Progress 07/01/13 to 06/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:This program served residents and Oglala Lakota tribal members located onthe Pine Ridge American Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Changes/Problems:The Native American Program Director is no longer a position within SDSU, however SDSU and SDSU Extension have folded our outreach into the larger Extension and University family to broaden our outreach across the state to tribal communities, while maintaining our reservation specific staffing and programming on Pine Ridge. When working with communities living under persistent poverty and limited resource producers, a lack of infrastructure, policies, systems and resources is always going to be a challenge. Our Pine Ridge team is now made up of mostly enrolled members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, including several seasonal employees working for the Native American Beginning Farmer Rancher Program. The change of adding more tribal employees to the team has greatly benefited our outreach on Pine Ridge, both broadening and deepening it. Going forward we intend to maintain these tribal members role within our tribal extension team as much as funding allows. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Staff members participated in the following opportunities: Annual FRTEP Professional Development conference in Flagstaff, AZ, Small Farms Conference in Virginia Beach, the Annual Beginning Farmers Rancher Development Program in St. Paul, MN, USDA GAP practices at Small Farms, Produce Safety Alliance PSA Growers Training Course, 2017 Bee College at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, the Great Plains Growers Conference in Nebraska, and the National AgrAbilty Conference in Knoxville, TN. Along with networking and professional development, staff made numerous connections that will allow them to extend and sustain this work through the development of regional and multi-state efforts. In addition, staff members gained innovative and generated new knowledge around new topics, such as working with veterans to extend programming efforts in these areas after the FRTEP grant ends. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In terms of outreach, the office had presence on radio programming with KILI Radio, on gardening, Agrability, season extension and community gardens. The office has a very active Facebook page providing regular articles and programming announcements. Regularly they post fliers, send out announcements via several email list-serves, including the tribal gardening listserv. We also reach out via the Lakota Country Times and Bennett Co. Booster local newspapers. The Pine Ridge office hosted three community events, participated in two health fairs and one pow-wow. Regular emails are sent to the Oglala Sioux Tribal Government Secretary, Office of the President and the Executive Board of Tribal Council. Other face to face programming, such as the classes/workshops and trainings as noted above. Pine Ridge staff yearly present at local conferences such as: Indian Education Summit, SD Local Foods and Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Health Board annual meeting. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?SDSU's FRTEP application was not awarded funding in the next round, however, the office will continue programming as scheduled for our three goals utlizing other leveraged funds such as CDC 1416, SNAP-Ed, and USDA Native AmericanBeginning Farmer Rancher grant funds; concentrating heavily on small-scale and small acreage agro-ecological training and programming, community and individual health and wellness through physical activity, gardening, cooking classes, food preservation classes and nutrition. We have submitted several grant proposals including a large 2501 Socially Disadvantaged grants submitted and we will continue to pursue other funding sources.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal #1(75% accomplished):We worked with community partners on a variety of food, agriculture and community projects includingintermediate agricultural production programs for established farmers and small-scale, sustainable small acreage programs for beginning farmers/ranchers. The latter program includes small acreage livestock (primarily goats), high-tunnel production and organic production. In addition, offerings included beginning to advanced gardening education (for youth and adults), support for development of local markets, nutrition education for youth and adults, and environmental stewardship. Staff worked with over 25 partners, such as the Pine Ridge Ag Economy, Veteran's Center, Catholic Church, Little Wound School's FACE Program, Oglala Lakota College, Indian Health Services, Lakota Youth Development, National Bison Association, SDSpecialty Producers Association, Inter-tribal Ag Council, Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Health Board, Oyate Teca Project, Thunder Valley CDC, etc. In Year 4, staffimplementedthe joint CDC1416 grant and SNAP-EDcommunity Wellness Coalition program, aimed at reducing chronic disease indicatorsthrough community led initiatives. Impacts from joining efforts included increased home and community gardening resources, offering of at least 2 home food preservation classes each summer, increasing physical activity programs using walking programs, and the addition of a bike blender at health fairs and garden demonstration sites to educate youth. Additional impacts from this work included: worked with an increasing number of schools and community organizations to develop and expand 5 community teaching gardens, staff provided weekly gardening classes for both adults and youth, and over 70Beginning