Caseworker’s path lined with desire for investigation, love of families
By Paige Willett, Citizen Potawatomi Nation Public Information Department
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time when programs across the country like Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s FireLodge Children & Family Services bring awareness to child abuse and neglect and advocate for happy and healthy childhoods for all. CPN Indian Child Welfare Department caseworker Whitney Coots helps children of neglect and abuse improve their situation every day.
She sought a different career path while in college, but life events and interests opened doors for her to utilize her skills in an unexpected way. Coots graduated in 2015 from the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond with a double major in forensic science and criminal justice and joined FireLodge’s workforce in 2019.
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Citizen Potawatomi Nation Public Information Department
The past year presented extreme challenges for public health and first responders. In the pandemic’s beginning, agencies across the United States scrambled to find enough personal protective equipment for those on the front lines treating patients.
Following the rise in cases through summer and fall 2020, officials in these sectors turned their focus on sorting logistics for mass coronavirus testing drives. As the winter spike in cases raged throughout the country, they then geared up for what many hope will be the final stage of this pandemic mass vaccination drives.
The presence of vaccines is not as straightforward as merely putting a single needle into an arm. Administering the first vaccines as they become available posed severe logistical challenges that federal, state, local and tribal professionals had to navigate. For instance, the Pfizer vaccines, first approved in the U.S., required ultracold storage machines t
CPN Language Department receives $200K grant
By Paige Willett, Citizen Potawatomi Nation Public Information Department
The United States Department of Interior’s Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development awarded $3 million as part of its Living Languages Grant Program. Eighteen tribes across the country received funding, including approximately $200,000 to the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, which will extend its language learning resources.
“We got the top amount awarded, which is pretty exciting,” said CPN Language Department Director Justin Neely. “So, it’ll help fund the department as a whole, and it’ll help fund staff to create these books. … We have a pretty talented crew right now of folks, which I’m really pleased by.”
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