Programs
Work rooted in culture, carried out in community.
Five initiatives, each aligned with a prayer way of life — carried across the eight districts of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation.
Wiyóȟpeyata · The West · Wakiyan Oyate, the Thunder Beings · “Bring Protection and Safety” · Virtue: Bravery
Community Development Initiative
The CDI builds the economic backbone of Indigenous communities — homes, jobs, gathering places, and community assets that pay their own way and endure. What began in 2016 as one organization's roadmap now moves through a three-entity Constellation built to turn community priorities into owned, standing reality.
Wazíyata · The North · Tatanka Oyate, the Buffalo Nation · “Brings Strength and Power” · Virtue: Fortitude
Food Sovereignty Initiative
The FSI restores Indigenous food systems so our people can feed themselves, heal themselves, and pass the knowledge on. Self-determination on a plate; sovereignty you can harvest.
See the gardens and the harvest in the full 2026 Summer Walk →
Wiyóhiŋyaŋpata · The East · Hehaka / Pte San Wi Oyate · “Brings the New Day” · Virtue: Compassion
Youth Development Initiative
The YDI empowers young people to their fullest potential — and pays them to lead. Real wages, real mentorship, real standing, across all eight districts, grounded in teachings that tell every young person exactly who they are and what they carry.
See the 2026 Youth Development Initiative in full — the Summer Walk →
Itókağata · The South · Wanáǧi Oyate, the Spirit Nation · “Brings the Knowledge of Our Ancestors” · Virtue: Wisdom
Language & Culture Initiative
Organized around the Standing Rock Dakȟóta & Lakȟóta Elders' Language Preservation Council and the Aháŋni Historical Society, this initiative keeps the language alive in living voices — dictionary work, the Sacred Archive, cultural arts, and the teaching relationships that carry knowledge from elders to the ones coming up.
The Keeping-Place · Guided by the Elders' Council
The Aháŋni Historical Society
The keeping-place — a permanent educational, historical, cultural, and research institution established to preserve, protect, research, and share the history, languages, and living knowledge of the Dakȟóta, Lakȟóta, and Nakȟóta peoples. A living memory held by the people it belongs to.
Each stone carries a Lakȟóta value. Consented photographs join the words as they are gathered.
The Center · Where All Directions Meet
Community Engagement
Community engagement is how the Nation's voice steers the work — district-level programming across all eight districts, surveys that turn opinion into direction, and partnerships that multiply what one organization can do alone. Our people have spoken; our structure reflects it.