Farmer home gardeners. At Indian Health Services, theworkplace wellness/community garden was expanded to include native medicinal plants, herbs and fruit trees. Staff continuedto develop demonstration gardens, including high-tunnels and raised beds, at various sitesin cooperation with partners. Expanding upon a SDDept. of Ag Specialty Crop grant, the Pine Ridge program moved its traditional foods program out of the high-tunnel and into the field. Working with traditional gatherers, tribal youth, schools, youth programs and ethnobotanists, we've helped many gardens on Pine Ridge transplant native plants from the wild into their gardens or to collect seeds from the wild, store them for planting this fall or next spring. Following the UN's FAO's findings that indigenous peoples incorporate wild gathering and localized varieties of these wild foods into their gardens and small-holder farms, the Native American Beginning Farmer Rancher (BFR) programadded these naturally and culturally relevant plants into all of its teaching gardens and regularly takes groups out to teach them how to identify and harvest or transplant these important foods and medicines in a sustainable and culturally acceptable way. As indigenous people learn to plant and care for native plants, they become more interested in learning to gain more control of their own foods (including through gardening). A total of 152 adult participants and 89 youthhave directly participated in the Native American BFRand Gardening Programsin the reporting period. Goal #2 (75% accomplished):The Native American BFR Programalso incorporated Agrability into this location, helping those who live with disabilities (mental, physical, emotional, and behavioral) become involved in small-scale agriculture through gardens and small-acreage livestock. Native Americans experience serious psychological distress 1.5 times more and PTSD two times more than the general US population, according to the American Psychiatric Association. In order to get more Native Americans involved in agriculture, we need to provide them with support that helps them address all the challenges they face in becoming new farmers or ranchers, and this includes trauma. The National Agrability program helps address both mental health issues and physical disabilities as well as provides resources to help prevent such problems in future generations. On Pine Ridge a combat veteran who suffers from PTSD and depression, was a presenter at the National Agrability Conference in March, 2017, came to talk about how gardening helped him become a small farmer. In addition, five teaching gardens were established in spring 2017 and weekly gardening classes are held in each site. These gardens also represent a physical change in the environments in these communities that struggle with persistent poverty and help the community revitalize its self-image while returning culturally relevant plants to their communities and simultaneously adding to their capacity building towards food sovereignty. Pine Ridge is a designated Promise Zone, and the Extension office has been working closely with USDA and local partners on identifying additional strategies to positively impact the local economy and quality of life for Pine Ridge residents. Among the current initiatives is a pilot Head Start Healthy Food program, and an expansion of the FNSsummer foods program. Goal #3(50% accomplished):Programming is provided in a culturally relevant, experiential (hands-on) model that incorporates Native science with Western science. Programs range from robotics to botany, from gardens to traditional plants and help Native American youth blend a traditional understanding of their physical environment with a western science model. Gardens help them use math and science in everything from planning and planting to harvest and clean up (composting) allowing them a better understanding of how math and science are a part of everyday life. In partnership with the Lakota Youth Development, the National Indian Youth Leadership Project and Honey Lodge, the Pine Ridge office provided a hands-on and in classroom workshop on the Introduction to Bee Keeping. Twenty-five youth from the Rosebud Reservation and their adult coordinator, Marla Bull Bear traveled to Pine Ridge and the youth were the primary presenters teaching participants about the life cycle of the bee, its origins, its important role in pollination and how to harvest honey. In gardens, youth learned about how combining mulching with drip irrigation reduces water use and loss, helps maintain soil moisture, helps prevent diseases and greatly reduces the time and labor required by weeding. Through raised bed building students learned hands-on basic principles of carpentry and through season extension methods (pvc pipe hoop house creation) they learned how to they can lengthen the growing season, provide plants protection from wind, hail and pests. Community Partnerships and school enrichment programs are the basis of 4-H youth programs that deliver a variety of educational youth development topics including: gardening, nutrition and health, photography, STEM, traditional beading, archery, wood working, and outdoor education (camps). 4-H partnered with a local school (Rocky Ford Elementary, Porcupine, SD) to host a regional youth archery event for Native youth. The day long tournament was well-attended by youth archers and their families, including participants from Pine Ridge, Cheyenne River and Rosebud reservations, as well as non-native participants from near-by Rapid City.Several 4-H youth programs held at Little Wound Alternative High School to enrich youth with more hands-on learning opportunities that encouraged them to be creative and develop interpersonal skills.In collaboration with SDSU Extension's Rosebud office and the Native American BFR Program, 4-H youth from Pine Ridge also participated in a youth conference on careers in agriculture held in Custer, SD at the Crazy Horse Memorial. The objective of the conference was to introduce youth to career paths in agriculture and to help them connect with local ranchers and other agricultural educational opportunities.
