WHAT:
The Cherokee Nation will celebrate the opening of the new $12 million Salina Head Start facility.
WHEN:
Thursday, February 5 at 11 a.m.
WHERE:
Salina Head Start
672 East Campus Road
Salina, Oklahoma
WHO:
Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.
Deputy Chief Bryan Warner
Cherokee Nation Cabinet
Council of the Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation Education Services
SALINA, Okla. – Cherokee Nation leaders will gather to celebrate the grand opening of the Salina Head Start facility.
The new Salina Head Start offers six classrooms, a gross motor room which can operate as a storm shelter, a commercial kitchen, and multiple classrooms. Four of the six classrooms will operate for Early Head Start with separate playgrounds and green spaces. The new facility is approximately 18,300 square feet.
Investments into Head Start are made possible by the tribe’s historic Verna D. Thompson Early Childhood Education Act of 2021, which was expanded in 2024 to be an investment of $80 million. The law is named in honor of Head Start Director Verna Thompson, who has served the tribe for over 40 years.
Cherokee Nation serves over 900 children through its Head Start programs, which were first created in 1978. Cherokee Nation’s Head start students range from six weeks to preschool age. Students are taught cognitive, language, motor and social skills as part of the tribe’s Head Start programs.