(OKMULGEE, Okla.) VNN and Big If True's second "From Adversity To Entrepreneurship" in-person learning session was held at the Rowe Family Life Center in Okmulgee on July 16. Attendees included Okmulgee Mayor Mickey Baldwin, local entrepreneurs, and community activists. Village Six Reformation Foundation owner Ismael King
(TULSA, Okla.) To this day, the State of Oklahoma has yet to include Battered Woman Syndrome as a legitimate category of defense in court, despite research on the serious mental health condition building since the 1970s. Researchers say incarcerating battered women could be costing the state hundreds of thousands of
(TULSA, Okla.) From May 16 to July 15, Verified News Network (VNN) conducted a series of interviews with local members of federally recognized tribes. Participants were mainly from the Muscogee Creek Nation. Other tribes included Cherokee and Blackfoot. This listening project was facilitated by Trusting News, a collaboration between the
(TULSA, Okla.) Rhonda Bear, founder of She Brew Coffee House in Claremore and Tulsa, has been a beacon of hope for women across the State of Oklahoma since 2012. After growing up in a criminal environment, Bear became addicted to drugs and was arrested multiple times. She was sent to
Written By: Mollie Bryant for BigIfTrue.org and Brittany Harlow (TULSA, Okla.) Two years ago, Tatianna Duncan founded the nonprofit Lucinda Hickory Research Institute in Tulsa to dig into the history of the Muscogee people’s land ownership—and loss of that land. Starting with her own family’s history,
(TULSA, Okla.) VNN and Big If True's first "From Adversity To Entrepreneurship" in-person learning session was held at She Brews Coffee House in Tulsa on June 18. The event was attended by representatives of VNN, Big If True, Partner Tulsa, the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health
(OKMULGEE, Okla.) A ribbon cutting was held on Wednesday for the much-anticipated expansion of Mvskoke Loan Fund, a local community development financial institution (CDFI) founded in 2014. CEO Christopher Coburn took Mvskoke Loan Fund over in 2017. He told us their need tripled then quadrupled over the course of the
(NATIONAL) The second season of The Blox, a docu-series competition show about entrepreneurship, premiered Monday night. The show is spearheaded by Weston "Wes" Bergmann, a reality TV star from The Real World: Austin and subsequent reality TV show hits. Verified News Network (VNN) was one of 20 startups
Photo Courtesy: Muscogee Creek Nation (CADDO COUNTY, Okla.) A year-long effort to give Indian boarding school survivors and their descendants the opportunity to share their stories began in Anadarko on Saturday. “It was a time to listen, to weep and to look ahead to healing our communities,” U.S. Secretary
(FORT COFFEE, Okla.) “In order to get where you’re going, you need to know where you came from.” Verdie Triplett is a Chickasaw Freedmen and Choctaw by blood, but you won’t find his name on any citizenship roll. The only official link to Triplett’s American Indian heritage
(OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.) The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the State of Oklahoma has concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes against Indians on tribal land. The case in question, Oklahoma v. Victor Manuel Castro-Huerta, involved a non-Indian who was charged with child neglect of a Cherokee child by
(TULSA, Okla.) Two Oklahoma attorneys have teamed up to finally bring justice to April Wilkens. WARNING: This story contains disturbing accounts that may be harmful to some readers. Wilkens has been serving a life sentence for the last 25 years for killing her wealthy rapist and abuser Terry Carlton, son