Thanks to the ongoing partnership between the Cheyenne River Youth Project and Partnership with Native Americans, 10 Lakota youth from the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation will have the opportunity to attend the second annual Native Youth Food Sovereignty Summit at Rapid City’s Storm Mountain Center. Scheduled for July 29-31, the summit will allow the youth to learn about healing herbs and foraging, tinpsila and sacred animals, elements for a balanced life, life celebrations, and much more.
This is yet another collaboration with PWNA in what is proving to be a deeply important relationship to our program and community.
“This year, for example, Chef Inyan led an indigenous-cooking training for our staff, which was sponsored by PWNA,” says Jerica Widow, CRYP’s youth programs director. “After we completed that class, we recruited our community members to attend the next class. This time, we were able to be the teachers.”
Chef Inyan Eagle Elk and his team also prepared a delicious meal for the community to help close out this year’s RedCan invitational graffiti jam.
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, PWNA has donated supplies to CRYP such as Toms shoes; incentives for teen interns; and a dehydrator, professional-grade knives and other utensils for the Keya Cafe’s kitchen. And, the organization continues to provide access to valuable trainings that benefit CRYP staff and the youth it serves and build capacity within the greater Cheyenne River community.
PWNA recently supported participation of CRYP staff in a special Indian Life Skills Development training, and facilitated Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) trainings for Cheyenne River youth, allowing them to learn how to use a fire extinguisher, shut off propane tanks in an emergency, remove a victim from the scene, assess levels of injury, and determine who is first priority for assistance.
All these opportunities give Cheyenne River youth the tools they need to become mentors and leaders among their peers and the Lakota Nation as a whole.
“We’re incredibly grateful to PWNA for its ongoing support, which involves multiple programs and special events here at the CRYP campus—all of which benefit our young people,” says Julie Garreau, CRYP’s executive director. “PWNA’s vision of strong, self-sufficient Native communities is perfectly aligned with our own, and we’re honored to have the opportunity to work together.”
PWNA has partnerships with hundreds of reservation programs to help meet immediate needs and support long-term solutions for 250,000 Native Americans each year. As an organization dedicated to meaningful partnership, its guiding principles are stewardship, integrity, respect and the spirit of service, including volunteerism. For more information, visit nativepartnership.org and follow PWNA4hope on Facebook and Twitter.
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 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 (@lakotayouth and @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.