Heat Match: Help Keep Families Warm This Winter on Pine Ridge
Last Thursday, the National Weather Service forecasted 170 potentially daily record cold temperatures across the northern Plains and upper Midwest beginning Monday and continuing through Wednesday. To some this sounds like the welcome beginnings of a winter wonderland; to others, a warning sign of the impending freezing nights. For some families on Pine Ridge a […]
Ohero:kon “Under the Husk” : 15 Years of Rites of Passage Ceremony
For the past 15 years, starting at puberty, more than 1,000 Onkwehonwe (Indigenous) youth have registered for “Under the Husk” – a four-year Haudenodaunee rites of passage ceremony guided by tribal Aunties, Uncles and elders. Under the Husk empowers youth desperately seeking holistic development, and the program accomplishes this by engaging their mental, physical, emotional […]
A Time for Thanks
The classic story of the first Thanksgiving is one of generosity, community, and celebration of life. This story, taught to all Americans at a young age, is woven through with realistic themes of charity and unity albeit with an unreliable point of view. Certainly we see echoes of this narrative today; when the Wampanoags saved […]
The last sample news post
Soufflé fruitcake tiramisu muffin apple pie gingerbread. Powder sweet topping croissant chupa chups apple pie bear claw lollipop. Cake cupcake croissant croissant. Pie pudding chocolate cake pastry. Cotton candy topping apple pie candy canes chupa chups. Pudding oat cake donut muffin icing sweet roll ice cream donut ice cream. Muffin danish jelly beans croissant muffin. […]
Another Example News Post
Soufflé fruitcake tiramisu muffin apple pie gingerbread. Powder sweet topping croissant chupa chups apple pie bear claw lollipop. Cake cupcake croissant croissant. Pie pudding chocolate cake pastry. Cotton candy topping apple pie candy canes chupa chups. Pudding oat cake donut muffin icing sweet roll ice cream donut ice cream. Muffin danish jelly beans croissant muffin. […]
An Example News Post
Soufflé fruitcake tiramisu muffin apple pie gingerbread. Powder sweet topping croissant chupa chups apple pie bear claw lollipop. Cake cupcake croissant croissant. Pie pudding chocolate cake pastry. Cotton candy topping apple pie candy canes chupa chups. Pudding oat cake donut muffin icing sweet roll ice cream donut ice cream. Muffin danish jelly beans croissant muffin. […]
Running Strong Helps Repair Veteran’s Home on Pine Ridge
Each year the Oglala Sioux Tribe Partnership for Housing helps low-income households on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation with resources to repair their homes from storm damage (common on the Great Plains of South Dakota) and normal wear and tear with assistance from Running Strong for American Indian Youth®. “The primary need of many families is […]
Celebrate Native American Heritage Month
Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Honoring Culture and Tradition November is Native American Heritage Month dedicated to celebrating rich and diverse cultures, traditions and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. At Running Strong for American Indian Youth® we support cultural programs to preserve languages, cultures and traditions throughout Indian Country. Among them is the Yuchi […]
Families Receive Turkeys and Food Boxes for a Festive Holiday Meal
Families on the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Indian reservations in South Dakota are looking forward to what has been a tradition for many years – receiving a turkey and food box at holiday time. This year 952 frozen turkeys and 1,000 food boxes will be delivered to our field office on Pine Ridge, Tipi Waste […]
Largest Number of Graduates from the Oyate Teca Project’s Gardening Program
On October 16, the 50 participants of the Oyate Teca Project’s Medicine Root Gardening Program graduated from the nine-month course. Everyone celebrated their achievement at a special student appreciation dinner. Certificates were presented to all of the graduates, along with a final distribution of items to assist them with their gardens in the future. “This […]
Hundreds of Pumpkins Distributed on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
Over the past few days, lots and lots of pumpkins were distributed to children on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for Halloween. It’s all thanks to Oyate Teca Project Director Rose Fraser’s 11-year-old granddaughter, Jazlyn. She asked her grandmother if they could grow pumpkins. Rose told her she could grow whatever she wanted and gave her a […]
2019 Dreamstarter Video
The 2019 Dreamstarter video is now available! Learn more about our 10 Native Youth Entrepreneurs and their dreams for businesses in Native communities.
Wisdom of the Elders Produce Multimedia Curriculum for Native Students
The Native American nonprofit organization, Wisdom of the Elders in Portland, Oregon, a longtime partner of Running Strong for American Indian Youth®, records, preserves and shares oral history, cultural arts and traditional ecological knowledge of Native elders and scientists in collaboration with diverse tribal and environmental organizations, government agencies and educational institutions. “With our vision […]
The Powwow Project: Update from Year 2 Dreamstarter Rosalia Badhorse
My dream was to inspire youth to connect to their culture through powwows. During my Dreamstarter year, I taught beading, dancing and stories through the Powwow Project. Over the past three years, I’ve have continued to work to remind our Native youth of their culture; where they come from as Cheyenne people; and to teach […]
Running Strong 30th Annual Tour
On September 11, 2019, 50 Running Strong Tour participants joined us for the 30th (and final) annual tour of Running Strong’s programs on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. During the four-day tour, participants had the opportunity to learn about Running Strong programs and the way we support families. Tour participants were also able to visit […]
Prepping for Winter
Winter is well on its way, particularly in Indian County where temperatures on the Great Plains will soon be dropping below freezing, and windchills in the negative double digits for days on end is not unusual. In fact, in Lame Deer, Montana, where Running Strong for American Indian Youth® partner, the Boys & Girls Club […]
Celebrate 22 Years of Tipi Waste Un Zanipi!
