Journal Record: Meetings strengthen ties between tribes, cities

By: Journal Record Staff January 25, 2023

The Oklahoma Municipal League, in partnership with the Fort Sill Apache Tribe and City of Lawton, recently hosted the first in a series of meetings planned to strengthen ties between tribes and cities in Oklahoma.

The OML and municipalities the organization represents are interested in forming stronger relationships with the Tribal Nations, OML Executive Director Mike Fina said.

“These meetings are a way to bring together tribal nations and municipalities to see how we can better work together and be partners in building a better Oklahoma,” he said.

The event in Lawton included panels on broadband and working together to invest federal dollars, community building and economic development. Leaders from the Apache Tribe, Caddo Nation, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Comanche Nation, Delaware Nation, Fort Sill Apache Tribe, Kiowa Indian Tribe and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes took part.

“The tribal symposium put a focus on what the tribes and municipalities can do to work together as partners,” said Lori Gooday Ware, chairwoman of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe. “By sitting down and talking to each other, we learn what we have in common and how we can connect on projects and partner with each other.”