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Osage Nation Census receives over 4,500 responses

Gift cards are currently being processed for the first 1,800 Osages who filled out the Osage Nation Census

Results from the Nation’s first census should be ready for presentation in about six months.

Self Governance and Strategic Planning analyst, Susan Bayro, gave an update to the 8th ON Congress on Day 7 of the Tzi-Sho Session. She said the Nation’s first census received more than 4,500 responses, something they were pleasantly surprised with.

“When we first released the census, the response on the first day was 1,800 people,” she said.

Bayro said according to their U.S. Census representative, the Osage Nation is the first tribal nation to perform its own census on its membership. They are also working to gain official recognition with the U.S. Census Bureau.

The 2023 census launch comes after the Seventh ON Congress unanimously passed ONCA 22-30 (sponsored by now-Congressional Speaker Alice Goodfox) in April 2022 establishing that the Nation “shall conduct a census once every five years starting in 2023, which shall be administered through the Executive Branch.”

Congressman Joe Tillman said 4,500 responses is roughly 20 percent of the Osage membership. He asked if that response was on par with the amount of answers received by the U.S. Census.

Bayro said yes and that since the Nation’s census was so successful, the U.S. Census Bureau has asked the Osage Nation to participate in a project that aims to encourage more Native Americans to participate.

The first-day success of the census may partly be due to the incentive of a $100 gift card to the first 1,500 people to fill out the census. She said after further research, they actually have enough funding to give 1,800 people a $100 gift card. The paperwork for the gift cards is currently being processed in the Nation’s Treasury and they should be mailed soon, she said.

Congresswoman Jodie Revard asked about the timeline of the report and Bayro said the software used for the survey produced over 700 pages. They also optioned to allow people to write in their answers. The data captured will take at least six months to review and analyze for their three-person staff, then design into a comprehensive and easy-to-read report.

Author

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Shannon Shaw Duty
Shannon Shaw Dutyhttps://osagenews.org

Title: Editor
Email: sshaw20@gmail.com
Twitter: @dutyshaw
Topic Expertise: Columnist, Culture, Community
Languages spoken: English, Osage (intermediate), Spanish (beginner)

Shannon Shaw Duty, Osage from the Grayhorse District, is the editor of the award-winning Osage News, the official independent media of the Osage Nation. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a master’s degree in Legal Studies with an emphasis in Indigenous Peoples Law. She currently sits on the Freedom of Information Committee for the Society of Professional Journalists. She has served as a board member for LION Publishers, as Vice President for the Pawhuska Public Schools Board of Education, on the Board of Directors for the Native American Journalists Association (now Indigenous Journalists Association) and served as a board member and Chairwoman for the Pawhuska Johnson O’Malley Parent Committee. She is a Chips Quinn Scholar, a former instructor for the Freedom Forum’s Native American Journalism Career Conference and the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute. She is a former reporter for The Santa Fe New Mexican. She is a 2012 recipient of the Native American 40 Under 40 from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. In 2014 she helped lead the Osage News to receive NAJA's Elias Boudinot Free Press Award. The Osage News won Best Newspaper from the SPJ-Oklahoma Chapter in their division 2018-2022. Her award-winning work has been published in Indian Country Today, The Washington Post, the Center for Public Integrity, NPR, the Associated Press, Tulsa World and others. She currently resides in Pawhuska, Okla., with her husband and together they share six children, two dogs and two cats.

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