Cherokee Nation empowers its citizens with IT

Automation has also enabled Starr’s team to maintain the portal without having to budget for additional staff. And as other departments get on board with the Gadugi Portal, the focus is on prioritizing growth by adding new features and services to the platform.

“The great thing is that it reflects our government services, [which are] are very diverse. They traverse education, commerce, culture, language, career services, human services, and we’ve been able to represent a mix of all of that with the Gadugi Portal,” says Starr.

Gadugi Portal is an example of how digital transformation can be leveraged to improve lives and provide community support. COVID-19 relief was just the beginning for the Gadugi Portal, which now gives citizens access to scholarship aid, college housing assistance, emergency utility assistance, drought relief for ranchers, emergency storm relief, clothing and coat assistance for children in need, and summer camp and learning opportunities for students, among a growing number of services.

Tribal citizens can also stay connected through the portal, open tickets for service requests, check on their request status, get updates, and see once it’s been flagged and completed. The app has continued to grow, finding new avenues to provide resources to tribal members and to “encourage the adoption of culture” through the portal, says Starr. For example, Starr’s team ran a campaign with the natural resources department to distribute Cherokee heirloom seeds to citizens.

Going forward, Starr and her team aim to add additional resources and services for a range of Cherokee Nation departments, as well as improve the portal’s ease-of-use and implement further automation — all in service of improving the overall user experience. 

“We’re working to implement a new enhancement through Salesforce called public sector solutions, which is going to change some things for us. It’s going to add some automation and just make the user experience easier for everyone. It’s having that trickle-down effect to the other departments; they now see the benefit and they want to be a part of this,” says Chris Welch, IT product manager at Cherokee Nation.