The Cheyenne River Youth Project announced today that it has been selected as a member of the Bush Foundation’s second Community Creativity Cohort. “We are excited to support the amazing work of CRYP to help make our region better for everyone,” says Bush Foundation Community Creativity Portfolio Director Erik Takeshita.
This nonprofit, grassroots organization is one of 40 organizations from North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and the 23 Native nations that share this geography to be selected by the Bush Foundation for their commitment to making art and culture central to problem-solving. All participating organizations are led by and serving people of color or indigenous people, and/or are led by and serving people from rural communities or nonmetropolitan areas or towns with populations of less than 50,000 people.
For the last three decades, CRYP has served Lakota youth and families on South Dakota’s remote, 2.8-million-acre Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, a land area the size of Connecticut that is home to less than 10,000 people. The youth project remains dedicated to providing Cheyenne River’s young people with the guidance, mentorship and opportunities they need to become their community’s next generation of leaders, role models and culture bearers.
“We are deeply honored to be part of the Bush Foundation’s second Community Creativity Cohort,” says Julie Garreau, CRYP’s executive director. “We think this experience will be invaluable in helping address the issues that are most important to our community here on Cheyenne River.”
Each member of the cohort will receive a general operating support grant of $100,000 over a three-year period, and access to other funds to help them improve their work and strengthen their organizations. Cohort members were selected from a pool of more than 100 applicants from across the region. The program officially will kick off this November, at the cohort’s first convening in the Twin Cities. More information on Community Creativity Cohort 2 and its members can be found at https://www.bushfoundation.org/community-creativity-initiative/community-creativity-cohort-2.
To learn more about the Cheyenne River Youth Project and its programs, and for information about making donations and volunteering, call (605) 964-8200 or visit www.lakotayouth.org. And, 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.
The Bush Foundation was established in 1953 by 3M Executive Archibald Bush and his wife Edyth. Today, the Foundation invests in great ideas and the people who power them in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the 23 Native nations that share the geography. The Foundation works to inspire and support creative problem solving – within and across sectors – to make the region better for everyone.