled after the Cherokee Youth Council.
A grant that will enable the Oconaluftee Institute of Cultural Arts (OICA) to offer a summer art program for high schools students. The program is intended to familiarize high school junior and seniors with OICA so they will consider enrolling once they have graduated from high school, and it also will enable students to develop their artistic skills and create art portfolios for college.
– Cherokee Preservation Foundation
