Governor Bill Anoatubby
Reflecting on our past, planning our future
By Bill Anoatubby, Governor, Chickasaw Nation
Chokma,
Happy New Year from the Chickasaw Nation! We hope everyone enjoyed the holiday season with friends and loved ones and are ready to take on a new year full of hope and promise. At the Chickasaw Nation, we are continually planning for the years ahead with foresight and determination to meet our mission to enhance the overall quality of life of the Chickasaw people.
We are also appreciative of the great growth and progress of the past year. As we look back to 2023, driven by a spirit of service and united in our mission, we accomplished much. The expansion of our business endeavors continued with the opening of West Bay in Kingston, key additions to WinStar World Casino & Resort. With progress toward the completion of Lake Crest Resort on Lake Murray and the OKANA Resort & Indoor Waterpark in Oklahoma City,the future of our economic foundations is bright.
This past year, our department of health had more than one million patient visits and filled nearly a million and a half prescriptions, including 600,000 by mail. Our team also continued to pursue beneficial partnerships and innovative services to launch a WIC online shopping service, the first of its kind anywhere in the United States. We continued to expand education and development opportunities for all ages. This year, Chickasaw Nation higher education and career technology programs awarded more than 5,500 Chickasaw students with approximately $29.3 million in financial support. More than 800 Chickasaw youth received career development training though our Toksali SMART program.
Just as we continue to invest in the development of our next generation, our commitment to ensuring our elders’ needs are met remains strong. In 2023, our 12 senior centers served more than 120,000 meals and provided more than 13,000 units of over-the-counter medications.
As part of our dedication to continuous improvement, we welcome citizen feedback as an invaluable resource to understanding how we can better serve them. To continue developing and improving programs, we hosted another of our listening conferences, where representatives from our community connection groups throughout the United States offered a wealth of ideas and insights.
The new Chickasaw Press imprint, Leaning Pole Press, is for Chickasaw authors who desire to publish a wider variety of content. We also developed and launched an online Genealogy Request Portal, allowing genealogy research requests to be submitted online.
We had many reasons to celebrate throughout 2023, including several important milestones. This year marked the 40th anniversary of the ratification of our 1983 Constitution, the Chickasaw Honor Guard celebrated 30 years of service, and our tribe grew to more than 80,000 citizens worldwide.
2024 looks to be another promising year with many events, accomplishments, progress and continued growth on the horizon. We are grateful to our dedicated workforce who is unified in our shared mission to serve the Chickasaw people, as well as our many communities and partners in our success. Together, we will continue to build an even stronger Chickasaw Nation in the years ahead.