This month, Bozeman, Montana-based Hopa Mountain will be hosting its next “Strengthening the Circle” training conference in Rapid City, South Dakota, and staff members from the Cheyenne River Youth Project® are preparing to attend. Executive Director Julie Garreau and Development Director Kellie Jewett will be speaking at the native nonprofit leadership event, which is scheduled for October 16-18 at the Holiday Inn Rapid City – Rushmore Plaza Hotel.
“We’re thrilled that Hopa Mountain invited us to participate in the training conference,” said Julie Garreau, CRYP’s executive director. “Kellie will discuss how to develop an organization’s fundraising and development plans, and I’m going to be sharing my thoughts on what guides our work and how we center that work in community and cultural values. We’re very excited.”
Strengthening the Circle aims to build the capacities of experienced and emerging native nonprofit organizations that are working to improve economic development, education and social services on or near reservations, with particular emphasis on those that address the needs of native youth. The October STC conference will be a four-day workshop for 40 executive directors and board members representing a wide variety of South Dakota-based organizations.
Travel, lodging, instruction and materials are covered for native nonprofit executive directors and board members who are accepted into the STC program. In addition to the four-day training session, each participant will receive a program guidebook, resources for board development, fundraising and tribal youth program planning, 20 hours of consulting or coaching, and ongoing peer support.
“Strengthening the Circle offers an important opportunity to support native nonprofit leaders who are cultivating civic engagement and positive youth development in tribal communities,” said Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, Hopa Mountain’s executive director. “Program participants serve as mentors and leaders in their communities, building stronger organizations with more resources to positively impact native youth and their families.”
Hopa Mountain cooperatively offers Strengthening the Circle with Seventh Generation Fund, the Indian Nonprofit Alliance, Artemisia Associations and WolfStar Productions. STC is open to native nonprofit organizations in Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Oregon, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming.
The next STC conference will focus on native nonprofit organizations in the Pacific Northwest and Great Plains. The application will be posted online in January 2014, with the conferenced scheduled for April 7-10, 2014 in Bozeman, Montana.
Hopa Mountain supports rural and tribal community leaders, adults and youth in their efforts to improve education, ecological health and economic development, and it offers citizen leadership training programs throughout the year. For more information about Strengthening the Circle and other Hopa Mountain programs, visit www.hopamountain.org.
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, LinkedIn and Twitter.