Adawe
April 2024
News of the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma
From the desk of Chief’s Office
Aanii, Mnagiizhgat nangwaa. Wiimnagiizhgat waabang!
I can't believe it is already time for another tribal update, it feels like yester-day we just completed the last one. We have continued to improve our inclu-sivity for all of our tribal members over the last few months; I can't wait to see where we are in a few more. We have had a couple major snags with zooming our meetings to tribal members, which I personally want to apologize for, but I am so grateful for all the ones that have went well. I want to thank everyone for all the patience you have supplied myself and the board through this learning process that we were never able to do previously, I'm in awe of how many members we have getting to sit in on our meetings and want to take an active interest in our tribe. When I was a little girl, I remember sitting in the back of the long house during general council excited to watch and learn from my ancestors and I'm blessed to be able to allow this for our members both local and distant.
As mentioned in the last newsletter, our ties with Ottawa University continue to grow and expand exponentially as we develop these unbreakable bonds with the staff at all the campuses. I was recently honored to attend the unveiling of a new student dormitory and classroom facility at the Surprise, Arizona campus while attending the Board of Trustees Meetings there. The campus is stunning and the staff are next-level amazing! While meeting with faculty and staff we were able to further build on our tribal connections and begin to diversify the university with talks of adding Indigenous perspectives into multiple courses like Philosophy, World Religions, and even the new nursing program through partnerships with the local Indian Health Services, a process that is hopeful to catch on at the Kansas Campus as well. We will continue to work toward ensuring that the Ottawa Tribe always has a recognized voting right on the board of trustees and an appreciated perspective in all major decisions on the campus.
The initial tribal gathering we had in January was a great turn out of tribal individuals, we had tribal students from Ottawa University gathering with elders and small children alike while I was able to make frybread and facilitate some games. Having our people gather again quarterly warms not only my heart but the spirit of our ancestors is definitely rejuvenated again. I am glad that these connections have been maintained and will be passed down to the future generations for many years to come. Additional upcoming tribal gatherings include a shawl-making class on April 7 that I will be teaching at the Ottawa Peoria Building (all materials provided), another quarterly gathering April 27 at the long house (tribal building by the cemetery), as well as beading classes, quill classes, and cooking classes all to be announced soon on our Facebook page and website. Don't forget the third quarterly gathering will be held in Manistee, Michigan where our predecessors began rebuilding connections over 25 years ago with the tribes in that area and into Wiki. If you need any assistance attending any of these events please let me know, kalisha.oto@gmail.com, and we will do the best we can to help!
Lastly, I have been hard at work with my mini team of go-getters trying to upgrade our tribal shop in the office to be more inclusive to Indigenous needs and Ottawa Tribal spirit! We have been able to make custom beading trays, stickers, and iron-on leather patches with the tribal seal engraved, with plans to have earrings, keychains, and many other custom products to show your Ottawa and Anishinaabe Pride! These items are currently available over the phone or in person in the office but we hope to have them on the new websitc for purchase over the next couple of months (but staff would be more than happy to zoom you videos of anything you need!)
Chi-Miigwech to all the amazing tribal members that have been able to take advantage of our new texting and e-mailing program, we at the office, are so excited that this is working out so well and hope to be able to utilize its functions across multiple different departments.
Miigwech, Wiingezin, Zaagidwin
Chief Kalisha Dixon Pheasant
New Year. New Excitement!
New year, new excitement! The question everyone has is, "What's the update on the hotel build? The warehouse dirt work, as well as stream management, is now completed, with property management nearing completion. Preparations for the lagoon are underway, and we are nearing the beginning of construction! For 2024, we started the new year by making a dream vacation come true with our annual January promotion of The Great Escape for two grand prize winners. During February and March, Show Me The Money has players in a showdown to see who could win up to $10,000.00 in cash! Drawing nights were February 17, March 9, and March 30.
Our Area 51 residents packed up and returned home on New Year's Eve. The Mothership departed after the $24,711.04 jackpot was won on a $0.60 bet on Lobstermania 2. Needless to say, our jackpot winner was extremely thrilled and grateful to ring in the New Year with over 20 grand in his pocket.
The Steakhouse Lounge was filled during the NFL playoff games with drink specials and a festive group of fans. Wyandotte Public Schools received their donation from our ticket redemption kiosks donation promotion, Keep the Change. Our player communities' $960.18 donation brought out the heartfelt emotions of a Child Nutrition Clerk who works in the school's cafeteria. As of February 16, 2024, $4,486.70 has been donated via our kiosk for Ottawa County School Lunches. Another $3,092.04 has been donated to the Wild Heart Ranch for their efforts to rehabilitate wildlife.
