Our Approach

We Put Youth
First

Our focus on youth programs fosters change across age groups and entire communities.

American Indian-Led

Our leadership is committed to preserving the traditions, languages and sanctity of American Indian communities.

We Help Where Needed Most

Rather than coming into a community and announcing what we will do, we listen to what our partners tell us they need.

Billy Mills

Billy Mills, Oglala Lakota (Sioux) is Running Strong’s National Spokesperson. An Olympic gold medalist at the 1964 Olympics, Billy has dedicated his life to serving Native American communities.

Program Spotlight

Organic Food and Gardens 

Our organic gardens and food programs tackle malnutrition by providing healthy meals and fresh produce to Native American children and their families. We help to establish community gardens, household gardens, and communal greenhouse programs while also integrating educational and cultural aspects and how to plant traditional gardens.

Program Spotlight

Clean Water

When Running Strong for American Indian Youth® was formed in 1986, getting clean, safe drinking water to the residents of Pine Ridge was one of our top priorities. Previously, Running Strong satisfied this need by drilling water wells. However, the need for wells declined as the Oglala Sioux Rural Water Supply System was created and water lines were laid providing access to water. This past year through Diné NaabehóTó (the Navajo People’s Water Challenge), Running Strong connected 13 households to water in these communities, providing 92 individuals with access to clean, running water.  

Dreamstarter

When Running Strong for American Indian Youth® was formed in 1986, getting clean, safe drinking water to the residents of Pine Ridge was one of our top priorities. Previously, Running Strong satisfied this need by drilling water wells. However, the need for wells declined as the Oglala Sioux Rural Water Supply System was created and water lines were laid providing access to water.

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On Pine Ridge, rates of chronic illness are incredibly high, with incidences of diabetes nine times the national average and around 50% of adults clinically obese. In 2024, SBAG conducted workshops about food preservation and how to use food as “medicine” to prevent diabetes, and promoted healthy lifestyles and overall well-being through gardening and eating nutritious indigenous foods. 🌱🌿

We are dedicated to promoting the health and well-being of Pine Ridge families by providing access to nutritious foods through our gardening program.

Learn how you can help at - indianyouth.org/slim-buttes-agricultural-development-program-helps-green-pine-ridge-with-communit...

#NativeAmerican #Gardens #Garden #Gardening #Native #Indigenous #Community #AmericanIndianHeritage #NativeAmericanCulture #RunningStrong #Donate #DoGood #IndigenousYouth #IndigenousCommunity #AmericanIndianYouth #Plant #Planting #Vegetables #Fruits
... See MoreSee Less

On Pine Ridge, rates of chronic illness are incredibly high, with incidences of diabetes nine times the national average and around 50% of adults clinically obese. In 2024, SBAG conducted workshops about food preservation and how to use food as “medicine” to prevent diabetes, and promoted healthy lifestyles and overall well-being through gardening and eating nutritious indigenous foods. 🌱🌿

We are dedicated to promoting the health and well-being of Pine Ridge families by providing access to nutritious foods through our gardening program.

Learn how you can help at - https://indianyouth.org/slim-buttes-agricultural-development-program-helps-green-pine-ridge-with-community-and-family-gardens-and-first-foods-workshops/

#NativeAmerican #Gardens #Garden #Gardening #Native #Indigenous #Community #AmericanIndianHeritage #NativeAmericanCulture #RunningStrong #Donate #DoGood #IndigenousYouth #IndigenousCommunity #AmericanIndianYouth #Plant #Planting #Vegetables #Fruits

1 CommentComment on Facebook

Diabetes seems so high in First Nations, I lost a niece a couple of months ago to Diabetes. All my life I've done things to avoid it, I've exercised, watched salt intake. I'll be 72 in August and I don't have Diabetes, Hypertension or heart disease. But I contracted covid19 in Oct. 2019 got side effects of fatigue, brain fog, covid19 psychosis and loss of sense of smell. The first 3 side effects are waning now but I don't think I'll recover the sense of smell. I did lose 11 relatives to covid19.

𝐘𝐔𝐌! When you sign up for our newsletter, not only will you get 4 Native recipes to cook at home, but you'll be supporting our mission to get nutritious food to native reservations that are often in a "food desert."

Last year, we were able to harvest over 20,000 pounds of produce to distribute throughout the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲!

www3.thedatabank.com/dpg/475/personal2.asp?formid=RSFoodSovereign&c=20240415095752469692

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#NativeFirstFoods #NativeAmerican #Indigenous #Food #RunningStrong #Recipes #NativeRecipes #IndigenousFoods #IndegnousRecipes #DidYouKnow #Indian #IndianYouth #Potato #Potatos #PotatoLeekSoup
... See MoreSee Less

𝐘𝐔𝐌! When you sign up for our newsletter, not only will you get 4 Native recipes to cook at home, but youll be supporting our mission to get nutritious food to native reservations that are often in a food desert.

