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TAHLEQUAH, OK - The Cherokee Nation recently received a $1,103,584 technology grant to upgrade its computer network throughout the Nation’s 14-county jurisdictional area.

The grant will help provide high-speed Internet connection between the Cherokee Nation’s tribal headquarters in Tahlequah with field offices within the Cherokee Nation.

"Our employees at field sites will be able to serve our citizens better because of the vastly improved communication technology", said Todd Enlow, director of Information Systems for the Cherokee Nation.

The Cherokee Nation will also use the grant money to place community access computers in Cherokee Nation field offices, which will provide citizens in rural communities access to the Internet.

The Cherokee Nation will use the TOP grant to place high-speed, internet-connected computers in natural gathering places in small communities dispersed throughout the 9,000 square mile Cherokee Nation jurisdiction. The computers will provide electronic information on available services, eligibility requirements, needed documents, and application instructions to tribal members. In addition, the networked computers will provide a means for tribal members to give feedback to government officials, and to access tribal government documents. It will also provide a medium for communication, collaboration, and information sharing across rural tribal communities.

The Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) grant provides funding to extend the benefits of advanced telecommunications technologies to underserved communities and neighborhoods.

A special program will be installed on the computers to allow tribal members to participate in the preservation of their language, history, and culture. It will reestablish the ability for tribal members to read, write, and speak in the native Cherokee language and will greatly enhance the tribal government's ability to serve and inform its members. The network will also be used to provide access to information on such subjects as organizing, basic grant writing, holding meetings, forming a non-profit organization and other issues that can contribute to the empowerment of communities.

The Cherokee Nation was one of just 65 grant recipients, from a nationwide pool of more than 700, to earn one of the highly competitive grants from the United States Department of Commerce.

"We want these grants to demonstrate how the most up-to-date technology can assist the delivery of services to Americans of all ages and backgrounds, improving levels of public safety, public health, public information, homeownership and economic development", said Nancy J. Victory, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. "Successful TOP grants recipients share best practices with other non-profit and public sector organizations."