New machines hit the floor during February! The highly anticipated Mr. Money Bags Makes A Mint brings Super Red Screen Free Spins and expanding reels to our floor! Neptune's Gold Wheel introduces a new gold wheel bonus that is achievable by collecting diamonds! Silver Dollar Shootout Showdown has a $100K progressive and new exciting bonuses to play! Pinata Pays went live in January and has stirred up the buzz online with its low bet jackpots being claimed by players within the first couple of weeks it was live.
A total of $881,386.99 was paid over 386 jackpots during January! $21,962.58 was the largest jackpot won during the month on a $1.76 bet by a player from Missouri.
Keep up with everything happening at High Winds Casino by visiting our website! You can see all of our promotions, the newest machines, and our online newsletter, The Wind Report, where we highlight jackpots, donations amounts, and what our slot channels are spinning up on the floor. You may also subscribe to our newsletter via email. For everyone on Facebook, follow our Facebook page to join in on celebrating all of our player wins! Followers who earn their Top Fan badges by interacting with our page are automatically invited to our Top Fan group, where fans can join in on exclusive promotions for Top Fans only!
Upcoming events.
March - Footcare-NTHS nurse
March 7th - Health Screenings Caregiver Conference
March 8th - First Christian Church @ 9am-2pm CG Support group / HL training.
March 15th 10 am - Smoke and co2 detectors.
April - Footcare -NTHS nurse
April 12th Health Screenings Caregiver Pamper Day.
April 18th -First Christian Church 9am-1pm CG Support group / HL training.
April 26th 10am - Emergency- Be prepared.
May - Footcare-NTHS nurse
May 10th Health screenings CG /Support group/ HL training.
May 29th @ 10am - Skin Care
June- Footcare-NTHS nurse. June 21st Health Screenings CG Support group/ HL training. fun way to exercise
June 2nd @ 10am
Programs.
Ottawa Tribe CHR/Healthy Living, Ottawa Tribes Elder's Utilities, Ottawa/ Peoria T6 Caregiver Program, LIHEAP (low income housing energy assistance program).
For dates, times, and location or to sign up for special events contact:
Linda Plott
13 S. HWY 69A
Miami, Ok. 74354 918-540-2377
lplott.oto@gmail.com
Ottawa University
Founded in 1865, Ottawa University has a rich history and heritage. Throughout its 150+ years, the University has endeavored to educate its students, many from underserved student populations, for lifetimes of enlightened faith, exemplary service, inspired leadership, and personal significance.
This tradition began with the Ottawa Indian tribe. The University's roots can be found in the work of Baptist missionaries in collaboration with the Tribe then located on the banks of the Marais des Cygnes ("river of swans") in what would become the town of Ottawa, Kansas, located approximately 40 miles southwest of Kansas City. Reverend Jotham Meeker and his wife, Eleanor, labored ceaselessly to improve the lives of the Ottawas, serving as ministers, nurse and doctor, business agents, marriage counselors, teachers, and of course, as spiritual counselors. Their seminal work, the prophetic vision of tribal leaders, and the engagement of others such as John Tecumseh (Tauy) Jones led to an eventual agreement between the Kansas Baptist denomination and the Ottawa Tribe to form a school for the benefit of the children of the Ottawas.
The original intent was to charter a boarding school for "the children of the Tribe between the ages of six and eighteen who shall be entitled to be received at such institution, and to be subsisted, clothed, educated, and attended in sickness...to continue so long as any children of the tribe shall present themselves for their exercise." The Tribe endowed 20,000 acres of its land to be utilized in lieu of a cash endowment to support the fledgling institution, which had no other means of income. Operating funds were to be received through the sale of land subject to various terms and conditions. In exchange, the Baptists agreed to build and operate the school with a promise to provide the free education contemplated in the agreement. A board was formed, operations undertaken, and the idea of the initial school soon extended to the formation of a college-motivated by the desire for higher education for tribal members, the Baptists, and the recognition by townspeople that a college could act as an economic growth engine in a still emerging community with great ambitions. Similar institutions were seeded all over America in the same general timeframe by many different church denominations. This accounts for the relatively large number of smaller private colleges and universities which dot the landscape of our country to this day.
