Sicangu Oyate development group has big plans for tribal prosperity on Rosebud

The U.S. government has tried to alleviate tribal poverty in South Dakota for decades.

It has not worked. 

On the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Reservation in Todd County, for example, the per capita annual income is $12,562, only 45% of the adult population participates in the workforce, and 39% of its 9,199 residents live below the poverty line.

Today, tribal development groups can often be found taking on the responsibility of creating a robust economy on reservations. Rather than relying on federal programs administered by federal employees or tribal governments alone, they leverage federal funding sources to make long-term investments. The aim is to launch projects that will best serve the tribes and, in some cases, be sustainable without assistance.

The movement is especially visible in the work of Siċaŋġu Co on Rosebud.

Michael LaPointe, the organization’s top economic development official, said the goal is to enhance living standards on the reservation, a task he believes state and federal governments have failed at.

“They haven’t solved poverty here, ever,” he said. 

LaPointe said that despite the presence of federal and state economic development programs, tribal governments don’t have the resources to address various day-to-day crises and also apply for grants and loans designed to help improve economic conditions.

“It’s a lot of work, and it takes a lot of staff time,” LaPointe said, underscoring the significance of the development group’s work. Siċaŋġu Co’s initiatives, he said, have directly led to the creation of 180 new jobs over the past three years.

Founded in 2019, Siċaŋġu Co oversees a range of economic and social development projects for the Tribe. Although some projects were delayed or had to adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization is now operating at full capacity.

Officials with the USDA Office of Rural Development recently toured the area to get a look at what’s been done with funding its offered, and where the office might be able to offer more.

Community building

Siċaŋġu Co is working on a housing and business project called Keya Wakpala Woiċaġeyapi, which translates to Turtle Creek Regenerative Development. This 600-acre area will have up to 600 affordable homes, a tribal grocery store, shops, and a Siċaŋġu Co-run space to help people start businesses.

Michael Prate, who oversees the project, said there’s a need for quality homes. He believes Siċaŋġu can build affordable homes with help from various subsidies and grants.

“With that, the cost is similar to those trailers you see around town,” Prate said.

In 2023, the USDA Rural Development team put about $4.5 million into tribal lands in South Dakota. This included money for homes, water infrastructure, and various business investments. It’s part of the larger $683 million the USDA rural development division spent last year in South Dakota, with most of it going to improve internet and electricity.

Nikki Gronli, the state’s USDA rural development team leader, said the USDA could offer home loans with little or no down payment, a low-interest rate and a 40-year mortgage. 

“Owning a home helps people build wealth,” Gronli said. “You need good homes to attract doctors, police and teachers to the area.”

The project works to create jobs in construction, Prate said, and offers job training opportunities for tribal members.

“This is about more than just building homes,” he said.

A company that makes prefabricated parts for the homes recently announced plans to open a factory nearby, bringing even more jobs.

Prate also pointed to a nearby community greenhouse and garden, managed by Siċaŋġu Co, saying one of residents’ top demands for their community is locally produced food, according to a survey the group conducted.

Land use changes

In 2020, Siċaŋġu Co started the Wolakota Buffalo Range, consisting of 28,000 acres. That year, 100 wild bison came from two national parks. Since then, more bison have been added from other herds and herd growth. Now, there are 1,012. 

It’s the biggest bison herd run by Native Americans in the U.S. Before this, non-tribal ranchers leased the land for cattle grazing.

Now, the herd doesn’t need any new bison from outside. It can sustain and grow on its own. TJ Heinert, who looks after the herd, spent time developing his sharpshooter skills to ensure a clean kill. The Tribe uses every part of these bison for a food-security program and ceremonies, he said.

LaPointe, the development official, said Siċaŋġu Co has big plans for the bison. He wants the Tribe to become home to 6,000 bison and sell sustainable and ethically harvested bison products across the U.S. Additionally, he said there are plans to build a processing facility and an environment to attract tourists. 

However, Heinert and LaPointe said making money is not the main goal. 

“We’re here to reconnect our people with the buffalo,” Heinert said.

Farming is another focus for the future. Right now, non-tribal farmers lease a significant amount of land on the reservation, according to LaPointe. Siċaŋġu Co’s Rosebud Farm Co is teaching people to farm and manages 1,800 acres of organic farms.

“We want to create jobs,” said Bud Colombe, who helps run that program. “A lot of our farm jobs are not with us.” 

Colombe wants to see grain dryers and places to store crops on the reservation. This would help the tribe keep more control of its supply chain. 

“We don’t have any of those things,” he said. 

Gronli, with the USDA, said they can help with loans for these projects.

Siċaŋġu Co is working on other value-added agriculture projects, as well. Koby Jeschkeit-Hagen, the group’s food systems coordinator, said they plan to make and sell products like organic baby food. These would be cheaply sold within the Tribe’s borders but sold for more  elsewhere.

Additionally, LaPointe said Siċaŋġu Co is investing in wind energy on the Tribe’s lands, and a wind turbine technician program at the Tribe’s already existing Sinte Gleska University.

Tribal education

Bison and locally grown produce are already on the lunch menu at the Siċaŋġu Co’s Lakota immersion school.

Chronic absenteeism among South Dakota’s Native American students in public schools increased from 31% to 54% from 2018 to 2023 – the highest among all South Dakota student demographics. A third of Native American public school students don’t complete high school, 84% are not considered college and career-ready, and only 7% take the ACT, according to the latest data from the state Department of Education.

The school, Wakanyeja ki Tokeyahci, opened in 2020 and today offers a pre-K to 2nd-grade education focused on the Lakota language and core educational concepts contextualized in that culture. The school began only teaching kindergarten but has since, and continues to expand. 

Sage Fast Dog Sr. is the head of the school, which currently has a waitlist. He said the approach makes tribal students excited to learn because they and their culture are at the center of the material taught.

“Our vision is that our children will stand with everything Lakota,” he said. 

Gronli said that across South Dakota’s nine reservations, similar stories driven by various tribal development corporations are unfolding. 

These organizations, including the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s Thunder Valley development group, and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’s Four Bands Community Fund, focus on a range of initiatives from housing development and financial education to education and business support. 

“What I see here is, in South Dakota, so many of those things we know are an issue for all of us: housing, childcare, health; I see all these groups within tribal areas, and they’re taking it on,” she said.