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Progress 07/01/15 to 06/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Residents of Pine Ridge Reservation. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Engagement with Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development program for Producer Education. Local Foods education and training Farmers Market training as noted above. Food preservation programming as noted above. Training/presentation at the annual Indigenous Farming Conference, South Dakota Local Foods conference, and the combined Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development program/FRTEP Professional Development Conference. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In terms of outreach, the office had presence on radio programming with KILI radio, on gardening and food preservation. Extension also provides monthly articles via the Extension newsletter and local newsletter, and periodically in the Lakota Country Times newspaper. The office also provides updates on the tribal gardening listserv and shares documents/calendars via the SDSU iGrow web interface and shared document folders. Other face to face programming as noted above. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The office will continue programming as scheduled for our three goals; concentrating heavily on agricultural training and programming related to capacity building in food sovereignty, for youth, adults and communities.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1. Improve access to and utilization of locally-produced food. This includes agricultural production programs for both established and beginning farmers, ranchers and gardeners (for youth and adults), support for development of local markets, nutrition education for youth and adults, and environmental stewardship. 2. Revitalized (rural) reservation communities his goal includes financial literacy, with other employment and life skills for youth and adults, business management, organizational capacity building, entrepreneurship and leadership development and mentorship training. 3. Capacity building in Science, Engineering and Technology This includes 4-H/Youth/ SET programming (robots, photography, science-based programs, programming in the use of technology for program access and delivery (videography, social media, etc.), and environmental education programs. Programming is provided in a culturally relevant model that incorporates Native science with Western principles and as much as possible, utilizes youth experience as the teaching platform. What was accomplished under Goals: The Pine Ridge office worked with community partners on a variety of food, agriculture and community projects. Staff partnered with other reservations in implementing the joint CDC/SNAP-ED community coalition program, aimed at reducing chronic disease indicators in target communities through community led initiatives. The office provided training in survey and photo-mapping, with a community feedback process. This lead to community conversations which identified strategies to implement moving forward (the current status of the program). Among the strategies implemented in all target communities is home and community gardening. Extension staff worked with an increasing number of schools and community organizations to develop and expand community gardens. Currently, staff works with six productive gardens, including a new workplace wellness/community garden at the Indian Health Services in Kyle, Oyate Teca Youth Project garden, Crazy Horse School garden, Little Wound School and community garden. Staff continue to develop demonstration gardens, including high-tunnels and raised beds, at various sites on the reservation, in cooperation with partner organizations. Pine Ridge also had an extensive program in traditional foods. Staff from the Pine Ridge office guided a group of twenty Extension agents from across the U.S. on a tour of the high-tunnel/greenhouse and demonstration garden situated near Kyle, SD and discussed their Traditional Foods Project, funded in part by a Specialty Crop Grant through the USDA and SD Department of Agriculture. As part of this project, Extension staff partnered with six local, traditional gatherers to cultivate wild varieties of traditional plants including strawberries, raspberries, sweet grass, sage, field mint and other traditional herbs. This group of six then partnered with twenty additional gatherers to extend the educational outreach. Participants in the program are learning how to transplant these plants from the wild and how to cultivate these plants to start new plants. Participants have also gained knowledge and experience working with high-tunnels, hoop houses and drip irrigation. Pine Ridge is a designated Promise Zone, and the Extension office has been working closely with USDA and local partners on identifying additional strategies to positively impact the local economy and quality of life for Pine Ridge residents. Among the current initiatives is a pilot Head Start Healthy Food program, and an expansion of the Food and Nutrition Service summer foods program, including healthy food alternatives. The office also houses and EFNEP program assistant; and staff work closely together to collobarate on reaching youth with a variety of programs, to broaden the impact, especially in the areas of gardening/food preservation, nutrition, fitness and overall wellness. In addition to school youth gardening andprograms, the office worked with schools and youth groups on archery, horsemanship programs, and other traditional 4-H efforts.
