Summer Update!

Its been a busy summer for SGC!

In May, Michael traveled to Pine Ridge Reservation to interview Workforce Training participants on their experiences.

In June, Andrea and Mackenzie traveled to Rapid City to work with First Peoples Fund on their impact tracking system and program manuals. Andrea and Mackenzie spent three days with First Peoples Fund noting all of their program policies and procedures to develop program manuals that integrate their process with their data collection system.

Later in June, Michael and Josh, with new intern Alyssa, trained Thunder Valley CDC Evaluation Interns on survey collection methods for their Reservation-Wide Survey, “Ecosystems of Opportunities.” While on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Josh and Michael met with several program leaders at Thunder Valley CDC to discuss impact measurement and tracking.

At the end of June, Michael, Andrea, Mackenzie, and Alyssa headed up to the Cheyenne River Reservation for the South Dakota Native Home Ownership Coalition Annual Meeting where SGC is implementing an impact tracking system for the Coalition members. They also met with Cheyenne River Tribal Ventures to start work on the final report for the 10-year initiative. The Executive Director, Eileen Briggs, spent two days with them discussing CRTV's journey over the last 10 years. Along with Staff, Mackenzie and Alyssa celebrated CRTV's 10-year Anniversary with pictures and ice cream cake.

After the SDNHOC convening in Mobridge, they traveled south to Tatanka Wakpala where they shared a meal with the Ducheneaux family, and caught up on the most recent happenings with the families’ continual efforts to create a sustainable community.

In mid July, Michael collaborated in Rapid City with Richard Sherman, Lakota ethnobotanist, on a curriculum to accompany a forthcoming ethnobotany video series.

Throughout the summer the crew stayed with Walter Littlemoon, in the Mouse Creek area of Wounded Knee. The area in Mouse Creek, and Walter's calm and welcoming demeanor provides continual rest and rejuvenation for us. Walter's home provides a calm place to work, rest, listen to story telling and drink coffee as the morning dew dries and the evening sun sets.