The Cheyenne River Youth Project® announced today that it has received a $24,000 grant from the Richmond, Virginia-based Child Fund International. These funds will allow the nearly 27-year-old, not-for-profit youth organization to develop and carry out the yearlong “Just Read!” project, a series of youth reading initiatives on South Dakota’s remote, 2.8-million-acre Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation.
According to CRYP staff, “Just Read!” is a critical project for Cheyenne River’s children, who are among the poorest and most marginalized in the country. They have little access to books at home or through public libraries, and they lack opportunities to read outside of school. Far too many cannot read at grade level.
“Many parents here lack awareness of the importance of reading to children,” said Tammy Eagle Hunter, CRYP’s youth programs director. “They also lack confidence, particularly those who have low literacy skills or who are English-language learners themselves, which results in poor educational performance among their children early on and, eventually, a disproportionate drop-out rate.”
Research demonstrates that when parents read aloud with their children and encourage them to read on their own, they become better readers. And when families read aloud together, children view reading as important and fun.
When parents are unable to do this with their children, programs like “Just Read!” become even more important. When children have access to books, they read more often and develop more positive attitudes toward reading. They also are motivated to read more books, and to read more often, when they see themselves or their images reflected in those books.
“Our hope with ‘Just Read!’ is to encourage positive attitudes toward reading among our children,” Eagle Hunter explained. “Reading for pleasure will not only improve their reading performance, it will improve their overall academic performance. Reading has been shown, time and again, to be more important for a child’s success in education than a family’s socio-economic status.”
“Just Read!” will incorporate monthly theme-based reading festivals, special reading interaction outreach activities, book distributions, and “Just Ask Them!” self-expression surveys. Festival themes include My Hero, Goals & Dreams, Violence Prevention, Bullying Prevention, My Family, “What If You Couldn’t… ,” Community Action, All About Me, Young Entrepreneurs, Our Planet: Earth Day, Comic Strips & Books, and Biographies & History. These community events will celebrate and promote the love of reading and engage parents, young people and other community members and organizations through arts and crafts, storytelling, drama, dance, music, games, sports and expression activities.
The reading interaction outreach activities will promote reading with individual children and groups of children during scheduled program time.
“These will provide additional opportunities for children to learn about and explore our monthly themes through books, videos, arts and crafts, and games,” Eagle Hunter explained. “We’ll also conduct what we call ‘expression activities’ through activity response sheets, an expression wall and our ‘Just Ask Them!’ survey questions.”
The mini-surveys will be distributed to children along with books and reading logs. Kids will be able to share their thoughts, opinions, concerns and dreams; they also will be challenged to ask their siblings and peers to respond.
“We’re looking forward to getting valuable feedback,” Eagle Hunter said. “CFI will compile the survey responses, and then we’ll be able to share what we’ve learned with our young people, their parents, sponsors and others. We’re very excited about this program and are eager to see where it takes our kids in the 12 months to come.”
Child Fund International has been a CRYP partner for several years, and its support has allowed the grassroots youth project pursue some of its most important, and creative, youth programming. CFI funding has supported initiatives such as teen leadership, junior volunteer and community service programs; book clubs and distributions; summer and after-school literacy programs; and a variety of cultural activities that celebrate Lakota tradition and heritage.
Originally founded in 1938 to support orphaned children in China, CFI promotes societies around the world whose individuals and institutions participate in valuing, protecting and advancing the worth and rights of children. Over its 75-year history, the organization’s approach has evolved into one of community development — the idea that you can best help children by strengthening their families and community structures. That makes the international not-for-profit organization the perfect partner for the Cheyenne River Youth Project, according to Julie Garreau, CRYP’s executive director.
“We share a similar mission,” Garreau explained. “We, too, are dedicated to providing youth with access to a vibrant and secure future. Here on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, that means ensuring that we can give our children from age 4 to age 18 a wide variety of culturally sensitive and enduring programs, projects and facilities right here in Eagle Butte. We’re deeply grateful to CFI for its ongoing support and friendship.”
To stay up to date on the latest CRYP news and events, follow the youth project on Facebook (/LakotaYouth), Twitter (@LakotaYouth) and Instagram (@waniyetuwowapi).
The Cheyenne River Youth Project, founded in 1988, is a grassroots, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing the youth of the Cheyenne River reservation with access to a vibrant and secure future through a wide variety of culturally sensitive and enduring programs, projects and facilities that ensure strong, self-sufficient families and communities.