SPOKESPERSON’S MESSAGE: July 2023 Newsletter
ᎣᏏᏲ ᏂᎦᏛ osiyo nigad! (hello, everyone!)
It’s full blown summer–ᎪᎨᏱ gogeyi in Cherokee–and we’re feeling the sunshine. We’re looking forward to our annual campout this month from July 28th to 30th. Like last year, it’s at Gold Country Campground Resort in Pine Grove. Spots are still available, so if you haven’t already, make your reservations TODAY by calling (209) 296-4650 or visit https://www.goldcountrycampground.com/.
Also, be sure to mark your calendars for our next community gathering and potluck on Saturday, August 19th, 12:00pm, at Valhalla Mobile Estates!
We please need your help in developing programming, community resources, and events that meet the needs of our CNCV members. To that end, we humbly ask that you complete our new CNCV community needs survey. Your voice helps our organization embody the Cherokee value of ᎦᏚᎩ gadugi—working together to help those in our community. We will use information that we collect from this survey to assess our current programming and to develop new approaches to engaging and supporting our community.
In this month’s newsletter, we have loads of features! Council members Sheila Zangrilli and Sabrina McKinney represented CNCV at this year’s Cherokee Nation Community and Cultural Outreach leadership conference where we received a Community Impact Award. You can watch Sabrina and Sheila, along with representatives from our sister community, Marble City Activity Organization, at the conference here. Be sure to check out photos from the trip in our newsletter!
We also feature a scholarship offering to Dillon Keller (Pit River/Paiute), a Twin Rivers Unified School District student. In partnership with the school district, CNCV presented a scholarship using funds raised from last year’s All Nations Native Craft Fair. We also share some great photos from our annual cleanup of the John Rollin Ridge family grave plot in Grass Valley.
Elder Mike Webb contributes a piece on family connections to statues of two famous Cherokees–Sequoyah and Will Rogers–found in Washington, D.C. and Santa Monica, CA. We also congratulate outgoing spokesperson Jonathan Radocay on finishing his PhD in English, with a Designated Emphasis in Native American Studies, from UC Davis.
Finally, please accept my sincere gratitude for the warm welcome as our incoming CNCV spokesperson. I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting many of you at our gatherings and events and am honored to be in the lead role of servitude representing our CNCV community going forward.
That’s it for now. We hope to see you at the campout in a few weeks!
ᏙᏓᏓᎪᎲᎢ dodadagohvi till we meet again,
Jessica Hilderbrand
Incoming Spokesperson
Jonathan Radocay
Outgoing Spokesperson
