Because of Kyle’s Dream, data will connect his tribe to the resources they need.
2022 Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Kyle Swann, 23, (Piscataway Conoy), of White Plains, Maryland had a unique dream. His Dreamstarter idea was to create a detailed survey of the 3,500 enrolled Piscataway Conoy tribal members, exploring not just their demographic information but also their priorities, strengths and needs. “I will use this […]
WičhičhaǧAStrong – “they all grow, they thrive, they prosper, they are the generation”
Today, we are announcing our new program, WičhičhaǧAStrong (meaning “they all grow, they thrive, they prosper, they are the generation” in Lakota), to focus on issues of women’s health on native reservations. The first step? To help overcome “Period poverty.” Our goal is to ensure all people who have periods have what for many can […]
50 First Time Families and Organizations started Gardens in 2022. More to come this spring!
The Slim Buttes Agricultural Development (SBAG) program had a successful, but challenging, 2022 working to enable dozens of Oglala Lakota families on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to establish gardens as it has been doing since 1985 with support from Running Strong for American Indian Youth®. In January, SBAG Executive Director Tom Cook reported a […]
6000 Smile Strong Dental Kits for Native Children
February is National Children’s Dental Health Month sponsored by the American Dental Association. The month-long national health observance brings together thousands of dedicated professionals, healthcare provides and educators to promote the benefits of good oral health to children and many others.While at Running Strong for American Indian Youth® we are especially concerned about the dental […]
Smart Sacks full of Food feed hundreds of children each weekend
This school year Running Strong for American Indian Youth® is working to ensure that hundreds of students at the Keshena Primary School on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Keshena, Wisconsin, and at the Wakpala School on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Reservation in South Dakota and their family members do not go hungry over the […]
Dreamstarter Incubator Microenterprise Development Program – Native Unlimited
The 𐒻𐓥𐓣𐓥𐓘𐓷𐓣͘ (Ihkihkawi) Microenterprise Development program, a Dreamstarter Incubator project, has provided micro-loans to four Native American business-owners and entrepreneurs in Oklahoma. One was recently awarded to Jordan Garza, of Native Unlimited in Tulsa Oklahoma. Native Unlimited in Tulsa, Oklahoma was founded in May 2022 focused on providing authentic Native American crafts and art to the general […]
Dreamstarter Incubator Microenterprise Development Program — Dirty Laundry Saloon
The 𐒻𐓥𐓣𐓥𐓘𐓷𐓣͘ (Ihkihkawi) Microenterprise Development program, a Dreamstarter Incubator project, has provided micro-loans to four Native American business-owners and entrepreneurs in Oklahoma. One was recently awarded to Eric Wick, of The Dirty Laundry Saloon in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. The Dirty Laundry Saloon in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, is aiming to transform small boutique café into a full-fledged restaurant, and through […]
Dreamstarter Incubator Microenterprise Development Program – Roots + Blooms
The 𐒻𐓥𐓣𐓥𐓘𐓷𐓣͘ (Ihkihkawi) Microenterprise Development program, a Dreamstarter Incubator project, has provided micro-loans to four Native American business-owners and entrepreneurs in Oklahoma. One was recently awarded to Whitney Virden, of Roots + Blooms in Bartletsville, Oklahoma. Roots + Blooms in Bartletsville, Oklahoma is a full-service flower shop that specializes in events, weddings and workshops. “Our mission is […]
Dreamstarter Incubator Microenterprise Development Program – The Summer House
The 𐒻𐓥𐓣𐓥𐓘𐓷𐓣͘ (Ihkihkawi) Microenterprise Development program, a Dreamstarter Incubator project, has provided micro-loans to four Native American business-owners and entrepreneurs in Oklahoma. One was recently awarded to Shannon Duty, of The Summer House in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. The Summer House in Pawhuska, Oklahoma creates customized items that include cedar boxes, cook paddles, cutting boards and signs. Co-Owner Shannon […]
Emergency Heat Funds on Pine Ridge
Heat Match Program Update 1/27/23 Our Heat Match program on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation kicked off with a bang on Monday, January 9, when on day 1, 127 families came to our field office, Tipi Waste Un Zanipi (Wellness Through a Good Home), to submit their funding applications. In two weeks alone, we have […]
Dreamstarter Creative Camas Logue: Ink from algae to document the endangered C’waam fish
Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Creative Camas Logue (Klamath Tribes) of La Connor, Washington, told us in his grant application that his favorite medium is oil paint, saying, “I am most able to express the patterns and layers I find when observing the land through this medium.” And for his Dreamstarter Creative project, […]
Brooke Waldron: Helping to Preserve the Future with Native Pottery
Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Creative Brooke Waldron Waldron (Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe) of Hopkinton, Rhode Island, dream project was titled “Traditional Creation, the Preservation of the Future: A Historical design of Contemporary Woodland Native Pottery.” “My project was to research, develop and create a body of work that reproduces both traditional and contemporary […]
Support of Running Strong Heat Match Program ‘A Blessing’ says Oglala Sioux Tribe President
At Running Strong for American Indian Youth® we did not initiate our Heat Match program a quarter century ago for recognition, but to keep children, families, and elders on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on the Great Plains of South Dakota warm in their homes on the coldest days of winter. But, when Running Strong […]
Yuchi Language Project – 10 Yuchi children speaking their mother tongue for the first time in 100 years.
