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TAHLEQUAH, OK - When Evelyn Conley went to New York, she did what a lot of tourists do: she visited the

Evelyn Conley, CN’s Community Coordinator, talks with Mary Mead.

United Nations. But unlike most tourists, Conley, Cherokee Nation's Community Coordinator, stayed attended general sessions and was one of a handful of women from across the globe who participated in a panel on "Racism and Rural Women" in conjunction with the Commission on the Status of Women, United Nations meetings in New York.

"Women from all over the world were there," Conley said. "It was educational, enlightening and great to be with women from so many different countries giving words to the issues of the day."

The Commission on the Status of Women adopted as its priority theme for this session "Gender and all forms of discrimination, in particular racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance," reflecting the fundamental stance of the United Nations in support of equal rights for all women and men and leading into the World Conference on Racism scheduled to take place in South Africa in August and September of this year.

"As an introduction to the panel discussion, I was honored to welcome these people to our country as a member of the Cherokee Nation", Conley said. "To sit and hear the translations coming through the headphones at the UN, looking over the expanse of people and listening to testimony given to the diversity of women’s issues was truly an experience. Even though we face different kinds of issues, it's interesting to see that people from all over the world work in similar ways when facing those issues. Women can change a lot by coming together as a group and helping each other. In our case, the issue is what diabetes is doing to our people."

Conley is currently the Community Coordinator, working for the Deputy Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Hastings Shade. She is also a volunteer co-coordinator of the Native Women’s Cooperative Project, which is part of the Rural Development Leadership Network’s Rural Women’s Product Development and Marketing Venture. She is a partner and manager of Mountain Windsong Books and Gifts, a family business. Conley has received an Outstanding Service Award from the Cherokee Nation in for service, loyalty and dedication to the Cherokee Nation.

Conley holds a B.S. from Morningside College in Iowa and is currently working on her Master’s degree program at Antioch University through the Rural Development Leadership Network. She attended RDLN’S Rural Development Institute at the University of California at Davis last spring with community development practitioners from different regions of the country. She may make a trip to South Africa for another conference this fall, but for now, Conley is still coping with New York.