Our aim is to work with Native American families to give them the tools necessary to be successful. Our goal is a sustainable early intervention program to give power to an Indian community with restricted access to services through increased access to cultural support and community resources. We aim to provide the tools families need to become self-sufficient and raise strong children with paths
to healthy futures. We intend to increase awareness of our work locally, regionally and nationally in order to broaden our base of support, continue, grow and evolve successful programs, and be sustainable into the future. An important target population for Rural America Initiatives is families who migrate from a reservation to Rapid City within the year. These families are often the most economically disadvantaged and vulnerable, and the poverty they face is staggering. Native Americans come to the city from the reservation for increased opportunities and a better way of life. Often, however, they find conditions here much more difficult, without the network and support systems of the reservation. We structure our programs like a Tiyospaye (family), grounded in traditional culture and replicating the family support found on reservations. We embrace the philosophy of serving the family through the child, and educating the parents to be the educators of the children. Our goal was and is to develop a new society of Indian men and women, or "Ikce wicasa na winyan" (Common Man and Woman) who work within the community to strengthen our community's families by practicing the values of respect, honesty, language, generosity and courage, and the interconnectedness we have with each other, and with mother earth.
