Running Strong for American Indian Youth

Food, garden, water and basic need:all children need to have access to healthy food to grow and thrive. Impoverished economic realities of rural and reservation life challenge many American Indian communities to meet their children's basic needs. Running Strong is dedicated to supporting native community leaders and family's efforts to ensure that their children have a healthy start. Running Strong continued increasing our support for critical needs with food and water connections, as well as with thousands of brand new inkind items to communities across the country. (see schedule o for continuation)food remains a Running Strong priority as we work hard to feed children who may otherwise go hungry. Running Strong donated 5,544 dry and frozen food boxes to feed families on the pine ridge and cheyenne river sioux Indian reservations, along with 12,584 lbs. Of frozen hams for christmas. Each food box weighed approximately 20 lbs. And had enough nutritious food to feed a family of four or a week. After teachers told us students returned to school after weekends and school breaks listless and hungry, we started our weekend/school break backpack food program. On the menominee Indian reservation we donate bags filled with food to keshena primary school children over weekends and school breaks when they do not have access to free school lunches and breakfasts (420 students per week, 13,500 sacks of food distributed). We also support a backpack food program on the standing rock reservation in south dakota, serving healthy "smart sacks" for the entire wakpala school (180 children per week, 6,480 sacks of food). Kids were not only kept from being hungry, they became involved in building the food bags as a way to earn volunteer hours.after the school year ends, Running Strong served a healthy sack lunch to cheyenne river kids in three communities so that these kids have something to eat during their summer vacation when they do not have access to a free school lunch and breakfast. This summer food program served 19,600 meals to children at 3 sites over 11 weeks, serving lunch and a take home meal safely to an average of 178 kids per day.running Strong also supports organic gardening efforts as communities worked to grow their own food. In fy23, we continued to invest in the oyate teca (Youth nation's) medicine root gardening program, which is also the site of one of our field offices on the pine ridge Indian reservation in south dakota. Running Strong continues to provide foundational support for oyate teca's nine-month garden education classes which how to grow, harvest, prepare and eat fresh produce on pine ridge. A big part of the class is hands-on instruction and the tools to plan & plant your own garden, and providing the tools, seedlings and fencing to plant 120 student gardens along with the extensive demonstration garden and greenhouses located by the oyate teca community center. In 2023, oyate teca's gardeners grew 41,752.51 lbs. Of fresh produce (not including the winter squash and fall pumpkins) which was sold at local farmers markets, as well as gifted and composted. Garden students also sell their produce at the farmer's market, and sales of their own grown produce provided needed income and increased the quality of food offerings in the local community. The medicine root garden also continued to operate its mobile market program. Given the size of the pine ridge Indian reservation, getting to where high-quality fresh produce is available can be very challenging, with the closest grocery story nearly 80 miles away, off the reservation. The mobile market, equipped with a generator, refrigeration, shelving, and air conditioning, travels out to harder to reach locations on the reservations three days a week, stopping at three locations on the reservation and traveling nearly 100 miles to reach residents. The mobile market offers the garden produce from the summer harvest and the surplus of produce from the community gardeners who go through the garden classes.we also continued our long-term support of slim buttes agricultural development program, tilling 10 community gardens and distributing 2,000 seedlings, 80 bags of soil, 10 planter boxes, 75 seed packages, 10 grow bags, and 9 raised beds to 50 families on the pine ridge Indian reservation. Running Strong grants also supported the yuchi language project's traditional foods garden in sapulpa, ok, the brave heart society's gardens and medicinal plants at yankton in lake andes, sd, four directions development's farming initiative in red lake, mn, and navajo gardening programs in lehi, ut.in addition to healthy meals and food, in fy23, Running Strong also distributed the following new items to help needy American Indian children:1,500 elementary #studystrong backpacks filled with school supplies (24 ct. crayons, eraser, glue stick, notebook, pen, no. 2 pencils, ruler, pencil sharpener, 5" scissors, paper), 1,494 jr. high and high school #studystrong backpacks filled with school supplies (2 pocket folders, notebooks, loose leaf paper, erasers, colored pencils, protractors, glue sticks, no. 2 pencils, ruler, highlighters, red & black pens, calculator, pencil pouch, pencil sharpener) so native students