RED ROCK, Okla. – After nearly a year without a Web presence, the Otoe-Missouria Tribe launched its new official Web site www.omtribe.org. The new site provides information about the tribe, its businesses, tribal departments and services offered to tribal citizens.


“With members living all over the world, the internet is a great tool to help keep everyone informed,” Tribal Chairman John R. Shotton says. “And it is important that the website be as comprehensive as possible so that tribal members have access to the information they need.”
The new site is divided into four main areas: government, tribal enterprises, departments and culture. The tribe’s Public Information Officer Heather Sarles says that the site was designed this way for ease of navigation.
“We are a government and government websites tend to be very large and very confusing,” Sarles says. “We tried to avoid that with this design.”
The government section of the website contains information about the current Tribal Council, the tribal constitution, minutes and resolutions for Tribal Council meetings, election board information and voting ordinances. There are plans in the near future to start posting on-demand video of Tribal Council meetings so that non-local tribal members can watch the democratic process even though they may not be there to participate.
“The Tribal Council is the decision making body of the tribe, but they are elected by tribal members,” Sarles says. “The Council is employed by the members, so to speak, and they must be as transparent as possible in what they do. That’s why the government pages are so important.”
The Tribal Enterprise pages contain information about the Otoe-Missouria Development Authority, which is the economic development arm of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe. This section contains links to the businesses held by OMDA including the tribe’s four casinos, two convenience stores and the tribe’s online store Wok^un Wosa.
“The members of OMDA are dedicated to making the tribe financially self-sufficient,” Shotton says. “We want people to visit our casinos and stop at our convenience stores. We want tribal members to know that the success of these businesses is what drives the revenue to support the tribe’s present and future needs.”
The departmental pages contain information about the various tribal departments and the services they offer. Tribal members will find information about health programs, elder services, education, financial assistance, social services, WIC, police services, environmental programs, enrollment, housing, child development, Head Start and the tax commission.
“The department section of the site is extensive,” Sarles says. “There is a tremendous amount of information about what services are offered, who is eligible for those services and department contact information.”
About 90% of the services offered by the tribe are funded by grant-making bodies such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Health Services and the United States Department of Agriculture, for this reason the service area for many of the tribe’s programs are limited to certain counties or proximity to the tribal headquarters. However, non-local tribal members are eligible for programs such as education, financial assistance and certain housing programs. Information and applications for these programs are available on the site.
The culture page is the least developed area on the new site and was created this way intentionally. This section will eventually have pages dedicated to stories submitted by the Otoe-Missouria people themselves. It will also have a video library of elders and a photo gallery all created or submitted by tribal members. Sarles says that the actual content of this section is out of her hands.
“Culture is a curious thing,” Sarles says. “Some people think that you can capture it in a book and store it on a shelf, but culture is a living thing. It is stored in the people. It is ever changing and that section of the website is designed to evolve and grow. The people will be the designers. It will be as large or as small as they will it.”
Demand for information about the tribe has increased dramatically since June of 2009 when the requirements for membership changed and the blood quantum dropped to 1/8. Since that time there has been a 67% increase in tribal enrollment.
Many of the newly enrolled tribal members are under the age of 40 and are accustom to seeking out information via the web. So in addition to the website, the Otoe-Missouria Tribe also has an official Facebook page where information about events, elections and news is posted and members can exchange information with each other. The official Facebook page is called the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians.
“With the increase in our membership, many people want to know what services are available to them,” Shotton says. “They want to know more about their government and they want to learn more about their tribe. We are trying to provide that to them through the tribal newsletter, the new Web site and the Facebook page.”