Spreading Warmth and Joy: A Heartfelt Thank You from Pine Ridge To the supporters of Running Strong for American Indian Youth®, My name is Dave Lone Elk and I grew up in the Running Strong family beginning as a toddler watching my father, Ken, do so much for so many of our fellow Oglala Lakota residents here […]
Second Annual Powwow+: An Update from Year 5 Dreamstarter Freddy Gipp
It came and went. Dancers and singers from over 11 different states including the Canadian province of Saskatchewan traveled to Lawrence, Kansas to compete for a one day, week day powwow competition. In fact, we actually doubled our total number of participants, with over 65 registered contestants, we have displayed growth through two years of […]
Study Strong: 5,000 backpacks for 5,000 students
Across Indian Country and on the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Sioux Indian reservations in South Dakota, there are tens of thousands of Native children getting ready for another school year. Thanks to the supporters of Running Strong for American Indian Youth® 3,000 elementary and 2,000 junior high school students will be getting backpacks filled with school […]
Road to Tokyo: A Memory
As Patricia and I look forward to returning to Tokyo, Japan on July 28 through August 10, 2020 to watch the 32nd Olympic games of the Modern Era, we cannot help but reflect on the Olympic games in general and on our first experiences visiting Japan. The site of the first Olympic games was Olympia, Greece; […]
From Language Revitalization to Community Dance Lessons: Catch up with our Dreamstarters
2019 Dreamstarter Hope Gamble 2019 Dreamstarter Hope Gamble may just be 14-years-old, but already she is realizing her dream H.O.P.E. (Heroes Of Positive Endurance) by developing new Navajo creation stories in the form of comic srtips. Hope, Diné, lives on the Navajo Nation in the small community of Nazlini, where she is not only creating versions of […]
Exploring Year 4 Dreamstarter Tara Rouillard’s Indigenous Science Lab
My dream is to start the first ever Indigenous Science lab at the Pine Ridge Girls School. This school has taught me so many traditional/cultural teachings and if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have got the opportunity to make my dream a reality. There were benefits of starting the indigenous lab at the Pine Ridge […]
Increasing Access to Clean Water on Pine Ridge
Grady’s household includes another adult and five children, the eldest 15, the youngest 4, all living together in a mobile home on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation – until recently without running water. Thanks to the supporters of Running Strong, Grady and his family have all the running water they need for drinking, cooking, bathing […]
Blokétu Mni: Summer Water on Pine Ridge
Holly has not had running water for eight years, even though her mobile home is just 150 feet from the Oglala Sioux Rural Water Supply System (OSRWSS) water line which runs through the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Holly’s household of seven includes herself, two elders, and four children under the age of 9, the youngest […]
Ekowah Coffee: An Update from Year 5 Dreamstarter Joshua Smith
My name is Joshua Smith and through the generosity of the Running Strong Dreamstarter Grant, I am pursuing my dream of opening a native owned, socially conscious coffee roasting company: Ekowah Coffee. From the moment of initial inspiration for Ekowah Coffee to now, just days before our website launch, this dream has seemed to have a life […]
Diné Naabeehó Tó: A Glimpse at Running Strong’s Water Projects on the Navajo Nation
Isabel and Kenneth’s household consists of four adults and a teenager, all who have been living on the Navajo Nation Reservation without running water literally for their entire lives – and the two eldest are now in their 50s. To get water to serve all the family’s needs – drinking, cooking, bathing and washing – […]
SmileStrong this Spring: Distributing 3,000 Dental Kits to Native Communities Across the Country
In June, Spirit Lake Tribal Health, which serves the people of the Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota, distributed Running Strong for American Indian Youth® SmileStrong dental kits to 200 children. A mother and her two young children were among those grateful to receive the dental kits containing several toothbrushes, a six-month supply of toothpaste, […]
Exploring the Impact of Mni Wiconi on Pine Ridge
Dianna, her husband, and their four young children had been living without running water at their home on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for two years, forcing her to drive a mile to a public hydrant at a powwow grounds to get all the water her family would need for the day. Then, it would […]
As Summer Begins, our Mni Wiconi program is well underway!
Penny’s mobile home on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where she lives with her three children, the youngest just 5-years-old, is only a few hundred feet from the Oglala Sioux Rural Water Supply System (OSRWSS) main service water line, which runs through the reservation. As she told us, “it’s just over the hill by another […]
Exploring Oyate Teca’s Medicine Root Garden Program
Thanks to the supporters of Running Strong for American Indian Youth® and the hard work of Oyate Teca staff, thousands of residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota will have access to fresh vegetables and fruits, a scarce commodity on the reservation, and expensive when available. Since January, about 50 participants in […]