have the tools they need to succeed in school.1,500 #warmstrong adult coats with hoods, 1,500 #warmstrong kids coats with hoods, 1,500 #warmstrong adult boots, 3,528 #warmstrong kids boots, 500 #warmstrong toddler boots and 5,007 winter socks to stay safe and warm during harsh winter weather.5,076 pairs of athletic socks were distributed to native Youth just in time for the summer months. Essential (and expensive) basics including 6,024 #smilestrong dental kits (with toothbrushes, toothpaste, flossers and a timer) 12,384 bars of soap, 1,944 shampoo/conditioner sets, 978 hair mask products, and 3,000 #smilestrong feminine hygiene kits and 32,000 additional tampons were donated for better feminine and oral health, which often suffers in impoverished communities. Along with distributions directly to families on pine ridge reservation, these brand-new items (listed above) were donated to meet critical needs to 16 community partners in 10 states across the country. These Youth supportive program partners included direct distribution on pine ridge and cheyenne river reservations in south dakota, biiluuke Strong and northern cheyenne boys & girls club in Montana, brushy cherokee action association and yuchi language project in Oklahoma, denver Indian family resource center in Colorado, Iowa tribe of ks & ne in Kansas, nebo title vi Indian education program in Utah, interfaith action department of Indian work in Minnesota, summit school district, wakpala school and the bebela project in south dakota, American horse afraid of bear tiospaye in Nebraska, through piscataway eyes in Maryland, and today we follow tomorrow we lead in Arizona. Water - water is a critical need and there are still families living without access to safe Running water on Indian reservations. On the pine ridge Indian reservation, oglala lakota families can live within yards of the mni wiconi (water is life) water line without funds to safely hook up to it. In fy23, Running Strong's pine ridge water project provided hydrants, water connections, plumbing repairs and septic systems to 18 families so that they did not have to continue to live without water. Some of these oglala families had lived without Running water for 4 years or had to haul it from up to 8 miles away.running Strong is committed to providing safe environments for native families, including their own homes. Winters on the pine ridge Indian reservation can be brutal with windchill temperatures as low as 40 degrees below zero. It's dangerous cold. To help stretch dollars during this critical time, Running Strong matches oglala families 1:4 for, or $400 matched by Running Strong to every $100 contributed by the family, towards filling their propane tanks or offsetting the cost of their heating bills. This filled each family's propane tank for 6 weeks during the winter. This year's emergency heat match on pine ridge provided heating assistance to (8,049 individuals, 4,112 of whom are children.)

Dreamstarter program - dreamstarter, dreamstarter teacher, dreamstarter creative, dreamstarter scholarship, keep the dream alive. In his travels throughout the nation, our spokesperson billy mills has witnessed what he calls a "poverty of dreams," wherein native Youth do not dare to dream. Dreamstarter aims to support native Youth in pursuit of their dreams through a combination of financial support, hands-on mentorship, communications training, and networking. Running Strong recognizes that today's native Youth are our future leaders and despite the many challenges that native Youth face, we can help them follow their dreams. (see schedule o for continuation)in honor of the 50th anniversary of billy's olympic gold medal in 2014, we launched the dreamstarter program to help the dreams of native Youth come to life. Each year, 10 native Youth are selected and through mentorship, networking, and financial assistance, helps them realize their dreams for their communities. Each receiving a dreamstarter grant of $20,000, the 2023 dreamstarters ranged from age 16 to 30 and represented 9 diverse tribal communities: cherokee nation, crow nation, standing rock sioux tribe, pyramid lake paiute tribe, navajo nation, ohama tribe of ne, oglala sioux tribe, piscataway conoy tribe, and oneida nation. 2023 mentor organizations included American Indian science and engineering society, through piscataway eyes, nebo title vi Indian education, bridge foundation, indigenous peoples council on biocolonialism, lead agency, university of Nebraska foundation, university of Wisconsin stevens point, earth guardians, and sacred healing circle. This year's dreamstarter theme was environmental justice and dreams ranged from a community garden to a landback Youth summit, from developing a sustainable solar panel to advocating for the cleanup of natural waterways. Each dreamstarter is also eligible to apply for a "keep the dream alive" grant once their grant year was complete. These outstanding native Youth are building a network of community change which will strengthen Indian country for generations to come. for more information, visit www.indianyouth.org/dreamstarter.in 2017, Running Strong launched dreamstarter teacher, a new grant that gives native teachers and teachers who teach native children the