To support a healthy tomorrow for Native American youth, Running Strong for American Indian Youth® is once again hosting our “Dream Like Billy Virtual 5K & 10K Run/Walk” beginning on June 30– Olympic gold medalist and Running Strong co-founder Billy…
What’s New
Oyate Teca Project Offers Arts Classes to Preserve Lakota Culture
Since the start of 2023, at least since the notoriously brutal and frigid weather on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on the Great Plains of South Dakota finally relented, the Oyate Teca Project’s Oyate Ta Kola Ku (Friend of All…
Addressing Period Poverty in Native American Communities
Period poverty is a widespread issue that affects roughly 500 million women worldwide. In the US alone, about 16.9 million women live in poverty, and two-thirds could not afford menstrual products within the past year. Further, half of these women…
Running Strong Dreamstarter Grants for Teachers: Supporting the Educational Needs of Native Students and Educators
Maya Angelou was quoted as saying “When you learn, teach. When you get, give.” This sums up, in part, the combined mission of Running Strong and Dreamstarter teachers. We launched our Dreamstarter Teacher grant program in 2017 as a means…
Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day
Today, May 5, is Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Awareness Day, as throughout Indian Country and elsewhere Native communities and organizations – including Running Strong for American Indian Youth® — are gathering and working to draw attention to the…
2023 Dreamstarter® Creatives
In 2021 Running Strong for American Indian Youth® launched Dreamstarter® Creative to support Native artists. Artists are cultural protectors, tradition keepers, and valuable contributors to the contemporary American art world as they connect Native traditions with an ever-changing and challenging…
Tools for Growth at Pine Ridge
They are called “Tools for Growth” because that’s exactly what they are: shovels, rakes, hoes, pruners, cultivators and more, all with the purpose of enabling dozens of Oglala Lakota families on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation grow fresh vegetables and…
2023 DreamStarters Are Taking On Native American Environmental Justice Issues
The DreamStarter® Academy Grant Program is Running Strong’s initiative to cultivate and support the next generation of Native American leaders. Every year 10 American Indian youth are awarded a combination of financial support, hands-on mentorship, networking, and communications training. Since…
CERT Training on Pine Ridge
The Oyate Teca Project on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation held a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training course on April 14, 15 and 16, at its Oyate Ta Kola Ku Community Center to prepare Pine Ridge residents to help…
A Year for Environmental Justice
On April 21, President Biden signed an executive order to revitalize our nation’s commitment to environmental justice for all. “President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that every person has a right to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and…
2023 Dreamstarter Cruz Collin – Sustainability, Solar Technology, and Traditional Knowledge
2023 Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Cruz Collin, 19, (Oglala Sioux) of Florence, Alabama, has a dream “to help Indigenous Peoples lead the world toward a sustainable future through the implementation of our sciences and traditional knowledge.” It’s…
2023 Dreamstarter Noah Proctor – Food Sovereignty One community at a time
Running Strong for American Indian Youth® 2023 Dreamstarter Noah Proctor, 22, (Piscataway Conoy), of Clinton, Maryland, has a dream to establish a community garden to address “hunger in the tribal community while educating youth about agriculture, ecology, and nutrition, with…
2023 Dreamstarter Loren Waters – Raising Awareness of the Tar Creek Superfund Site cleanup
Running Strong for American Indian Youth® 2023 Dreamstarter Loren Waters, 27, (Cherokee Nation/Kiowa Tribe) of Tulsa, Oklahoma, dream is ᏗᏂᏠᎯ ᎤᏪᏯ Project (Meet Me At The Creek Project) which aims to bring awareness to the Tar Creek Superfund Site cleanup.…
Billy Mills Implores the 2023 Dreamstarters to “Follow their Dreams” at Dreamstarter Academy
Billy Mills implored them to “follow their dreams”, and by the end of the 2023 Dreamstarter Academy, they are better able to! The cohort of 2023 Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarters and their mentors converged in Alexandria, Virginia…
Billy Mills Named a 2022 Team USA Community Champion in partnership with Comcast
On April 10, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Foundation (USOPF) announced four athletes as the 2022 award recipients for Team USA Community Champions – which includes Running Strong for American Indian Youth® co-founder and Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills.…
For the First Time in 400 Years, the Piscataway Conoy Tribe Owns Land in Maryland
All of us at Running Strong for American Indian Youth® offer our sincere congratulations to our 2022 Dreamstarter Kyle Swann, his father and Dreamstarter mentor Piscataway Conoy Chief Jesse J. Swann, Jr., founder of Kyle’s mentor organization, Through Piscataway Eyes…
Lasting Change for Native American Youth
Since its inception in 1986, Running Strong has made it its mission to empower and create a positive impact on our Native American youth. Through our programs and initiatives, we have created an environment that values tribal pride and indigenous…
An innovative group of disrupters in business
This past week, Michele Meza , CEO of Luksi Coaching & Consulting, posted on her Facebook page, “I had the honor of spending the day on the beautiful Osage Nation reservation with these amazing, inspiring, and talented entrepreneurs!” She was…
Cultivating Gardens on Pine Ridge
Running Strong for American Indian Youth® has been assisting the efforts of the Slim Buttes Agricultural Development (SBAG) program to help residents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation establish gardens in their own backyards since 1985, thanks to our supporters…
Running Strong grant help to empower urban American Indians
For 70 years, the Division of Indian Work (DIW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been furthering its mission of “Empowering Urban American Indians” and for the past decade with help from Running Strong for American Indian Youth®. Specifically, thanks to the…
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…
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.” …
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…