2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Jesse Swann
Jesse Swann “Due to the Piscataway people’s early contact with Europeans in the seventeenth century and forced acculturation since Europeans began occupying their homeland, Piscataway cultural traditions have faded over the years. The Piscataway Conoy Tribe Cultural Education Project would meet the demand for cultural education by giving middle school-aged children formal out-of-school educational opportunities.” […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Monica Knuppe
Monica Knuppe “Projects are great ways to teach kids to work together, set goals, and create something for others.” Monica Knuppe Teacher, Red Shirt School Monica Knuppe is a 7th and 8th grade teacher at Red Shirt School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Hermosa, South Dakota. She will use her $1,280 grant to […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Meghan Osburne-Wamsley
Megan Osburne-Wamsley “Teaching children at this young age to grow their own food can set them up for success; families in need can use from the garden and children will feel a sense of pride for what they have accomplished.” Megan Osburne-Wamsley Head Teacher, Yurok Tribe Head Start Meghan Osburne-Wamsley is a Head Start teacher […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher John Price
John Price “This grant project can empower our Catawba students and offer them a sense of belonging and a sense of community and allow them the opportunity to become leaders and active participants in the school community.” John Price Teacher, Castle Heights Middle School John Price, a teacher at Castle Heights Middle School in Rock […]
Water Connections Summer 2022
Back in April 2020, Harold Eagle Bull came to Running Strong for American Indian Youth® to request a water line connection to his home located just 112 feet from the Oglala Sioux Rural Water Supply System main service line which runs across the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. At the time, the now 75-year-old Lakota elder, […]
Announcing Dreamstarter Incubator Grant Program
Running Strong for Native American Youth is proud to announce the exciting expansion of the Dreamstarter Program – Dreamstarter Incubator! The Dreamstarter Incubator is designed to continue supporting the dreams of Native youth for the long-term, outside of Dreamstarter cash grants. Running Strong works collaboratively with past Dreamstarters to develop and operate *NEW* impactful Running […]
Getting Ready for Back to School
At Running Strong for American Indian Youth® know the importance of providing Native American children with pencils, notebooks, rulers, glue and all the other supplies they need to get off to great new school year. That’s why each summer we ship thousands of backpacks filled with these items to our field office on the Pine […]
Mobile Market to Bring Fresh Produce to Residents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Each Week
On the vast Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the second-largest reservation in the U.S. at more than 2.8 million acres and larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined, getting to where fresh produce is available is a daunting, and costly, task for many. And that includes the farmers market operated by our partner there, the Oyate […]
Year-round Gardening Coming to Pine Ridge, and Sharing the Knowledge Ensures Successful Harvests for Budding Gardeners on Pine Ridge
On the Great Plains of South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation the growing season is short, just only about five months long from early May to late September. That’s why Running Strong for American Indian Youth® is supporting our partner, the Oyate Teca Project, in its efforts to significantly expand the growing season […]
Our Goal: Three Decades of Water Projects Coming to Completion as Every Family on Pine Ridge Will Soon Have Clean Water
When Running Strong for American Indian Youth® was founded and incorporated in the late 1980s, among our very first priorities was working to provide water to families living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation; first by the truckload, later by digging hundreds of deep-water wells, and presently through our Mni Wiconi (Water is Life) water […]
Mobile Market to Bring Fresh Produce to Residents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Each Week
On the vast Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the second-largest reservation in the U.S. at more than 2.8 million acres and larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined, getting to where fresh produce is available is a daunting, and costly, task for many. And that includes the farmers market operated by our partner there, the Oyate […]
2021-2022 Dreamstarter Teacher Gwendolyn Couture helping students create impactful podcasts
Running Strong for American Indian Youth® 2021-2022 Dreamstarter Teacher Gwendolyn Couture Running Strong for American Indian Youth® 2021-2022 Dreamstarter Teacher Gwendolyn Couture is a Native American Studies teacher at Ronan High School in Ronan, Montana, on the Flathead Indian Reservation where the student body population is more than 60 percent Native American. Among the classes […]
2021 Dreamstarter Teacher John Twichel teaches more than just Robotics
2021-2022 Dreamstarter Teacher John Twichel 2021-2022 Dreamstarter Teacher John Twichel used his $1,000 Dreamstarter Teacher grant as a S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) teacher to continue his class’s underwater robotics program at the Sault Area Middle School in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, serving Sault Tribe students. “In everything we do, we believe that tomorrow’s innovators […]
Dreamstarter Teacher Meredith Schramm Develops new Cultural Studies Program
2021-2022 Dreamstarter Teacher Meredith Schramm received her first Dreamstarter Teacher grant in Fall 2017 when she was the Native American advisor in the Provo, Utah, City School District where she developed Native American lesson plans for teachers. Today, she is working as a CTE (Career and Technical Education) teacher at Lehi Junior High School in […]
Summer Feeding Program Begins Again