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Progress 07/01/14 to 06/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? HEAL MAPPS training (CDC/SNAP-ED grant) Community Conversation Training (CDC/SNAP-ED grant) CDC Conference in Atlanta, GA The SD Indian Education Summit USDA Grants Workshop SDIBA Conference NEMS training (CDC/SNAP-ED grant) How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Presentation on a panel of tribal agriculture at the South Dakota Indian Business Alliance (SDIBA) Conference in Deadwood, SD. The Extension agent and a colleague from Cheyenne River joined other organizations on a panel that discussed the future of Agriculture (Big and Little Ag) in Indian County and the importance of Local Foods. In particular, they discussed the Beginning Farmer Rancher and Specialty Crop Traditional Foods programs. Approximately 16 people were in attendance. Extension agent attended a SDIBA annual meeting to speak about: Cultural Competency Training Opportunities, Workforce Development Curriculum, and Beginning Farmer Rancher Program and Traditional Foods Specialty Crop Program opportunities. Approximately 32 people were in attendance at this meeting. Extension agent also attended a USDA Strike Force Meeting at Oglala Lakota College to present on the Beginning Farmer Rancher program and Specialty Crop Traditional Foods Programs to the following agencies: USDA, USDA-RD, NRCS, FSA, OST Tribal Officials, area producers, and Oglala Lakota Faculty and Students in attendance. Approximately 46 people were in attendance. 4-H youth advisor presented on 4-H at a Suicide Prevention Fair at Oglala Lakota College to 50 people. Through partnering organizations, including: National Relief Charities Oglala Lakota College Oyate Teca Project OST Parks and Rec The Lakota Funds SDIBA USDA Rural Development NRCS FSA The Face Program at Little Wound School Badlands Head Start Black Hills Foster Grandparent Program IHS-Kyle Health Clinic A bi-monthly Pine Ridge 4-H newsletter is sent out to an email list-serve of over 53 people across the reservation. A Pine Ridge Facebook page was created for outreach and in just a couple of months were up to 90 likes and we have a weekly average reach of about 40 people. KILI Radio Phone calls and word of mouth What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?For the subsequent grant cycle, we've added the following staff and temporary staff to our office: Beginning Garden Educator, Demo-Site Manager (BFR), Office Clerical Staff, 4-H Youth Horse Program (College Student), and soon an EFNEP Health and Nutrition person and this fall, we will add acouple of AmeriCorps volunteers. We'll continue to develop new and more effective strategic partnerships and recruit and develop both our Extension board and 4-H youth advisory board around the new direction of Healthy Foods, Healthy Communities. We'll provide local producer development and training, particularly in small acreages, traditional foods, horticulture and livestock (BFR), high-tunnel greenhouse production and other commercial production. In the areas of youth our focus will be gardening, horsemanship skills (western and traditional native), archery, traditional skills, and ecology.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The Pine Ridge Extension office has addedstaffing during this reporting period, so thattogetherwith previous staffing changes, many of our initiatives are now fully under way and re-energized. We added clerical support, a part-time beginning garden educator, an EFNEP coordinator, a part-time youth horse program student intern, and in July we will have a new4-H youth advisor.The office is now able to focus on the four target areas of food production, health and nutrition, community development and wellness, and youth outreach. A notable highlight of the yearis the start of several major grant programs: The Beginning Farmer Rancher Program, the CDC 1416 Obesity Grant and SNAP-ED obesity grant, and the Specialty Crop Traditional Foods Grant. Included in these grants are beginning and commercial gardening instruction, broad community engagement in food production and utilization, and an increase in the number of tribal and NGO partners in demonstration sites and projects to support food sovereignty.Additionally, we're now working with "community champions" and have begun wellness coalitions in two communities. Youth engagement is also on the upswing, with an expansion of the archery program, a 4-H camera club, one school garden, and increased youth horse programming. Improve access to and utilization of locally-produced food. 8 Beginning Gardener Trainings, 141 people attended the classes. Topics included soils preparation, cultivation options (raised bed, no-till), plant starts, crop selection and care, site selection, as well as teaching and working with youth in the garden.Staff also visited three individual gardenersto help them diagnose problems and identify opportunities. 