Rural America Initiatives meets challenge, receives $250,000 from Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community

RAPID CITY, S.D. – Rural America Initiatives (RAI) is $500,000 closer to attaining a new Head Start building, thanks to a $250,000 matching grant from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) in Minnesota.

In December, 2013 the SMSC committed a quarter of a million dollar grant dependent on RAI raising matching funds, and in December 2014, after a $100,000 donation from an anonymous donor, RAI met that goal.

“We will always be grateful to the Shakopee Tribe. They recognized early on the benefit this facility would be to our people and they stepped up to help. It was their gift that raised awareness in our community, generated additional support, and allowed us to launch our campaign,” said Bruce Long Fox, Executive Director of Rural America Initiatives.

In addition to an anonymous donor, the following companies are among the individuals and businesses that helped RAI meet its matching goal:

·         Black Hills Corp/Black Hills Power

·         Jim Scull of J. Scull Construction

·         First Interstate Bank

·         US Bank

·         SD Community Foundation

·         Beverly M./Lloyd W. Paulson Charitable Gift Fund

·         Casey Peterson and Associates

Using these funds as momentum, RAI, a long-standing nonprofit organization serving Native American families in Rapid City, plans to raise an additional $6 million to build a new Head Start/Community Center building. Its current buildings, originally meant to be temporary, have exceeded their intended lifespan by a dozen years and are fully depreciated. The new building is expected to serve 150 children and their families each year, helping children below poverty level gain the skills they need to be ready to learn on par with their peers when they enter kindergarten.

For more information about Rural America Initiatives, its program and capital campaign, and ways to help, please visit www.ruralamericainitiatives.org or call 605-341-333.

– About Rural America Initiatives: Rural America Initiatives (RAI) seeks to create community change by role modeling positive, healthy, alcohol and drug free lifestyles incorporating Lakota/Dakota values. Family and children we teach now will have a lasting impact on future generations. We seek to strengthen individuals, families and the Native community in Rapid City.

RAI is the largest, non-profit, continuously operating Native American organization in Rapid City. Founded in 1986 to partner with Native American families to strengthen the development of healthy, sober, self-sufficient lifestyles, it has been the most effective service provider for the most at-risk Rapid City families for close to thirty years.

– About the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community: The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is a federally recognized, sovereign Indian tribe located southwest of Minneapolis/St. Paul. With a focus on being a good neighbor, good steward of the earth, and good employer, the SMSC is committed to charitable donations, community partnerships, a healthy environment, and a strong economy. The SMSC and the SMSC Gaming Enterprise (Mystic Lake Casino Hotel and Little Six Casino) are the largest employer in Scott County. Out of a Dakota tradition to help others, the SMSC has donated nearly $300 million to organizations and causes since opening the Gaming Enterprise in the 1990s and has contributed millions more to regional governments and infrastructure such as roads, water and sewer systems, and emergency services.