WHAT:
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner will sign the Cherokee Connect Broadband Initiative into law, which will construct cell towers and bring high-speed internet and cell service to more than 6,000 Cherokee Nation households currently lacking service.
WHEN:
Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 11 a.m.
WHERE:
CC Camp Community Building (Near a tower site)
471660 E. 893 Road
Stilwell, OK 74960
Google Map link
WHO:
Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.
Deputy Chief Bryan Warner
Council of the Cherokee Nation members
Cherokee Nation Cabinet
Residents from Adair County
STILWELL, Okla. — Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner will sign into legislation the Cherokee Connect Broadband Initiative near one of the sites a tower will be built in Adair County.
The Cherokee Connect Broadband Initiative includes the construction of 15 communication towers to provide affordable and reliable, high-speed Internet and cellular service to 16 unserved and underserved communities in the Cherokee Nation Reservation.
The Council of the Cherokee Nation approved the Cherokee Connect resolution Monday during its December Council Meeting, in which Chief Hoskin and Deputy Chief Warner will sign into law Wednesday.
“If our Cherokee communities are to thrive in the 21st Century, they cannot be left behind when it comes to cell service and high speed internet,” Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. “This initiative helps ensure they won’t be left behind.”
The tribe received a $34 million National Telecommunications and Information Administration Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program grant and also expects to invest another $11 million from its Respond, Recover and Rebuild program into its broadband efforts.
The communities where a tower is slated for construction include Belfonte, Bell and CC Camp, Brent, Brushy, Chewey, Christie, Dry Creek, Eucha, Greasy, Marble City, Oak Hill-Piney, Oaks, Proctor, Tailholt and Vian, pending final agreements with the community organization that will house the towers.