8 Community/School/Work Wellness Gardens: One Indian Health Service (IHS) Workplace Wellness and Community Garden, Oyate Teca Youth Project Garden, Beginning Farmer Rancher Demo-Site Educational Garden, Crazy Horse School Garden, Little Wound School Community Event, IHS Kyle Health Fair,Specialty Crop Traditional Foods High-Tunnel Project, andLittle Wound F.A.C.E. program garden. Little Wound F.A.C.E. works with Parents, families and children from pre-natal to 5 years of age. Our office secretary, Natasha Young Bear and our Garden Educator, Patricia Hammond worked with the F.A.C.E program's 12 participants on hands-on education in the garden. They developed a healthy eating and nutritional menu and garden plan with the group and taught them about using fresh herbs and vegetables. One parent, diagnosed with breast cancer was taught one on one to put together a list of foods, plants, herbs, etc. that would help her with her nausea. They taught her how to prepare and cook the foods and to make smoothies containing antibiotic, anticancer, antioxidant and antimicrobial ingredients. Beginning Farmer Rancher Program: 68 applications were sent out. Two qualified applicants were selected to participate in the Livestock track of the program and 4were selected to participate in the commercial horticulture track. Severalwho didn't qualify were channeled into our Beginning Garden Education program in preparation for next year's class. Development of the Local Foods Cooperative: Working with local and regional (NGO partners), Extension has held planning and educational meetings, resulting in: 18 Local Foods Beginning Gardeners Training by our Beginning Gardener Educator with: Badlands Head Start, HIS Kyle Health Clinic, Black Hills Foster Grandparent Program, the Lakota Funds, Oyate Teca Youth Project, and at our Demo-Site Garden. A Traditional Foods Workshop at the Lakota Funds (13 participants).It was followed up by a visit to our Traditional Foods High-Tunnel project at the Lakota Prairie Ranch Resort.Of the 13 in class participants, six are helping us monitor, in the wild, the same species we're growing inside the high-tunnel so as to compare and contrast. Specialty Crop Block Grant: The Pine Ridge Extension office was awarded a Specialty Crop Block Grant from the SD Dept. of Ag/USDA. 20 wild raspberry and25 wild strawberry were planted, along with raised beds of wild herbal teas. To date, 6 traditional plant gatherers are participating in the program. There's an expressed interest from the participants in learning tocultivate wild varieties of traditional plants such as raspberry, chokecherry, strawberry, wild herbal teas, sweet grass and sage,as well to gather seed and tohelp restore local areas where the plants no longer exist or are in danger. Revitalized (rural) reservation communities CDC and SNAP-ED grants on Obesity: are working with two communities. One in Bennett Co. in the town of Martin (CDC) and the other in the Medicine Root District on the Pine Ridge Reservation (SNAP-ED). These grants are working towards creating a Wellness Coalition in each community. After conducting needs assessments and community mapping, communities will meetto choose from a variety of implementation strategies designed toremove barriers to healthy living,create incentives to living more physically active lifestyles and increaseaccess to fresh local foods. These Wellness Coalitions will work alongside our Local Foods Coalitions towards a more holistic approach to sustainable change and revitalization of our reservation communities. Capacity building in youth opportunities: 230 youth were involved in 4-H activities and or trainings during these dates. 35 youth were involved with archery at Our Lady of Lourdes middle school. 25 Lakota youth participated in 4-H photography program at Our Lady of Lourdes Middle School. 9 Lakota Youth Attended the 4-H Camp Bob Marshall this June, with 4 adult volunteers 35 youth have participated so far in Horse Programs.Several volunteer-led Rodeo Play Dates were planned that had to be postponed due to rains and flooding. All have been rescheduled and we're adding additional horsemanship trainings and skills workshops to these events. The office is working to establish a reservation wide Horse programs database and network with the goals of hosting several large scale events, trainings and youth rodeo skills play dates for younger youth alongside traditional Lakota memorial horse ride folks, rodeo folks, equine therapy folks and farm/ranch folks. 5 youth were signed up for 4-H rodeo and an additional 4 more youth were signed up for 4-H as individuals. Crazy Horse School garden still isn't planted (the garden was washed out twice),but approximately 5 adult volunteers and 60 youth have been involved with seed starts, garden prep, etc. 57 youth from Little Wound School participated in a chicken hatching project.
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Progress 07/01/13 to 06/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for this project are residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? · Small Acreage Trainings: partnering with SDSU Extension · The Federally Recognized Tribes Extension Program annual training and conference. · The State Local Foods conference · Workin’ With Tradition Workforce Ready program · A Cultural Competency Training · The SD Indian Education Summit How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? · 4-H email newsletter · Facebook and KILI Radio · Phone calls and word of mouth · Through partnering organizations: o National Relief Charities o Oglala Lakota College o Oyate Teca Project o OST Parks and Rec o The Lakota Funds o SDIBA o USDA Rural Development What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? For the subsequent grant cycle, we’ll continue to develop additional strategic partnerships and recruit and develop both our Extension board and 4-H youth advisory board around the new direction of Healthy Foods, Healthy Communitie. We’ll provide local producer development and training, particularly in small acreages , high-tunnel greenhouse production and other commercial production. In the areas of youth our focus will be gardening, archery, traditional skills, ecology and horse programming.