The Citizen Potawatomi Nation Tribal Legislature approved a $1,400 direct payment to all Tribal members who were enrolled prior to Feb. 1, 2021. This is a one-time payment, do not reapply.

In their own language, the word Potawatomi means "Keepers of the Sacred Fire," but they call themselves Neshnabek, which means "the True People."

In the 1830s the federal government removed most from their lands east of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory - first in Kansas, Nebraska, and last to Oklahoma. Some bands survived in the Great Lakes region and today are federally recognized as tribes, in addition to the Potawatomi in Oklahoma.

Groups of Potawatomi refused removal and fled into Wisconsin, Michigan, and Canada. Around 1880, a group of Potawatomi settled in an area near Blackwell and Wabeno in Forest County. This group was the origin of the Forest County Potawatomi Community.