CRYP has experienced dramatic growth since its founding in a former bar on Eagle Butte’s Main Street. Today, its 5-acre 4th Street campus incorporates the 4,000-square-foot “The Main” youth center (1999) for 4- to 12-year-olds, which has a recreation room, library, family room, commercial-grade kitchen, office space, and residential quarters for long-term volunteers, and the more than 25,000-square-foot Cokata Wiconi (Center of Life) teen center (2006), which has a full-size gymnasium, computer lab, dance and art studios, library, and private apartment for long-term volunteers.
Cokata Wiconi also is home to the Keya (Turtle) Cafe & Keya Gift Shop (2014), as well as the Family Services program (2002). Through its innovative Teen Internship program (2014), CRYP offers internships in social enterprise, sustainable agriculture, wellness and the arts, and through its Waniyetu Wowapi (Winter Count) Lakota Arts Institute (2016), students can attend classes and workshops in traditional Lakota arts, drawing, graffiti and street art.
The campus also features the 2-acre, naturally grown Winyan Toka Win (Leading Lady) Garden (1999) and seasonal Leading Lady Farmers Market, and the free, public Waniyetu Wowapi Art Park (2014). Each summer, the art park hosts the groundbreaking RedCan invitational graffiti jam (2015), as well as a variety of live performances, educational youth programs, and special community events.
In every space at the CRYP campus, the youth project is dedicated to providing programs and activities for the youngest children at The Main, for the teens at Cokata Wiconi, and for Cheyenne River’s community members in general. We constantly seek new ways to engage participants of all ages, providing new opportunities — and access to a more vibrant, secure future — for all.