26-05-2025
Cherokee Nation opens new state-of-the-art Jay Head Start facility
JAY, Okla. — Cherokee Nation recently invested $6.5 million into the tribe's youngest citizens in Delaware County.
The new state-of-the-art Jay Head Start Center was celebrated on May 22. The Cherokee Nation established its Head Start program in 1978, and has served more than 900 children.
'Not only does this program help kids, but I've also seen it help mothers who've reached for continuing education after seeing what these children need. The first Head Start in Jay was in an old American Legion building, so comparing that structure to this is unmeasurable.'
District 10 Councilor Melvina Shotpouch
The 9,300-square-foot facility includes office space, a conference room, two Head Start classrooms, a large outdoor playground, and an indoor gross motor room. The gross motor room serves as a shelter during inclement weather with a FEMA-rated tornado shelter. A rooftop garden is also featured in the project.
'Today, our Nation is celebrating a major investment into the future. The Council of the Cherokee Nation will always have the back of our children. We will continue to follow in the steps of our ancestors, who made major investments into education after removal.'
Cherokee Nation Council Speaker Mike Shambaugh.
'Studies show that for every $1 invested in Head Start, we see as much as $9 in societal benefits,' said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.
He said that an investment by the Cherokee Nation into early childhood education 'signals that our nation's best days are ahead of us, not behind us. '
The Verna D. Thompson Early Childhood Education Act provided funding for the Jay project.
In 2024, Chief Hoskin reauthorized the Act with support from the Council of the Cherokee Nation. The legislation doubled the tribe's investment in Head Start construction from $40 million to $80 million to replace or rehabilitate all of the tribe's Head Start centers with new, state-of-the-art facilities.
In November of 2024, the tribe celebrated its first project completion under the landmark legislation with the new Nowata Head Start building. Other Head Start facilities completed through the project will include Tahlequah, Stilwell (combining two facilities in the area), Salina, Pryor/MidAmerica Industrial Park, and Kenwood.
The federal Head Start program was established in 1965 and is celebrating its 60th anniversary in May 2025. Head Start serves more than 40 million children and families across the U.S., and more than half of the Head Starts in the U.S. are located in rural communities.
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