As a young boy in Pryor, Okla., I fondly remember the stories my Cherokee grandmother told of living off the land, making use of everything around her. Yet I also recall how rare those stories were, and how my grandmother was cautious about sharing our culture because she had been punished as a girl for speaking our native language and wearing native dress. I wondered why we had to be so careful, and it was difficult to understand where I fit in. Sadly, this is an all too common experience for many Native American youngsters.

As an adult, I never forgot the internal struggles I faced as a child. As a teacher within the Cherokee Nation, I saw those struggles in my school kids, too – not only did they face cultural differences, they also dealt with other issues such as violence, drugs and teen pregnancy. I often watched school buses leaving in the afternoon, wondering where the kids were going and whether they would be back the next day. For many young people, there was no place to go after school, no place to fit in and no one to talk to.

With the help of local school superintendents, police chiefs and elders of the community, I decided to do something about these problems. Starting with nothing more than an old feed store, we transformed a dilapidated structure into a teen center. Open on Friday and Saturday nights, the center attracted youth from around the community.

Eventually, with the help of Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, we converted the teen center into a Boys & Girls Club. In just over four years, the feed store has grown from five members to six Club units, serving 1,200 youth. Native American kids in our community now have a positive place to go where they are able to share their concerns, questions, thoughts, hopes and dreams.

To keep Native American cultural values alive, programs at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Green Country incorporate Cherokee traditions into Club events and programs. Through activities such as storytelling by elders, members not only get a sense of their history and culture, they are also taught to handle tough issues. And through B&GCA programs such as Club Service and AmeriCorps, many members are giving back to the Clubs while saving money for college and earning scholarships.