2022 was a successful year for our longtime partner, the Yuchi Language Project (YLP), in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, in its mission to keep alive the rich heritage of the Yuchi people by creating new young speakers through “breath-to-breath” immersion methods with fluent speakers and children. Program manager Halay Turning Heart reported that YLP was able to […]
Dreamstarter Teacher Jonna Weidaw: Connect native youth with cultural leaders
Jonna Weidaw of Lakeport, California is a teacher of “all subjects” in a single room schoolhouse at the Lakeport Community Day School in the Lakeport Unified School District teaching members of the Pomo, Cherokee, Elem and Miwok tribes. “As an educator I believe that every student deserves a school program in which their culture and […]
Dreamstarter Teacher John Twichel: Bringing ROV’s to the native classroom
John Twichel of Sault St. Marie, Michigan, is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) teacher at Sault Area Middle School serving students of the Tribe of the Chippewa Indians. John, a previous Dreamstarter teacher grant recipient, used his $1,000 Dreamstarter Teacher grant to purchase technology hardware to enable 150 students to build, maintain and […]
Shayleena Britton – Using Art to show the importance of Food
Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Creative Shayleena Britton (Round Valley Indian Tribes) of Covelo, California, may have a bachelor’s degree in 3D animation, “but my favorite medium is acrylic paints.” “Painting has always been an escape for me whether I was bored or just needed a break from my studies,” she had told […]
Carlon Ami – Art with Navajo Culture
Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Creative Carlon Ami (Navajo) of Tsaile, Arizona, had told us in his grant application that his favorite medium is to work with silver and stone “primarily due to the cultural relevance of jewelry not only as a personal adornment, but from a spiritual perspective.” With his $2,500 Dreamstarter […]
Ann Miller-Larson
Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Creative Ann Miller-Larson (Oneida and Ojibwe), of Green Bay, Wisconsin, used her grant funding to create large, beaded pieces (roughly 8×10 inches) that address the importance of traditional food and food sovereignty. With her $2,180 Dreamstarter Creative grant for her project “Our Foodways Are Sacred,” she purchased beads, […]
Alana Crutcher
Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Creative Alana Crutcher (Paiute/Shoshone), of Elko, Nebraska, says her favorite medium is working with broadcloth and floral materials “bringing to light the feeling to embrace the quilts. Her Dreamstarter Creative project was “to share my quilting skills and the significance to our younger generations, sharing with them the […]
Menominee and Wakpala Smart Sacks Backpack Food
More than a decade ago, we at Running Strong for American Indian Youth® heard from the superintendent of the Menominee Indian School District (MISD) on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Keshena, Wisconsin, that young children were arriving at the elementary school on Monday mornings lethargic and unable to focus on their classwork. The reason? They […]
Heat Match
For tens of thousands of residents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on the Great Plains of South Dakota, it’s already been a brutal winter as during the holiday season a massive blizzard bringing with it below-freezing temperatures for days on end and sub-zero wind chill factors. That’s why for more than 20 years, thanks […]
Santa arrived on Pine Ridge bringing thousands of toys and hundreds of food boxes, despite winter storms
This Christmas holiday, nothing was going to prevent the staff at the Oyate Teca Project on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on the Great Plains of South Dakota from ensuring that “Santa” would arrive – albeit eventually – bringing thousands of toys for children despite fierce winds and frigid temperatures. In the days before Christmas, […]
A glimpse back at what we have accomplished together in 2022
From connecting homes to water to new mobile food markets delivering food to families far from a market to clothing thousands of children with winter gear to opening our new Oyate Ta Kola Ku Community Center, 2022 was a year to reach even more families in Indian Country than ever before. Dreamstarter Programs Our 2022 […]
Dreamstarter Teacher Gwendolyn Couture: Podcasting to Preserve Local Native Traditions
Gwendolyn Couture of Charlo, Montana, is a Native American studies teacher at Ronan High School located on the Flathead Indian Reservation serving students of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Gwendolyn used her $1,000 Dreamstarter Teacher grant to create podcasts about issues related to their reservation and its history with one of her classes in […]
Dreamstarter Teacher Connie Michael: Expanding Mathematics in the Classroom
Connie Michael of Billings, Montana is a classroom teacher of all subject areas at Crow Agency Public School teaching primarily Crow and Cheyenne students. “Culturally and historically Native students are hands-on learners,” Connie stated in her Dreamstarter Teacher application. “They are active learners who used to learn from experiences. Manipulatives and visuals are key to […]
Dreamstarter Teacher Missy Kieffer: Creating young “River Protectors”
Missy Kieffer of Wellpinit, Washington is a pre-K Headstart teacher on the Spokane Indian Reservation which is surrounded by rivers, lakes and dams – “these are the same dams that prevent the salmon from returning to our waters.” Missy used her $1,000 Dreamstarter Teacher grant to create young “river protectors” in the hopes of the […]
Dreamstarter Teacher Carly Retterath: Creating Sharing of Native Knowledge
Carly Retterath of Mandan, North Dakota, is the director of alternative education at Mandan Public School serving students of the Standing Rock Nation, Spirit Lake Nation, Three Affiliated Tribes, and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. Carly used her $1,000 Dreamstarter Teacher grant to provide the Four Directions student club with funds to complete cultural activities, […]
Dreamstarter Teacher Bethany Cruz: Supplies for Students
Bethany Cruz of Yakima, Washington, is a first-grade general education teacher at Simcoe Elementary, a school with 100 percent of the students receiving free/reduced price meals and serving members of the Yakama Nation. “We are a poverty-stricken area– which means most students do not come with needed school supplies,” she told us in her Dreamstarter […]
Dreamstarter Teacher Amanda Garner: Creating Counseling Curriculum
Amanda Garner of Warner, Oklahoma is a first-year counselor at Webbers Falls Schools serving children of Cherokee tribe who has “very little social emotional resources for my students. “These students have had a few hard years,” she told us in her Dreamstarter Teacher application. “In May of 2019, the entire town of Webbers Falls was […]