opportunity to make a dream come true in their classroom. In fy23, 14 teachers were selected with dreams ranging from supporting after school enrichment programs to cultivating school gardens. Each teacher and their school received between $1,000-$5,000. Teachers can apply yearly in may. To learn more, visit wwwindianyouthorgdreamstarterteac... fall of 2021, we launched a new dreamstarter companion program: dreamstarter creative. Dreamstarter creative supports the artistic and cultural endeavors of native Youth by awarding $2,500 grants to 10 Youth each so they can create, connect, and celebrate their culture. In fy23, 10 more native Youth representing 8 tribal communities received this grant.with a generous anchor gift from the earl and anna broady foundation, Running Strong was able to establish a dreamstarter scholarship to help dreamstarters pay for tuition and student loans for undergraduate or graduate school. We were able to award $40,000 in scholarships to 6 dreamstarters from 5 different tribal nations. This past year, we launched our first dreamstarter incubator program, a microenterprise development initiative. By working directly with Running Strong to operate new Running Strong programs created in collaboration with dreamstarters, dreamstarter incubator provides dreamstarters the infrastructure to pursue their dreams on a larger scale. The microenterprise development program, created by Running Strong and a 2019 dreamstarter, awards small $5,000 no-interest business loans to native entrepreneurs and small businesses. Additionally, we work provide business development and marketing workshops throughout their grant year.more information about all of our programs can be found at www.indianyouth.org, where you can read updates, join our email list or follow us on social media as we work to build a Strong generation of native Youth.

Youth, language and culture:running Strong wholeheartedly advocates for native Youth prosperity and academic success. We supported the long-term work provided by the division of Indian work, whose specific activities were academic support to encourage Youth to succeed in school and in the community, teaching Youth how American Indian culture and life skills can be used as preventive measures against alcohol, tobacco, and drug abuse, waunyawapi to help Youth improve their reading and literacy skills, and niibin minwedaagwad which provided cultural teachings and recreational activities. (see schedule o for continuation)running Strong also northern kohala community resource center's mauka to makai summer camp, a camp for elementary and middle school students to learn about traditional native Hawaiian ecological knowledge, the significance of cultural and historical sites in north kohala, and reforestation, land management, and safe boating/fishing practices. To help native children enjoy the holidays like any other child, along with donating 3,558 brand new toys to families on pine ridge, Running Strong doubled our support for holiday activities and gift giving for native Youth this year. We supported holiday parties and activities for Indian Youth of america, brushy cherokee action association, sacred healing circle, and nebo title vi Indian education.during fy23, Running Strong also completed new oyate ta kola ku community center that we built on the pine ridge Indian reservation. This 21,000 square foot Youth center operates all the Youth programming conducted through our partner and newest field office, oyate teca project. Every day, over 100 Youth come through the community center for Youth recreation activities in a brand-new gym, food preservation and preparation classes in our classrooms and commercial kitchen, garden classes in center and on the grounds in the medicine root garden, art, and culture classes such as beading, sewing, and regalia making. We have expanded our afterschool and summer programs for Youth and community members, as well as our garden and food programs that serve the reservation.running Strong continues to support culture and language revitalization efforts. Running Strong supported the afraid of bear/american horse tiospaye: rites of passage program where lakota elder master teachers brough together young women and girls to teach the art of making sacred foods, the prayers and ceremony behind this sacred art, as well as documenting other cultural teachings that are foundational to the oglala lakota peoples of the pine ridge reservation. We also supported oglala lakota sacred foods preparation through sacred healing circle and yuchi language preservation efforts through our 25-year partnership with the yuchi language project in sapulpa, ok.since 1994, Running Strong has supported the brave heart society's efforts in the yankton, oglala, sicangu, hunkpapa, hunkpati, kul wicasa, santee, sisseton, mdewanktonwan, spirit lake, cheyenne river and sioux valley nations. In fy23, brave heart society continued its work including the continuation of its mni wizipan wakan project to map out tribal water rights, garden tilling and planting for food sovereignty, social activism and isnati/coming of age coming of age ceremony for adolescent girls. Running Strong also owns the brave heart lodge and leases it to the brave hearts for $1/year.