The Muscogee Nation and the Cherokee Nation have announced they will be getting millions to billions of dollars of American Rescue Act funds. The money is to help with COVID-19 recovery, and the tribes have up to three years to spend it.  

For the last several days, the parking lot at the Cherokee Nation has been full, and there are long lines of Cherokee citizens waiting to get enrolled. Many of these citizens are here to enroll themselves or their children to be eligible for two $1,000 checks from the tribe.

It's all part of the $1.8 billion the tribe got for COVID-19 recovery. 

Related Story: Cherokee Nation To Distribute Relief Money To Its Citizens    

“We’ve been here about three hours, but it’s worth the wait to get help,” said Cherokee citizen Kimberly Thirsty.

Thirsty came to the Cherokee Nation headquarters to enroll her children after becoming a single mom. She said she had extra incentive knowing that she and her children will be eligible to receive relief money.  

"It will help catch up on my bills because I haven't been able to work a lot because of the COVID,” Thirsty said. 

The tribe normally averages about 50 enrollments a day, but lately the average has been over 300. Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said he is proposing 43% of the funds go towards Cherokee citizens. 

Key components of the proposal, on a percentage basis, include:

1. 43.09% - COVID impact payments to every Cherokee citizen, irrespective of age or residency ($1,000 per citizen via the Gadugi Portal annually for two years)
2. 4.39% - a-sv-dlv-i Anti-Poverty Initiative)
3. 2.74% - Cherokee Nation Payroll & Hazard Pay
4. 0.27% - COVID Vaccine Education & Outreach
5. 4.39% - Cherokee Nation Workplace Health & Safety Improvements
6. .82% - Food security
7. 6.59% - Housing / Quarantine
8. .22% - PPE
9. 1.1% - Community Partners / CCO
10. 5.49% - Job Training / Small Business / Economic Impact
11. 6.59% - Education / Language / Higher Education Relief & Assistance
12. 9.6% - Government Revenue Replacement
13. 7.13% - Health Infrastructure / Behavioral Health / Wellness Programs
14. 3.18% - Transportation and Infrastructure (including roads and water)
15. 3.57% - Broadband infrastructure
16. .82% - Financial administration of ARPA Funds

"We had to get through it together, we need to recover together,” said Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. Hoskin said the extra funds will benefit everyone inside and outside the tribe.

“We’re talking about infrastructure, economic development, we’re talking about healthcare. With these funds, we can do an accelerated plan to build a new hospital,” Hoskin said. "We’ve got an opportunity to do things we’ve thought about doing in the next decade or so, and to do them in a short term. But we got a lot more planning to do.”

The Cherokee Council will vote on Thursday on how to spend the billion dollars. The application process for the citizen checks will open on June 1st.

Cherokee Nation citizens are encouraged to register for the tribe’s new Gadugi Portal, a centralized database that will be vital to citizens as they apply for future tribal programs and services, including COVID-19 relief offered through the tribe’s upcoming Respond, Recover and Rebuild initiatives. Through the portal, citizens can manage or update their essential information with the tribe and connect with many Cherokee Nation departments. They will also use the online portal to apply for RRR assistance once the applications are available.

The portal can be accessed at https://gadugiportal.cherokee.org. For any technical issues using the portal, please email support-gadugiportal@cherokee.org.