Strategies - Cultural Preservation

To improve the quality of life for members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) by helping tribal members live, share and preserve the Cherokee culture. 

Strategies 

Culture-based Leadership Development

• Support leadership programs that are grounded in traditional Cherokee cultural values.
• Identify and support formalized ways to keep new leaders connected with each other and aware of opportunities to help the community.
• Support the learning, teaching, and encouragement of civic participation and selfless leadership.
• Support selected cultural exchange experiences that encourage enrolled EBCI members and neighbors in western North Carolina to expand their horizons and teach others about the Cherokee culture.

Learning and Preserving Cherokee Culture

• Support the sharing and teaching of Cherokee history and culture throughout the western North Carolina region, utilizing programming developed by the Cherokee community.
• Support the means for tribal members to interact with community members who are considered cultural experts so that future generations will understand, value and maintain the Cherokee culture, language and values.
• Facilitate opportunities for Cherokee artists to improve their art and business skill so they can better their quality of life.

Cherokee Language Revitalization

• Support start-up and expansion of community-based language programming to encourage tribal members on the Qualla Boundary and in the western North Carolina region, especially second language learners. 
• Support the development of supplemental materials for teaching Cherokee to pre-schoolers on the Qualla Boundary, students in the Cherokee school system, and students at institutions of higher learning in western North Carolina.
• Support language training of teachers and future teachers at the Kituwah Immersion Academy so they can teach the North Carolina Standard Course of Study to students in the Cherokee language.
• Apply learning from all language revitalization efforts to refine strategies, create new approaches and update the overall plan for language revitalization.