A Registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization
Request for Financial Support for Capacity Building Projects for Community Groups on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota Project Coordinator: David Bartecchi, Director of Program Development Organization: Village Earth, PO Box 797, Fort Collins, CO 80522, PH. 970-491-0633 FAX. 970-491-2729 –david@villageearth.org Web: http://www.villageearth.org

Background
The Pine Ridge Reservation located in rural South Dakota exists as the poorest county in the United States for the last two decennial Censuses. Unemployment on the reservation is as high as 73%. Other problems on the Reservation include a severe housing shortage, 70% high school drop out rate, drug abuse, gangs, and crime.

The Problem
Village Earth believes that lack of access to resources is the primary obstacle for the Lakota people to build a better life, and that poverty is the symptom rather than cause of the problem. The resources needed by the Lakota people to improve their situation exists, they simply are unable to access them because of a lack of organization at the grassroots level. The tribal government and other resource institutions are unable to equitably distribute resources because there are no organizational structures at the community level to assert local needs. Without such grassroots organizations individual community members act alone on large problems with little effectiveness.

Accessing Resources on the Pine Ridge Reservation
Village Earth holds that residents of Pine Ridge already possess the seeds of their own development. Unlike traditional methods, we employ a bottom-up approach to development that listens rather than dictates, provides access to resources rather than aid. In July of 2001 Village Earth was asked by the Tribe’s Drug Elimination Program to assist groups of motivated individuals from the nine districts of Pine Ridge Reservation to form autonomous community development organizations. These organizations will become the “missing link” between the community members and the resource institutions. They will assess the needs of their communities, identify and access needed resources, and implement development programs. However, forming a grassroots community development organization is no easy task. Most of these individuals, albeit motivated, have no training or experience in community organizing, fundraising, project management, budgeting, and proposal writing. Since July of 2001, Village Earth has hosted, at no cost, a series of workshops designed to train these groups to become autonomous community development organizations. However, that is not enough.

Needed Resources
We have reached a critical point with the community groups at Pine Ridge where outside funding and resources can have a significant catalyzing affect on their development as capable community organizations. To act on this opportunity Village Earth would like to establish a “seed fund” for these organizations to initiate small “bootstrapping” projects within their communities. Projects already proposed by the groups in workshops facilitated by Village Earth include: small fundraisers, community gardens, small infrastructure projects, information campaigns, and community newsletters. Village Earth staff would work with the community groups to design a brief proposal outlining their project, the need it is addressing in their community, and a budget. Disbursements of grants from the proposed fund could range from $50 to $500 depending on the size of the fund and the number of requests.

Village Earth will work with the groups at all stages of the projects to ensure their success and impact on the organizational development of the groups. These projects will also benefit the groups by increasing their awareness and support within their communities. This will be important later as they try to implement larger projects requiring more extensive community support.

Project Sustainability
Only when the residents of Pine Ridge direct their future will they own it. And only then will they be able to manage the development process that will bring them out of poverty. This is accomplished by providing leadership so that the communities:
1. Express their hopes and aspirations for the future.
2. Identify and analyze the problems that stand in the way of achieving these hopes and aspirations.
3. Find solutions to the problems with the help of Village Earth.
4. Carry out the solutions and then operate and maintain the mechanisms to achieve them.
By working with the Lakota people to form capable autonomous community organizations Village Earth empowers communities and individuals to sustain the development process indefinitely.
If you are interested in supporting Village Earth in creating a “seed fund” for Pine Ridge please contact David Bartecchi at 970-491-0633 or David@villageearth.org.