Tribal Council District 5
Melvina Shotpouch
P.O. Box 1380
Jay, OK 74346
Home: (918) 253-8966
Email: Melvina-Shotpouch@cherokee.org
Residence and family information: Jay, Oklahoma. Shotpouch is a native of Delaware County, 4/4 Cherokee and speaks her native language fluently. She is the oldest of the late Mike and Jewel (Chopper) Shotpouch’s nine children. Her family still resides on her grandfather’s original allotment. The family known for their “Shotpouch Hog Fry” celebrations is very close and believes in preserving their Cherokee culture. This year will be the 50th year for this celebration even though Mike, Elmer and Gilbert, the elders of this family, passed on these past two years. Melvina and her siblings will carry on the tradition. Shotpouch has two sons, Kenton, who is employed by the Department of Human Services as a child welfare worker, and Kip who is a freshman at Northeastern State University.
Education: Jay High School, Oklahoma State Technical School and Oklahoma A&M. Shotpouch enhanced her personal development and received state accreditation by attending numerous continuing education programs in county government at Oklahoma State University.
Describe the leadership experience you would bring to the Tribal Council.
Shotpouch is fluent with her language, participates in community activities and being on the tribal council for eight years enables her to be a strong advocate for the Cherokee people. Since she was 12 years old, volunteer services has been a vital part of the Melvina’s community participation. The community honored her with the “Citizen of the Year” award for her activism. Melvina’s first volunteer work was with the local Head Start program. More recently, she was instrumental in securing the area’s Vo-Tech school and the assisted living center for elders. Melvina has served on numerous boards and committees such as eight years on the Jay City Council, Board of Commissioners for the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation, President of the Delaware County Democratic Women’s Club, secretary of Jay Chamber of Commerce for five years and also served on the tribal council’s health, executive and finance, rules, language and culture, resource and community development committees.
She is currently serving as co-chair of the community and tribal services committee, Democratic Affirmative Action Committee for District 2 and has worked in the Delaware County Assessor’s Office for the past 16 years.
Describe the role of the office for which you are a candidate in relation to the other branches of the Cherokee Nation government.
Shotpouch says the role of the tribal council is to be voice of the Cherokee people, to serve them and to care for their needs. As the legislative body, the tribal council must be able to make difficult decisions necessary to lead our nation. We must make important decisions that affect people’s lives, and this can only be done through decisive leadership. With the guidance of the government, our tribal operations must ensure that programs are developed fully and delivered to the Cherokee people with quality service in a timely manner.
What are your priorities for the Cherokee Nation?
Her priorities include: Working to develop new avenues for providing adequate services to the Cherokee people, also that all business is executed in accordance with the Cherokee Constitution. We are obligated to spend federal and tribal dollars on the appropriated programs and to inform the Cherokee people of how all the dollars are spent. We should strive to preserve our language, culture, water rights, improve our programs in every area of daily living and securing finances by bringing in new economic developments by striving to become self-sufficient.
What is the biggest challenge facing the Cherokee Nation today and how do you plan on solving it?
Shotpouch sees the following as challenges facing the Cherokee Nation: Not having enough funds for our health, housing, education and economic development will always be our challenge. Also there seems to be a great need of improvement on delivery of service and setting up more funds for emergency needs. We must look closely at all resources before coming to a conclusion. Housing needs are still a big issue to me, it doesn’t seem we are providing service to the fullest to those who are in dire need of housing.
“I hope to continue to look for answers and funds to improve health care services, safeguard and increase scholarships for our youth, provide more housing and improvements for existing homes, preserve our language, culture and traditions and preserve and develop our water rights and protect our land,” she said.