In 1992, Wilma Mankiller gave the graduation handle at Flagstaff’s Northern Arizona College.
A number of years earlier, Mankiller had grow to be the primary feminine principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, that neighborhood’s highest government workplace. “Mankiller” is an previous Cherokee phrase for “keeper of the village” – an apt description for a girl who devoted a lot of her grownup life to the tribe.
“Even in my very own neighborhood I’ve heard folks speak in regards to the setting, housing, homelessness, or any of the issues that we now have: ‘Nicely, they’ll resolve that drawback.’ In American society it’s all the time, ‘They’ll resolve that drawback.’ I do not know who ‘they’ are,” Mankiller advised the graduates. “I don’t assume that an ideal prophet goes to return alongside and save this nation or save us and take care of all of those issues in a vacuum. All of us have to participate.”
Three a long time later, Mankiller’s sentiments resonate. The Cherokee Nation is a sovereign entity within the northeastern nook of Oklahoma, with over 450,000 residents. The identical challenges Mankiller talked about in 1992 – the setting, housing, and homelessness – endure, however so does the spirit of “collaborating.”
At 41, Amanda Thompson embodies the spirit Mankiller evoked. Thompson began her profession as a nurse, however a couple of years in the past, she discovered herself drawn to a different calling. Now, she says, “I need to resolve the housing disaster.”
She’s tackling it in a novel method, by beginning an organization that manufactures small, even tiny, modular houses. And in a second of nice division over identifiers of non-public range, Thompson is benefiting from hers, each as a Cherokee and as a lady.
“I see what she’s doing as each new and common, but additionally reclaiming of traditions and roles which have traditionally been related to Cherokee ladies and girls in matrilineal indigenous societies extra broadly,” mentioned Gregory Smithers, a professor of indigenous historical past at Virginia Commonwealth College.
Her work has had an influence. Gary Merritt, a previously homeless development employee now employed by Thompson’s firm calls Thompson and her husband Jake “the perfect folks I’ve met since I have been in Tulsa” in over 35 years.
‘Our personal youngsters cannot afford a spot’
Thompson began her working life as a nurse, a profession she’d heard paid effectively, she mentioned. On the time a single mother, “working my butt off,” she discovered herself more and more noticing how many individuals have been struggling to afford housing, and the way residing preparations typically performed a job within the care and well being of her sufferers and different neighborhood members.
Within the larger Tulsa space, “Our personal youngsters cannot afford a spot,” Thompson advised USA TODAY. She additionally noticed the necessity amongst older folks, significantly these on mounted incomes who relied on in-home care, together with her personal mom within the years earlier than she handed away.
These instincts are confirmed by a number of regional research. In 2024, the Cherokee Nation launched the outcomes of a housing examine pointing to the necessity for almost 9,000 new items. A yr earlier, the town of Tulsa, which borders the Nation, had decided it too wanted a number of 1000’s extra housing items to fulfill demand.
Thompson, her husband, Jake, and a companion hung out attempting to think about inventive methods to deal with the housing scarcity. Jake had in depth expertise in residential development – but it surely was within the luxurious market, and the group knew that was a distinct world. A lot to their disappointment, that was what they noticed being constructed round them – new houses that noone they knew may afford.
Then at some point somebody had an thought. “We mentioned, let’s go speak to a few of these shed constructing corporations and see if possibly they will help us mass produce,” Thompson mentioned, “however do it to housing code so we will do precise houses. And so we did.”
The shed producers have been a kernel of the concept caught: small houses, in-built a manufacturing unit, not out on a web site the place the mercurial Oklahoma climate may trigger costly delays.
“We knew we needed to do it indoors, so we will simply preserve it assembly-line model and mass produce them,” Thompson advised USA TODAY. “We did not go into it pondering small. It wasn’t like, we’re simply going to construct one or two, for this particular person or that. No, we need to actually deal with all of it. Give us all of it. Anyone throughout America that wants housing, let’s do that factor.”
By 2024, they have been able to launch Prime Craftsman Properties, however Thompson nonetheless discovered herself with questions. How would she market the merchandise? To whom? And as a lady, would she be taken significantly?
