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TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA - Some visitors of the Cherokee National Holiday during Labor Day weekend participated in Cherokee Nation's touch-screen survey project. Touch-screens, provided by TouchPoll Tulsa, were set up at the Tribal Complex, Cultural Grounds, Cherokee Courthouse and the Cherokee Casino Resort in Catoosa so holiday visitors could help determine strategies on community, jobs and language. Steve Woodall, Strategy Department director, said the survey information will be used when his department convenes for its annual strategic review in 2007. "The surveys will help us plan the strategies around the jobs and the community priorities that the (principal) chief (Chad Smith) talks about all the time," Woodall said. "This is the kind of information we use to assess whether we are doing anything worthwhile or what we need to pay more attention to." He said three surveys were conducted during the project. If respondents were citizens of the CN, Eastern Band or United Keetoowah Band and at least 18, they took the primary survey that dealt with community involvement and community activities, known as "social capital," and economic issues. Woodall said the "social capital" questions targeted Cherokee-oriented organizations, churches, clubs or associations. "We're trying to understand how much people are involved now with their communities, and then we'll monitor that over time to see whether we're actually having any success with improving the engagement of Cherokees with their communities," he said, "because building and enhancing Cherokee communities is one of our top priorities." The economic questions focused on employment, income and job satisfaction because gaining that kind of data specific to Cherokee people is hard to get from public sources, he said. "We're tying to get a better handle on employment and unemployment issues, job satisfaction. You generally ask questions to see what proportion of the work force might be likely to change jobs if there was a good opportunity for them. That's the kind of things that potential employers want to know." For adults who aren't Cherokees, they answered questions about tourism and what motivates them to come to the holiday. "We did that survey a couple of years ago at the holiday, and this survey was a follow up survey to the previous one," Woodall said. "The previous survey was conducted on how much economic impact the holiday creates." Cherokee citizens younger than 18 answered questions concerning recreational activities, self-perceptions about how they are doing in school and plans for after school as well as whether they intend to graduate from school and basic planning for future. "From that, we'll be able to refine our survey with that group for next year to understand what the critical factors for Cherokee kids are that will play into planning for workforce development, education issues and education programs," Woodall said. All the information taken from the survey should be available in October and will be posted on the Cherokee Nation web site. Travis Snell can be contacted by phone: 918-453-5358 or by e-mail.

Related Cherokee Nation contact information:

Mike Miller, Cherokee Nation Director of Communications Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2210) Fax: 918-458-5580 E-mail: Communications@cherokee.org Larry Daugherty, Advertising Manager Cherokee Nation - Public Affairs Phone 918-456-0671 (Ex.2324) E-mail: ldaugherty@cherokee.org

Steven Swogger, Agriculture Liaison Natural Resources Department Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2546) FAX: 918-458-7673 E-mail: sswogger@cherokee.org Bradley D. Peak, Cherokee Nation Natural Resources Specialist Phone: 918-456-0671 (ex.2843) E-mail: bpeak@cherokee.org