In the small community of Eagle Butte, South Dakota, children come and go from a bustling community center that serves as a safe space for them to play, connect with each other, and their Lakota culture.

The activity is all part of the Cheyenne River Youth Project, which serves Lakota youth ages 4-18 on the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation in South Dakota.  The Cheyenne River reservation encompasses more than 3 million rural acres in the high plains of north central South Dakota.  The reservation is home to four of the seven bands of Lakota: Mnicoujou, O’ohenumpa, Itazipco, and Siha Sapa. Over 8,500 individuals live in 14 communities located on the reservation. 

Eagle Butte, where the organization is located, is the largest community with more than 1,300 people. The work of the Cheyenne River Youth Project aims to build strong futures for kids through programming that focuses on the critical issues of leadership, food sovereignty, Native wellness, and arts and culture. 

“In Eagle Butte, there’s not a lot happening. The kids needed something to do,” said Julie Garreau, CEO of the Cheyenne River Youth Project.

The Cheyenne River Youth Project was founded 35 years ago to respond to the Cheyenne River Lakota Sioux community’s need for more services that supported children and their families.  The programming at the center also addresses the effects of intergenerational trauma on Lakota youth rooted in hundreds of years of oppression and poverty. 

By connecting kids to their culture, including traditional foods and farming practices as well as art and cultural activities, the organization is the largest and most utilized afterschool program on the reservation.

Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity supported the Cheyenne River Youth Project with a $200,000 grant.

“We often say that ‘CRYP is the anti-boarding school.’ We are taking back our culture,” she said.
“What we can hope to do is help shape the lives of kids by giving them some ideas to make different choices.”

This video was directed, produced, and edited by Oliver Riley-Smith Cinematography.