Last year, we were able to harvest over 20,000 pounds of produce to distribute throughout the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲!

https://www3.thedatabank.com/dpg/475/personal2.asp?formid=RSFoodSovereign&c=20240415095752469692

-

#NativeFirstFoods #NativeAmerican #Indigenous #Food #RunningStrong #Recipes #NativeRecipes #IndigenousFoods #IndegnousRecipes #DidYouKnow #Indian #IndianYouth #Potato #Potatos #PotatoLeekSoup

SBAG focuses on growing a wide variety of nutritious organic fruits and vegetables which once formed the natural diet of the Native community. Local residents enjoy growing their own ‘salsa gardens’ including tomatoes 🍅, chillies and peppers 🌶️, as well as staple crops such as corn 🌽, squash, beans, herbs 🌿 and potatoes 🥔.

With your support we can continue to provide healthy food to our Native brothers and sisters by cultivating gardens on Pine Ridge.

Learn how you can help at - indianyouth.org/slim-buttes-agricultural-development-program-helps-green-pine-ridge-with-communit...

#NativeAmerican #Gardens #Garden #Gardening #Native #Indigenous #Community #AmericanIndianHeritage #NativeAmericanCulture #RunningStrong #Donate #DoGood #IndigenousYouth #IndigenousCommunity #AmericanIndianYouth #Plant #Planting #Vegetables #Fruits
... See MoreSee Less

SBAG focuses on growing a wide variety of nutritious organic fruits and vegetables which once formed the natural diet of the Native community. Local residents enjoy growing their own ‘salsa gardens’ including tomatoes 🍅, chillies and peppers 🌶️, as well as staple crops such as corn 🌽, squash, beans, herbs 🌿 and potatoes 🥔.

With your support we can continue to provide healthy food to our Native brothers and sisters by cultivating gardens on Pine Ridge.

Learn how you can help at -  https://indianyouth.org/slim-buttes-agricultural-development-program-helps-green-pine-ridge-with-community-and-family-gardens-and-first-foods-workshops/

#NativeAmerican #Gardens #Garden #Gardening #Native #Indigenous #Community #AmericanIndianHeritage #NativeAmericanCulture #RunningStrong #Donate #DoGood #IndigenousYouth #IndigenousCommunity #AmericanIndianYouth #Plant #Planting #Vegetables #Fruits

Tom Cook, a lifelong gardener, has dedicated his expertise to educating others on cultivating their own healthy, organic food. In 1983, alongside his wife Loretta, he co-founded the Slim Buttes Agricultural Development Project (SBAG) on Pine Ridge. Their mission was to address food insecurity among the American Indian population by cultivating the land for the production of nutritious, organic food. 🌱

To date SBAG has prepared garden plots, installed irrigation systems, delivered seedlings, offered pest control solutions, introduced composting techniques, and more. All made possible by the generous support of our donors. ❤️

Learn how you can help at -
indianyouth.org/slim-buttes-agricultural-development-program-helps-green-pine-ridge-with-communit...

#nativeamerican #gardens #garden #gardening #native #indigenous #community #americanindianheritage #nativeamericanculture #runningstrong #donate #dogood #IndigenousYouth #indigenouscommunity #americanindianyouth #plant #planting #vegetables #fruits
... See MoreSee Less

Tom Cook, a lifelong gardener, has dedicated his expertise to educating others on cultivating their own healthy, organic food. In 1983, alongside his wife Loretta, he co-founded the Slim Buttes Agricultural Development Project (SBAG) on Pine Ridge. Their mission was to address food insecurity among the American Indian population by cultivating the land for the production of nutritious, organic food. 🌱

To date SBAG has prepared garden plots, installed irrigation systems, delivered seedlings, offered pest control solutions, introduced composting techniques, and more. All made possible by the generous support of our donors. ❤️

Learn how you can help at -
https://indianyouth.org/slim-buttes-agricultural-development-program-helps-green-pine-ridge-with-community-and-family-gardens-and-first-foods-workshops/

#NativeAmerican #Gardens #Garden #Gardening #Native #Indigenous #Community #AmericanIndianHeritage #NativeAmericanCulture #RunningStrong #Donate #DoGood #IndigenousYouth #IndigenousCommunity #AmericanIndianYouth #Plant #Planting #Vegetables #Fruits

1 CommentComment on Facebook

is rose fraser still there ?

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