Orange Shirt Day: Every Child Matters
Friday, September 30, is Orange Shirt Day: Every Child Matters – “Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation” – to let the world know that #everychildmatters. Together, we at Running Strong for American Indian Youth® will honor and remember our Indigenous children who survived, those who never made it home from federal Indian boarding schools […]
Working to Get out the Vote
For far too long the collective voices of Native Americans across the country, and particularly on reservations, have not been heard in the election process due to significant challenges, and even deliberate obstacles put in their path to the polls. “Too often, our tribal citizens are forced to travel far from our communities to vote,” […]
2022 Dreamstarter Ku Stevens Completes 2nd “Remembrance Run” To Honor Native Boarding School Students
On Sunday, August 14, Running Strong for American Indian Youth® 2020 Dreamstarter Kutoven “Ku” Stevens, 18, (Yerington Paiute) of Yerington, Nevada, held his second “Remembrance Run,” to the Stewart Indian Boarding School in Carson City, Nevada, through the desert and mountains from the Yerington Paiute Reservation to honor the children who ran from Stewart, as […]
S’Nya Sanchez – ‘Leave the Couch’ Project Keeping the Dream Alive
2020 Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter S’Nya Sanchez (Standing Rock Sioux, 19, of Bismarck, North Dakota) was just 16 when she applied to our $10,000 Dreamstarter grant program to realize her dream to encourage Native youth in her community to get more involved in cultural and physical activities and learn more about cooking […]
Smart Sacks: Feeding 610 Students Each Weekend
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 were famished […]
Beading Workshops in the fall
Running Strong is excited to share two beading workshops being offered this coming fall. Presented with support of the Creative Neighborhood Grant Program made possible by the City of Alexandria, Virginia and an Arts Project grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, these classes will provide residents in the DC/VA/MD area an opportunity to […]
Meet the 2022 Dreamstarter® Teachers
Running Strong for American Indian Youth is proud to welcome the newest cohort of Dreamstarter® Teachers who are making a difference in the lives of their Native American students and classrooms.
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Shana Aubid
“My students are Anishinaabe descendants, and all have different backgrounds of cultural knowledge ranging from no knowledge to some, and they are always eager to show me what words they can remember with the proudest smile as they say and point.” Shana Aubid Head Start Teacher, Mille Lacs Early Education Program Shana Aubid is the […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Rose Yazzie
“This program is a resource needed to help students and families begin to create their own libraries of books written by and showing Indigenous people like them. By reading together and keeping these books students can begin to locate authors and genres they may be interested in and internalize being a reader as a part […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Shannon Britton
“I see many of our students who excel in putting together models of Lego kits and toy cars. I see many students with a talent for art. Adding this program after school will allow students to feel successful at school. They can bring things home to their parents/guardians that they are proud of.” Shannon Britton […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Tyler Sumpter
“My whole purpose for going to school was to help Native students realize the importance of education and the many opportunities out there. I want to advocate for culturally responsive reaching for our non-Native teachers so we can have a more inclusive space.” Tyler Sumpter Teacher, Quileute Tribal School Tyler is a 7-12th grade Social […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Sister Mary Ignatius Skipper
“I want my students to enjoy school so they will continue to learn on their own for their entire lives. My goal as an educator is to help my students recognize that they are an unrepeatable gift and that they are capable, with hard work and perseverance, to accomplish the desires of their heart.” Sister […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Ramsey Seweingyawma
“I want more American Indian scholars to stretch their academic ability and explore research to expand their knowledge.” Ramsey Seweingyawma Teacher, Whitehorse High School Ramsey Seweingyawma is a teacher at Whitehorse High School in Montezuma Creek, Utah. He will use his $5,000 grant to support his computer science curriculum and incorporate projects for high school […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Rachel Davis
“Our Native American Students unfortunately do not often get chances to engage in professional development opportunities that both reinforces their sense of positive cultural identity and their goals in higher education. The project hopes to normalize success and help students see themselves as competent and their perspectives as Native American as valued and important.” Rachel […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Brooke Gregory
“This is needed at our school and in our community to ensure our students are gaining exposure to experiences they don’t have regular access to inside or outside of school. They may find a passion that they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to experience before SEM.” Brooke Gregory Teacher, Cheif Leschi School Brooke Gregory is […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Candace Dickerson
“This grant project is needed at our school because we are just beginning this journey with our children. With this grant, it would help enable us to provide our children and teachers with the preschool classrooms they deserve and help provide the most educational and successful spaces possible.” Candance Dickerson Project Director, Chickahominy’s Little Arrows […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Orleta Slick
“’Connecting Voices’ will provide students with the opportunity to reflect upon themselves, set educational goals, make positive changes and prepare to become stewards of Navajo traditional knowledge.” Orleta Slick Educator, Shonto Preparatory School Orleta Slick is the 21st Century Community Learning Center site coordinator at Shonto Preparatory School in Shonto, Arizona. She will be using […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Connie Michael
“Native students thrive with the opportunities to learn the cultural significance of the land and water. They gain strength from their language, traditions, and the land they live on. By integrating science through Native knowledge, students can gain strength in their identities.” Connie Micheal Teacher, Crow Agency Public School Connie Michael is a fifth-grade teacher […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher 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.” Jesse Swann […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher 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 create the […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Meghan 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 at the […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher 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 Hill, South […]
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 […]
Jim Thorpe is the sole Gold medal winner of the 1912 Olympic decathlon and pentathlon events.
When I received the news about Jim Thorpe from Nedra Darling, co-founder of Bright Path Strong, I got quiet. Jim Thorpe is finally recognized as the sole winner of the Gold Medal in the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Olympics. I broke down crying tears of joy. As a young boy living on the Pine […]
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 […]
