Exploring the Impact of Dreamstarter
Dreamstarter 2019 Selection Process Underway Since 2015, Running Strong for American Indian Youth® has helped 40 promising Native youth realize their dreams in the areas of Wellness (2015), Arts & Culture (2016), Education (2017), Science & The Environment (2018) and for 2019, Entrepreneurs. Each of these 40 Native youth under the age of 30 have […]
Winter Heat Match on Pine Ridge
Christmas is over, and New Year’s Day is just a few days away, but residents of Pine Ridge are looking forward to another important day on the reservation – Monday, January 7 – the first day of this year’s Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Heat Match program. Winter has arrived on Pine Ridge with […]
Year 4 Dreamstarter Lourdes teaches the cultural uses of her community’s natural resources
On November 30, 2018, Lourdes Pedroza-Downey held her first community event at Round Valley Elementary School. Lourdes created a presentation on T’oh-telh (bear grass) and how it is used by the Wailaki people and neighboring tribes. During the Dreamstarter Academy, in April, Lourdes found Wailaki baskets at the National Museum for American Indian Archive Center […]
Toys for Tribes 2018: Spreading Toys and Joy Throughout Indian Country this Christmas
Throughout the year, Running Strong distributes the necessities of a healthy life – backpacks filled with school supplies to help kids excel in school, winter coats and boots to keep kids warm during the winter, and dental kits to improve oral health. Several years ago, we decided expand on what we already do and help […]
Billy Mills will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree
Not a month goes by without our “own” Billy Mills – Olympic gold medalist, Running Strong for American Indian Youth national spokesperson, Native American rights activist, and advocate for Native children– being in the news. This month, his alma mater, the University of Kansas, announced that he will soon be able to add another distinction […]
Operation Snowsuit 2018: Providing 5000 coats and 5500 boots to families!
“When I saw the smiling children and the parents taking the time to put their boots and jackets on really touched my heart. “It was awesome to see them all so happy with their new boots and winter wear.” So said Tammie, the events coordinator of Spirit Lake Tribal Health in Fort Totten, after distributing […]
Little White Buffalo “Circle of Shawls”
The Little White Buffalo Project’s “Circle of Shawls” program in Lincoln, Nebraska provides a safe and intergenerational activity that fosters cultural strength and growth for participants as they learn more about and create Native shawls. Little White Buffalo Project director Susana Geliga notes that as a contemporary adaption of the traditional women’s blanket, shawls have […]
The Oyate Teca (Young Peoples’) Project
The Oyate Teca Project on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation may be our newest affiliate, but its history of serving children and families on the reservation goes back nearly three decades, long before its formal partnership with Running Strong for American Indian Youth® The Oyate Teca (Young Peoples’) Project was founded in 1991 and today […]
September E-News
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Diné Naabeehó Tó Challenge – Running Strong Water Project Expands to Navajo Nation
Access to clean water for drinking, cooking, bathing and washing remains a critical problem for Native American families on reservations throughout the country, including the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and Navajo Nation. Providing water to families on Pine Ridge in South Dakota has been a 30-year-long mission of ours, initially by delivering water by the […]
Dreamstarter Sara Chase Voices Support of “Early Days” Statue Removal
2017 Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Sara Chase realized her dream of starting a summer immersion class to teach Hupa youth the endangered Hupa language, and not only did her dream come true in the summer of 2017, it continued in 2018 making it an annual event. Meanwhile, Sara is continuing to realize […]
Dreamstarter Teacher in Igiugig, Alaska builds a community greenhouse with his class
“I have a middle school boy who disliked math. During the greenhouse building project this student came to realize a new way of looking at math. He is seeing geometry in a new light, one with purpose.” – Dreamstarter Teacher Tate Gooden, Igiugig School, Igiugig, Alaska The remote village of Igiugig, Alaska, located at the […]
Smart Sacks Provide Menominee Children with Nutritious Food Throughout the Weekend
In Keshena, Wisconsin, it was common for children come to classes in the Menominee Indian School District on a Monday morning hungry, having not eaten substantial meals during the weekend. Teachers documented that the lack of food from school lunch on Friday, until students returned back to school on Monday, caused fatigue, absenteeism, and poor […]
Dreamstarter Kelsey Leonard quoted in National Geographic article
From the moment we received Kelsey Leonard’s Dreamstarter® application, we knew she was an impressive young woman. In 2010, she became the first member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation to graduate from Harvard University. In 2012, she became the first Native American woman to earn a science degree from the University of Oxford. Her master’s […]
Back Packs for Rosebud Sioux Tribe Students
Each year, Running Strong provides thousands of backpacks to elementary and junior high students on Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Indian reservations, and beyond. This year will be no different. There are students who attend the St. Francis Indian School (SFIS) on the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Reservation in South Dakota who lack access to essential […]
Devastating Hail storm on Pine Ridge Reservation
A terrible storm just came through the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, affecting the lives and livelihoods of its 40,000 residents. On August 2, Running Strong for American Indian Youth® field staffer Ken Lone Elk took to the airwaves of the local KILI Radio station on the “Running Strong Field Office […]
RS Field Staff on KILI Radio sharing about Gardens, Water Connections, Food Distribution and more!