This summer we are once again offering out Summer Youth Feeding Program at three locations on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota at three locations including the Red Scaffold Catholic Church in the small community of Red Scaffold, the Boys & Girls Club in La Plant and the nutrition center in Cherry […]
2021-2022 Dreamstarter Teacher Mark Browning – Greenhouse is for more than just Growing
2021-2022 Dreamstarter Teacher Mark Browning Running Strong for American Indian Youth® 2021-2022 Dreamstarter Teacher Mark Browning is a fourth-grade teacher in the Hoonah City Schools district in Hoonah, Alaska, where he has been working to light a mobile greenhouse using LED and high-pressure sodium lights to grow fresh vegetables for the school all year long. […]
Dreamstarter Dawn Marie Johnson – Creating a culturally-driven, safe space for students
2020 Dreamstarter Dawn Marie Johnson Update May 2022 2020 Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Dawn Marie Johnson (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate), 32, a career and technical education and community outreach coordinator at the Joe Foss High School at Axtell Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, reported in May on her project to provide a […]
Chloe Schierbeck
Chloe’s favorite medium is textiles saying, “I’ve mostly worked with cotton fabric but for this project I will use jacquard and more high-end fabrics. My idea is to complete a set of ribbon skirts, one for each of the seven directions. I’ve already done East and West and above. I want to do North, South, […]
DS Creative Expands Awareness of Woodland Northeast pottery
Dreamstarter Creative Brooke Waldron Update May 2022 Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Creative Brooke Waldron (Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe), 31, Hopkinton, Rhode Island, used her grant funding over the past several months to research, develop and create a body of work that reproduces traditional and contemporary Woodland Northeast pottery. The Dreamstarter Creative grant funds […]
DS Creative Artist uses traditional art to educate about food sovereignty
Dreamstarter Creative Ann Miller-Larson Update May 2022 Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Creative Ann Miller-Larson (Oneida and Ojibwe), 31, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, used their grant funding over the past several months to create large, beaded pieces (roughly 8×10 inches) that address the importance of traditional food and food sovereignty. “The pieces depict […]
May 22, 2022, | News You Can Use From Indian Country For This Week
Today, catch up on some of the stories we’re following from Indian Country. After decades of outcry by survivors, their families, and Native American communities on boarding schools, a first-of-its-kind federal study was released by the U.S Department of Interior this week. In addition, learn how Cherokee creators are making a contemporary album entirely in […]
May 13th, 2022, | News You Can Use From Indian Country For This Week
Today, catch up on some of the stories we’re following from Indian Country. As the death toll from COVID-19 in the United States nears the 1 million mark, members of the Choctaw tribe are trying to cope with its devastation, learn how a study found large humanoid figures carved on the ceiling of an Alabama […]
Water is Life. 18 more families have been connected to water this spring!
Today, hundreds of families on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation are still living without running water at their homes meaning they must walk up to 8 miles to a neighbor’s or family member’s home to haul water, or drive miles to a community water site for all their daily needs. Thanks to the supporters of […]
13,000 Smart Sacks distributed this school year.
School will soon be out for children on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservations in South Dakota, and thanks to the supporters of Running Strong for American Indian Youth® since August we have been able to provide nearly 13,000 “Smart Sacks” to students ensuring they and their family members will […]
Smiling Strong
Throughout Indian Country Native American children suffer from a concerning lack of dental care resulting in a high rate of cavities, severe tooth pain and even at a very young age, extractions. While no doubt a diet of sugary foods and soft drinks plays a significant role in tooth decay, much of it could be […]
May 6th, 2022, | News You Can Use From Indian Country For This Week
Today, catch up on some of the stories we’re following from Indian Country. As Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s Awareness Week comes to a close, see what is being done as advocates continue to call for more support at all levels of government, learn what goals are being set at the 21st United Nations Permanent […]
April 22th, 2022, | News You Can Use From Indian Country For This Week
Today, catch up on some of the stories we’re following from Indian Country. This week, stay up to date on the story of the hotel owner in Rapid City, South Dakota who banned Native Americans from staying there, learn how Haida Eagle Clan elder Jiixa and Julia Weder are using rap to help preserve the […]
April 15th, 2022, | News You Can Use From Indian Country For This Week
Today, catch up on some of the stories we’re following from Indian Country. This week, learn why tribal communities will soon have access to $46 million in funding to combat impacts of climate change, read more about Women of the White Buffalo; a documentary about the Lakota people and their history, and more in this […]
April 8, 2022, | News You Can Use From Indian Country For This Week
Today, catch up on some of the stories we’re following from Indian Country. This week, learn about how Native Americans are reacting to Pope Francis’ apology for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the mass abuse and mistreatment of Native children in Indian residential schools, read how the Rappahannock Tribe, a Native Tribe in Virginia, […]
April 1, 2022, | News You Can Use From Indian Country For This Week
Today, catch up on some of the stories we’re following from Indian Country. This week, learn about how a shooting, social media posts, ostensible racism and a feud with local government have disrupted quiet Rapid City, South Dakota. In addition, read about the documentary Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting, which features […]