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The Pine Ridge Extension office had a complete turnover in staffing at the beginning of this reporting period, and this was a continuation of previous staffing changes, so many of the office initiatives had to be ‘re-energized’. The office has been able to focus staff resources and partnership development on the three target areas of food production, community and youth outreach. The most notable program highlight for this reporting period is the growth of the local foods coalition, including beginning and commercial gardening instruction, broad community engagement in food production and utilization, and an increase in the number of tribal and NGO partners in demonstration sites and projects to support food sovereignty. Youth engagement is also on the upswing, with an expansion of the youth archery program, science outreach with two local schools, and new 4-H clubs starting to implement their own community efforts. 1. Improve access to and utilization of locally-produced food. · Beginning Gardener Trainings; four sites, 43 people trained. Production skills acquired in soils preparation, cultivation options (raised bed, no-till), plant starts, crop selection and care, site selection · Community Gardens: four new and continuing in three communities · Development of the Local Foods Cooperative: Working with local and regional (NGO partners), Extension has held planning and educational meetings, resulting in: · A Local Foods Beginning Gardeners Training with National Relief Charities, Oglala Lakota College, Oyate Teca, and the Church of Latter Day Saints and the OST Vice President’s Office. · a Small Acreage’s training on goats and chickens to kick off our developing Small Acreage’s programming. (six participants received knowledge in animal production and marketing. · High-tunnel workshop towards commercial production, including new partnerships being formed towards expanded training programs, and shared demonstration sites including high tunnel greenhouses and various production techniques. · Specialty Crop Block Grant Awarded: $31,900. The Pine Ridge Extension office was awarded a Specialty Crop Block Grant from the SD Dept. of Ag/USDA that will have both an education component to it (training producers on the Pine Ridge in the set up, use, and maintenance of high-tunnels) and a research component to it (the viability of using a high-tunnel to cultivate the wild varieties of traditional Lakota foods) (and the difference in production yields between cultivated varieties and the wild varieties). · Presentation on a panel of tribal agriculture at the state local foods conference; the FRTEP associate with two colleages and ten other producers and local representatives, discussing opportunities in vegetable production on reservations. · Farmers Market training, presentation on using ‘Square’ and ‘Intuit’ to accept credit/debit payments at Farmers Markets. 11 participants trained; several of whom stated that they intended to adopt this technology to their sales strategy. 2. Revitalized (rural) reservation communities Worked with 252 Pine Ridge Residents total in this period, mostly on the following areas plus SET-IV: o Stronger Economies Together (USDA Rural Development Program). Pine Ridge was chosen as a site for the IVth round of this program. Several meetings were held to recruit a cultural vetting of the SET-IV program. The program was well received by this grassroots team of cultural elders and artists. Initial kickoff meetings were well publicized but not well attended, and the original council members on the application were no longer available. After three coordinated meetings proved unsuccessful in launching the program, the Extension office, and Rural Development decided to incorporate this effort with the development of the Local Foods Collaborative. The office and participants will use the Oyate Omniciye or “Lakota Plan”, which is the adopted regional plan for the the Pine Ridge reservation by the OST tribal council. These integrated efforts will begin in fall 2014; using only the agricultural and land management components of the plan. 3. Capacity building in Science, Engineering and Technology · 811 youth were involved in 4-H activities and or trainings during these dates. · We’re actively recruiting a new 4-H youth advisory board · 43 new individual 4-H members are signed up in two community clubs, and · 42 youth have incorporated 4-H archery with their school archer program at Our Lady of Lourdes middle school. · 6 Lakota Youth Attended the 4-H Camp Bob Marshall this June, with 4 adult volunteers · 25 Lakota Youth have participated thus far in the Bountiful Back Pack’s Program; which provides nutrition education to youth and families through the Expanded Food and Nutrition Extension Program through USDA. · Several volunteer-led Rodeo Play Dates have been hosted and about 70 youth have participated supported by 12 adult volunteers. The office is working to establish a reservation wide Horse program through the hosting of several meetings with traditional memorial horse ride folks, rodeo folks, equine therapy folks and farm/ranch folks. Youth science and ecology camps have been held with partner (Generations Indigenous Ways) around Allen, SD: 15 youth members camps and 25 adult volunteers have received programming in: Traditional Archery, ecology, and cultural traditions. The program develops curriculum with elders on the reservation and recently held a popular after school program where students made a bow. The Indigenous Ways model, blends western ecological science with traditional indigenous ecological views.
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