The Cherokee Nation plans to build a Career Services training center at the Cherokee County Fairgrounds, a site the tribe recently purchased using federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan
TAHLEQUAH â The Cherokee Nation has received more than $4.3 million worth of grants for its Coming Home Re-entry Program, which assists tribal citizens recently released from incarceration.
According to Career Services, which oversees the program, three new grants and one extension were awarded through the U.S. Department of Justice. The funds will help in various aspects of the growing program, which has assisted more than 1,100 CN citizens since 2015.
âDuring the calendar year 2020, we assisted 247 clients with re-entry services, which far exceeded previous years, and we are already on pace to surpass that number in 2021 as we are averaging well over 20 new participants per month,â program manager Matthew Lamont said. âThis is due to many factors including legislation, sentencing changes, early releases, pandemic, but much is because we have expanded to include justice-involved citizens. Expanding and offering services to justice-involved citizens is a proacti