Then at some point, a “God factor,” in her phrases, occurred.
An accelerator for Native ladies
Kathy Taylor was mayor of Tulsa from 2006 to 2009, and has served in Oklahoma state authorities as effectively. Taylor can be an completed entrepreneur and businesswoman: because the vice chairman of Thrifty Automotive Rental, she and her husband bought the corporate, then spun it out by means of an preliminary public providing.
When she was named dean of the College of Tulsa’s enterprise faculty in 2021, Taylor put her diverse background to work launching entrepreneurship initiatives for Cherokee lady.
“I researched across the nation and will discover no group that particularly supported native founders,” Taylor mentioned in an interview. “I do assume that protected house and networking and mentorship with others who could also be dealing with comparable points Is necessary.”
She helped launch the College of Tulsa Cherokee Ladies’s AcceleratHER Fellowship, which the college describes as “a program designed to empower Cherokee ladies founders and assist scale their companies by means of strategic steering, mentorship, and entry to capital.”
When Thompson noticed an announcement about this system in her e mail, she noticed it as an indication. Together with 9 different Cherokee ladies, she grew to become a part of the second cohort in a 12-week program that obtained mentorship, recommendation, and funding.
For Taylor, seeing a youthful era of feminine entrepreneurs is “thrilling,” she mentioned, “though I’ve to say I as I take a look at the statistics, the progress that I had hoped we might have made within the final a long time shouldn’t be the place I want it was.”
However Thompson’s thought, each by way of getting houses constructed rapidly, and likewise addressing the precise want for inexpensive houses, is “so necessary,” Taylor mentioned. “Ladies-owned companies usually not solely have a for-profit influence, however a social influence as effectively.”
The accelerator did what it was supposed to: ramped up Prime Craftsman Properties’ enterprise. In early 2025, the corporate accomplished 9 tiny houses for Eden Village, a homeless neighborhood in Tulsa. Thompson just lately realized Eden Village desires the corporate to construct 27 extra.
In all, the corporate has constructed 47 houses since mid-2024, and has just lately grow to be licensed to be a contractor for the Cherokee Nation, a step Thompson hopes will result in extra enterprise – regardless that she’s already had curiosity in her merchandise from folks everywhere in the nation.
‘We need to construct people too’
For Thompson, the development course of is simply as necessary because the completed product.
One instance: the Cherokee Nation has a piece program for launched felons. “They’re having a tough time getting a job, so I’ll companion up with them on that,” Thompson defined. “I’d love for them to return right here and reset. We do not simply need to construct buildings, we need to construct people too, you understand.”
Merritt is amongst these Thompson is “constructing.” The 64-year-old was homeless when he met Thompson – sometimes residing in his automotive, or renting a resort room for $75 an evening. Now he lives on the premises of Prime Craftsman’s manufacturing unit, providing his providers as a carpenter, safety guard, and anything that’s wanted. Thompson has plans to make him the proprietor of considered one of Prime Craftsman’s manufactured houses.
“The little houses are excellent for an individual like me,” Merritt mentioned. “I have been by means of quite a bit, you understand, being out right here within the streets, having to go to being homeless, not understanding if I’ll have meals the subsequent day.” Amanda and Jake, he mentioned, function “with the love of God.”
Cherokee tradition honors an idea known as “Gadugi,” mentioned Smithers, the VCU professor, which suggests working collectively for a standard good. “It could appear to me that (Thompson) may be very a lot doing that, bringing folks into her circle of mutual respect and empathy and reciprocity.”
Thompson’s efforts additionally belong in an extended line of Cherokee ladies “main efforts to be keepers of neighborhood and to supply management inside a communal context,” Smithers added.
Constructing a housing enterprise has nudged Thompson into spheres she’s by no means occupied earlier than. Generally she has to put on a enterprise go well with, regardless that it might probably really feel intimidating, she mentioned. And different days she’s handing out onerous hats to employees on the ground.
“Sure, it is an odd place for a girl to be in development,” she mentioned. “I do not care. This isn’t about male or feminine or no matter. That is about an enormous drawback that we’re dealing with that I need to resolve.”
