CRYP has experienced dramatic growth since its 1988 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. Next door is the nearly 26,000-square-foot Cokata Wiconi (Center of Life) Teen Center (2006), which has a full-size gymnasium, commercial-grade kitchen, computer lab, dance and art studios, classroom, library, gathering spaces, and private apartment for long-term volunteers.

Through its innovative Teen Internship program (2013), CRYP offers internships in Native Food Sovereignty, Native Wellness, Social Enterprise, Art, and Lakota Culture. 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; they can apply for a nine-month Lakota Art Fellowship as well. Cokata Wiconi also is home to the Keya (Turtle) Cafe & Keya Gift Shop (2014), as well as the Family Services program (2002).

In addition, the campus incorporates the 2.5-acre, naturally grown Winyan Toka Win (Leading Lady) Garden (1999) 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.

In 2024, CRYP added a nearly 40-acre organic parcel of land adjacent to sacred Mato Paha (Bear Butte) in Meade County, South Dakota. The land is called Wakanyeja Kin Wana Ku Pi, which means “the children are coming home.” The property hosts CRYP’s seasonal Lakota culture camps and serves as a home base near the Paha Sapa (Black Hills), providing much-needed access to sacred sites throughout these traditional homelands.