Strengthening Communities Fund is a nonprofit capacity building grant to serve secular and faith-based organizations in southwestern South Dakota. The overall goal of the project is to increase overall organizational sustainability and capacity in grassroots organizations in order to address the broad economic recovery issues present in their communities. The partnering agencies will focus on areas such as:

• Leadership Development
• Organizational Development
• Program Development
• Collaboration & Community Engagement
• Evaluation of Effectiveness

Criteria:

• Must be nonprofit organization; 501(c)(3) status not necessary
• Must be based in the Black Hills region of southwestern South Dakota (Butte, Custer, Fall River, Lawrence, Meade and Pennington Counties), including Pine Ridge Reservation (Jackson and Shannon Counties).
• Must have at least one program or project that directly addresses issues associated with economic recovery in the community
• Must be in existence minimum two years
• Must have at least one paid staff
• Priority will be given to organizations that:
A. historically have not received federal funds
B. have annual operating budgets under $500,000
C. can document they are working with agencies responsible for administering ACF’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

Participating Organizations:

• Care Net Pregnancy Resource Center (faith-based nonprofit) - Care Net Pregnancy Resource Center’s target population is the young woman and man who are experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. The demographics reveal a high percentage of clients who are economically challenged. Care Net’s core value is to connect their clients with community resources to meet their immediate needs. They are there to help them through the initial crisis time and find the key resources available in their community.

• Front Porch Coalition (community-based nonprofit) - The Front Porch Coalition hosts suicide awareness events and provides suicide prevention counseling and postvention support services to suicide survivors (those who have lost a family member, friend or colleague to suicide). Recent economic conditions have contributed to an increase in people struggling with mental health issues, including leading them to attempt or complete suicide. People who have recently become unemployed may struggle with mental health concerns, or those with mental health concerns struggle to retain their employment status. With economic conditions affecting employers’ abilities to keep people employed full-time or continue to provide health insurance benefits, people continue to struggle even more to find resources to help them during this time. Demographically, we are seeing an increase in people struggling with a mental health or substance abuse disorder in which the severity is a direct result of their financial distress or need to find employment, as well as an increase in the number of people who attempt or complete suicide in which the circumstances are a direct result of financial distress or need to find employment.

• Jackson-Kadoka Economic Development Corp. (community-based nonprofit) - The Jackson-Kadoka Economic Development Corporation actively seeks new businesses to start in their community or relocate to provide jobs for the unemployed or underemployed. It was formed by five volunteers who were trying to attract a business to the community. The goal of the group is to provide quality, good-paying jobs for the community, which has no housing authority, chamber of commerce or visitor’s center. They currently offer a resource guide on their web page full of useful community links and resources. They provide a listing of all homes and properties for sale and rent as a free service for all community members. They provide a welcome gift and words of encouragement to all new businesses in the community; they provide any type of help that they can to all businesses and potential businesses.

• Love INC [In the Name of Christ] of the Black Hills (faith-based nonprofit) - Love INC started in 2001 as a way to organize churches to help people in need. Starting with ten area churches, Love INC has grown to include over fifty Black Hills churches and a strong working relationship with area service providers. The vast majority of people they serve are struggling financially. Many come from generational poverty and lack the personal life skills and resources to move beyond their current circumstances. The difficulty of finding and maintaining employment in an economic downturn impacts this population especially because of the life difficulties they already have working against them. All four of Love INC’s main programs are geared towards helping people get back on their feet and move toward self-sufficiency.

• Northern Hills Area CASA [Court Appointed Special Advocate] Program (community-based nonprofit) - Northern Hills Area CASA provide advocacy to children from birth-19 years involved in abuse or neglect proceedings. Many children come into the system because their parents/caregivers have lost their jobs, along with other hardships that leave them incapacitated and unable to meet the basic needs of their children. Their parents/caregivers have minimal skills with regard to parenting, budgeting, making good choices, etc. Most of the homes are broken, and the families are in need of serious intervention. Our ultimate goal is to reunify families. They work with parents to change past defeating patterns and work toward a renewed future and success. Part of their service requires meeting with parents/caregivers to ensure they are working toward their goals. Another aspect of NHCASA is community education and prevention. They provide training to parents, judges, social workers, volunteers, therapists, law enforcement officers, and attorneys. Training topics are geared towards better serving children and assisting NHCASA with meeting their long-term, wholistic goal of stopping the cycle of abuse, and enabling children to become productive members of society.