While the purposes and aspirations of the new college were noble, not all of the actions of those initially involved were equally so. Though instructed by a charter personally signed by President Abraham Lincoln, governance of the new board was at times loose and there were intimations of self-dealing related to some of the land sales. The new school struggled in the general environment of a still settling frontier, the aftermath of the Civil War, ongoing appropriation of Indian lands by whites (including some of that of the Ottawas, who later moved to Miami, Oklahoma where tribal headquarters remains today), and roving bands of marauders and partisans (Quantrill's raiders had killed 150 Lawrence citizens just three years earlier in an infamous raid just 20 miles to the north of Ottawa). Poor oversight and accounting practices led to the diminishment of some of the lands originally intended to support the school, but these and other difficulties were eventually overcome as new leadership was interjected into the governance of the institution allowing the nascent college to persevere.
Despite many challenges, Ottawa's Christian heritage and relationship with the Ottawa Tribe remain alive and powerful today. In October of 2008, newly installed University President, Kevin C. Eichner, signed a new agreement with Chief John Ballard of the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma through which the historical connection between the University and the Tribe was significantly refreshed and expanded. Under this agreement, any certified tribal member is eligible to attend any of Ottawa University's campuses, on-ground or online, free of tuition, board, and room charges. This new agreement, fully and unanimously endorsed by the University's Board of Trustees and the Ottawa Tribal Council, is to be preserved "in perpetuity" and has resulted in a significant increase in the number of Ottawa Indian students enrolling throughout the University and to a re-kindling of an even stronger and more positive relationship with the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma. It has been widely celebrated by faculty, alumni and friends of the University and tribal members as emblematic of the institution's core mission and principles and as an enduring commitment to the mutual purposes of the Tribe and the University.
In the mid-2010s, Ottawa University stood at a crossroads regarding the future of higher education, identifying limited opportunities and threats that were significant. Ottawa University chose to be bold in embarking on a path that some would consider crazy, but which the University saw as entrepreneurial: the development of an entirely new residential campus in Arizona. The City of Surprise, located in the fast-growing West Valley of Phoenix, was seeking to attract a four-year institution as an economic and community development priority. The strong public-private relationship that was forged — created from a shared vision, carried out with dynamic leadership, accomplished with shared resources, and energized the will to cooperate — became the key to the project's success. The launch of the campus was in July 2017, with few facilities (one education/office space and temporary buildings), no housing except rented apartments and hotel rooms, and skeleton staff, but shockingly recruited an inaugural class of 434 pioneering students. Now with a new Union, two residential structures, and top-of-the-line athletic facilities, along with classrooms in multiple buildings, OUAZ has arrived. Enrollment has been as high as 900 with ambitious growth goals for the future.
From humble beginnings, Ottawa University has grown from a single building into a comprehensive educational institution serving over 4,000 students on four campuses and online. Today, more than 22,000 OU graduates, including 5,000 in the Pacific Rim, have made and continue to make valuable contributions in their communities, corporations, and churches. Born of a special spirit, which permeates the University and its graduates to this day, Ottawa University is blessed by a rich heritage and an unquenchable commitment to educate increasing numbers of students for lifetimes of faith, service, leadership and significance. Check out what OU has to offer at www.ottawa.edu
CCDF Eligibility
Childcare assistance to qualifying families is avail - able through the Ottawa Tribe CCDF program. Eligibility is based upon: family size, school or employment sched - ules, income and residency requirements. For more infor - mation call 918-542-7259.
Eligibility requirements include:
• Must be working and/or in school
• Must live within the 4-state service area (call for specific counties served)
• Must be member of federally recognized tribe
• Must meet income guidelines
CCDF Program Contacts: Carol Essex, CCDF Director cessex.oto@gmail.com Kristi Smith, CCDF Program Specialist ksmith.oto@gmail.com Hailey Harper, CCDF ARPA Specialist hharper.oto@gmail.com
Childcare applications are available on the tribal website: www.ottawatribe.gov/services/child-care-developmentfund/
Applications may be submitted by email: ksmith.oto@ gmail.com, by mail: Ottawa Tribe CCDF, P.O. Box 110, Miami, OK 74355, or in per - son at the tribal office.
Check Out This Website! www.usa.gov/replace-vitaldocuments Many programs –including the CCDF program – require some ‘official’ documents for application. This website provides a link to all 50 states where you may access information on how to obtain replacement documents such as birth, death, marriage and divorce.
www.funology.com Parents are always being advised to limit screen time for children. This site claims to be the ‘ultimate parenting toolbox’ – offering a variety of offline activities to entertain and engage children including art, crafts, games and jokes.
If you would like to receive emails from the tribe, and have not already fi led this out on the internet please fi ll out and send back and we will get it added.
