By Cara Cowan Watts, Cherokee411.com
Free fiber optic technician training open to Cherokee, Delaware and Shawnee Tribal citizens
Citizens of the Cherokee Nation, the United Keetoowah Band and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, along with the Delaware Tribe of Indians and the Shawnee Tribe, can earn an industry fiber optic certification at no cost through a training program for Native Americans run by Minnesota-based Clearfield Inc.
The company’s Tribal Broadband Training Initiative offers its three-day Certified Fiber Optic Technician course, known as CFOT, to adults who are enrolled citizens of a federally recognized Tribe. The next session on the program’s sign-up page is set for June 8-10, 2027, in Siletz, Oregon, with more dates and locations to be announced.
Clearfield, a Nasdaq-listed maker of fiber connectivity equipment, announced the program in December 2025. The company says it aims to help Tribal residents get certified, open up living-wage careers and connect Tribal lands to high-speed fiber broadband.
Cherokee Nation citizen Tzeitel Buchanan, director of public sector programs and community partnerships at Lumen Technologies, gave industry input that helped shape the program, according to Clearfield. Lumen is a key partner in the effort, the company says.
In Clearfield’s announcement, Buchanan said Tribal broadband jobs should go to technicians “who understand the Tribal community.”
The program grew out of a workforce development session at the Fiber Connect 2025 industry conference, where the discussion turned to the need for skills-based training aimed at Tribal communities, according to Clearfield. Clearfield Chief Operating Officer Johnny Hill, who is Ojibwe, and Buchanan presented the initiative at the 2025 AISES National Conference in Minneapolis.
Hill said in the announcement that the goal goes beyond connecting homes to connecting people with careers that strengthen their own communities.
The CFOT course is accredited by the Fiber Optic Association and mixes classroom instruction with hands-on training. It covers inside plant, outside plant and access network work, according to Clearfield.
CFOT is an industry certification earned in a short course, not a college degree. Clearfield says some of the largest fiber broadband companies require it, and it is a prerequisite for more specialized training in fiber splicing and outside plant technology.
Applicants must be at least 18 and enrolled citizens of a federally recognized Tribe. The course is open to people with no experience and to those already working in the industry who want to advance.
That includes citizens of the Delaware Tribe of Indians and the Shawnee Tribe, two federally recognized Tribes with deep historic ties to the Cherokee Nation. Under agreements with the Cherokee Nation in 1867 and 1869, Delaware and Shawnee people resettled within the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory and became Cherokee citizens.
The Delaware Tribe, headquartered in Bartlesville, regained federal recognition in 2009 after a long dispute with the Cherokee Nation was resolved by agreement between the two Tribes. The Shawnee Tribe, also known as the Loyal or Cherokee Shawnee and headquartered in Miami, Oklahoma, had its federal recognition reaffirmed by Congress in the Shawnee Tribe Status Act of 2000.
The sign-up form at seeclearfield.com/tribal asks for Tribal affiliation, with a Tribal ID number listed as optional. Applicants can choose a session or sign up for news of future dates.
Clearfield’s goal is to hold one session each quarter near Tribal lands. The first three took place in 2026:
- Jan. 13-15 at Clearfield’s headquarters in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota
- April 7-9 at the Hopi Telecommunications office in Keams Canyon, Arizona
- July 21-23 at Tri County Tech in Bartlesville
Bartlesville, in Washington County, lies within Cherokee Nation and UKB jurisdiction and is home to the Delaware Tribe of Indians’ headquarters. Ahead of that session, Buchanan and Tara Gotwalt of Tri County Tech discussed the program on KWON radio’s “Community Connection” and stressed the growing demand for fiber technicians as Tribes expand broadband, Bartlesville Radio reported.
The current sign-up form lists Siletz, Oregon, and upcoming sessions at Clearfield’s Minnesota headquarters. It lists no 2027 session in Oklahoma. The form asks applicants which states or regions would suit them and which schools or sites might host a future training.
Clearfield ties the program to a national shortage of fiber workers. The company cites a Fiber Broadband Association and Power & Communication Contractors Association study that found the U.S. broadband industry must add nearly 180,000 workers over the next decade. The study warned that without enough trained workers, connectivity projects could be delayed by two to three years.
On its program page, Clearfield says more than 60% of the current fiber workforce is nearing retirement. It also says about 65% of housing units on Tribal lands get service that meets the Federal Communications Commission’s fixed broadband benchmark, compared with 99% in urban areas.
The company argues that Tribes should own their networks and build them with a trained Tribal workforce rather than outside contractors. Kelly Weissmann, Clearfield’s director of technical training and support, described the work as a lifelong career path that can support a family and a community.
Oklahoma is home to the second-largest population of federally recognized Tribes in the nation, and many of those Tribes are spending millions of dollars on broadband expansion, Bartlesville Radio reported.
Those interested can sign up or get notice of new dates at seeclearfield.com/tribal or by scanning the QR code on the program’s flyer.
Disclosure: Cara Cowan Watts is president of the Cherokee Professional Chapter of AISES, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. AISES had no role in this story.
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Cara Cowan Watts is a journalist for Cherokee411.com, an independent media company serving all three Cherokee Tribal Nations and Cherokees wherever they live.
Contact: Cherokee411.com.
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