• Rapid City Club for Boys (community-based nonprofit) - Club for Boys began in 1963. The three main programs and services related to economic recovery are:
  1 - Boys have a safe place to go after school and during the summer so parents can keep their jobs or attend college or other training programs. The Club gives them the support they need to hold down a job without having to pay for expensive childcare or stay at home with their children during working hours.
  2 - The Club’s individual services program focuses on families having an especially tough time economically. For example, if children need shoes, there is a special account that allows the individual services director to take the boys and buy them shoes. If the family doesn’t have enough food, the Club prepares food baskets to send home with the boys. For job training and housing needs, the Club actively refers families to other resources.
  3 - The Club’s Thrift Store provides a valuable service to the community by recycling goods and offering merchandise at very low prices. This helps community members stretch their dollars and still meet the material needs of their families.

• SANI-T [Society for the Advancement of Native Interests-Today] (community-based nonprofit serving American Indians) - SANI-T advocacy work assists American Indian people with difficulties they encounter when adjusting to essentially foreign systems in urban living they are not accustomed to. Primary economic recovery issues include securing employment and/or better-quality jobs, adequate healthcare, and equity in appropriate education, housing, homelessness, childcare and financial management training. The American Indian community, to obtain economic self-sufficiency, needs culturally appropriate training and assistance negotiating the community systems that provide help. All four of SANI-T programs affect the local economy by providing needed and practical services and training that positively affect individuals in obtaining and/or retaining employment, how to secure and maintain housing, and how to manage their financial resources. They have developed eight educational trainings over the past seven years, all of which are related either directly or indirectly to economic recovery in the Rapid City area.

• South Dakota Center for Enterprise Opportunity (community-based nonprofit; part of Black Hills State University Foundation) - The rural state of South Dakota has not enjoyed the relative prosperity generated by entrepreneurship in the way many other American metropolitan areas have. Current economic conditions only exacerbate the issue of lagging economic development. Women and American Indians, especially, lack opportunity in South Dakota. There is a need to increase their earning power, which can partly be addressed by providing avenues for training or education. SDCEO provides counseling and training to improve business skills of the target populations, especially women who have been out of the workforce or underemployed during child-rearing years; and a network of business resources, as well as training and support for women entrepreneurs in South Dakota, especially for businesses launching from rural and American Indian communities.

• Sturgis Center for the Arts/My Sister’s Closet (community-based nonprofit) - Sturgis Center for the Arts was founded in 2004 to provide a safe location for students of all ages to participate in “an environment of learning and appreciation for the arts.” The organization has two programs strongly relating to economic recovery issues in the community of Sturgis. The first is a scholarship/financial aid that enable community members who are in financial need to participate in music, art and theatre-related classes and activities. The second program is a thrift store, My Sister’s Closet, in existence since 2007. They accept donations of clothing, household items and furniture to resell at very low prices. Sturgis Center for the Arts and My Sister’s Closet work closely with other community organizations to determine families and individuals with specific needs: clothing, beds, etc. My Sister’s Closet also provides opportunities for court-mandated community service participants to work off their hours.

• Youth and Family Services (community-based nonprofit) - Begun in 1965, Youth and Family Services (YFS) is a very large nonprofit with a wide variety of programs and services geared towards assisting those in poverty. They serve over 11,000 children annually. Needs specific to families in YFS programs include emergency/crisis intervention, transportation, food requests and affordable childcare. Programs and services include the Poverty Initiative, Economic Literacy Initiative, Girls Inc. of Rapid City, Prenatal to Five Head Start Program, YFS Counseling Center, Western Prevention Resource Center, the Fatherhood First Program, nutrition services, childcare, and the Boys’ Health Advocacy Program. Benefits of offering these multiple services under one umbrella agency include an experienced board of directors with a broad community picture, comprehensive services for clients and wrap-around programs in which staff develop strong relationships with the families they serve. Additionally, by sharing administrative staff, we are able to commit over 87% of our funding directly to our programming.