On July 5, thousands of listeners to KILI Radio, the voice of the Lakota people on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, had the opportunity to learn all about the programs being operating on the reservation by Running Strong for Indian Youth®. Field Coordinators Dave Lone Elk and Rose Fraser, alongside Field staffer Ken Lone Elk […]
Pow wows: Creating a space for celebration, honoring, and healing
Many non-Native people have heard the word “pow wow” but have a vague understanding, or even misconceptions, about what the traditional ceremony is all about and its importance to the culture and history of North American Indians. A pow wow is a festive intertribal event organized by Native Americans dressed in their finest regalia where […]
Kristina Hyatt’s educational video helps children learn about oral health
Year 3 Dreamstarter Kristina Hyatt just released an educational video for her community to use! Take a look! Her Dreamstarter Mentor, Jill Malmgren of America’s Toothfairy: National Children’s Oral Health Foundation, comments: “We finished production for Kristina Hyatt’s Dreamstarter project and are excited to share the educational video with you! This video will be shared […]
Keeping Kids Active: Summer Camp Fun Across Indian Country
At Running Strong for American Indian Youth® we realize the critical need for children to have the experience fun during the summer when school is out! Two camps among those supported by Running Strong which do just that across Indian County are Today We Follow – Tomorrow We Lead (TWF-TWL) on the Navajo Reservation, and […]
Summer is Here at the Oyate Teca Project
Although the official first day of summer is June 21, for children on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation – such as those who attend Little Wound School, a K-12 school located in the town of Kyle in the heart of the reservation – summer vacation is already here. Nearby, practically within a stone’s throw of […]
May E-News
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Food Boxes Bring Nutrition & Assistance to Families this Summer!
For hundreds of families living in dire poverty on the Cheyenne River Sioux and Pine Ridge Indian reservations, the food boxes provided by Running Strong for American Indian Youth® are a lifeline, helping to ensure that children, parents and elders don’t go hungry when money is tight. The summers are especially hard on children when […]
Women of Running Strong for American Indian Youth®: Cheryl Tuttle
“I think that the language is the mind of the people. Inside of the language, even in the way things are spoken about, you know how people thought. How the ancestors thought about things, what was important to them. Their world view is wrapped up in language” -Dreamstarter mentor and Wailaki Language teacher Cheryl Tuttle […]
Rose Fraser, Field Coordinator & Oyate Teca Director, Receives a 2018 MIT Solve Fellowship!
Congratulations Rose! A hearty congratulations goes out to Running Strong for American Indian Youth® field staffer Rose Fraser, executive director the Oyate Teca Project, who is one of the six inaugural Oceti Sakowin Solve Fellows who will each receive a $10,000 grant. The Oyate Teca Project, located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, operates the Medicine Root Garden Program which increases the availability of fresh, […]
April E-News
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4 Years, 40 Native Youth, 40 Amazing Dreams
Since Running Strong for American Indian Youth® announced the creation of our Dreamstarter® program in 2014 in recognition of the 50th anniversary of Running Strong spokesman Billy Mills’ historic Olympic gold medal win, 40 promising Native American teens and young adults have been selected for $10,000 grants to jumpstart their dreams. “Believe. Believe. Believe.” That’s […]
Slim Buttes Agricultural Project continues to “ground” Pine Ridge families to sources of life
According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the growing season in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, lasts just 129 days. Other parts of the country have a growing season of 229 days – more than three months longer than that of Pine Ridge. Within that short growing season on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, residents are given […]
Running Strong with OSTPH: 15 Years of Providing Safe, Healthy Housing on Pine Ridge
At Running Strong for American Indian Youth® we have long placed a great importance on working to ensure that the residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation have a safe place to call home. For years, we have partnered with the Oglala Sioux Tribe Partnership for Housing (OSTPH) and supported its mission to provide basic […]
March E-News
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