Rural

America Initiatives

Building successful futures for Lakota Youth through education since 1986.

Upcoming Events

Our mission is to partner with the whole family to help American Indian children and youth acquire tools to thrive in the contemporary environment and to support cultural values.

Our goal is to develop a new society of Lakota men and women, “Ikce wicasa na winyan” (Common Man and Woman) who work within and with the community to strengthen families by practicing the values of respect, honesty, language, generosity and courage.

We work with some of the most challenged and at-risk families in Rapid City. Our focus is to provide life skills to break the crippling cycle of poverty that many families endure.

We accomplish this through educational programs: Early Head Start and Head Start programs, and the Ateyapi role-modeling mentorship program in middle and high schools in Rapid City as well as a Lakota language program. We also operate Early Head Start and Head Start programs on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

RAI employs over 100 people, more than 90% of whom are Native American, making us one of the largest employers of Native people in the area.

Who Are We

Rural America Initiatives (RAI) serves Rapid City, South Dakota, the major Indian population center in the region. We are the city’s longest operating Native, non-profit 501(c)3 community organization. It was founded in 1986 to partner with at-risk and low-income Native American families to strengthen the development of healthy, sober, self-sufficient lifestyles.

Programs

"When we first got here we basically had nothing. Just the clothes on our back. We were just looking for a new life, a new start. We were homeless."
Kristine Haukaas
Head Start Parent

We Continue

to Grow

We were thrilled to open our beautiful new building in 2019, after a successful capital campaign. Our generous community stepped up and helped to raise the funds we needed to give our children and their families a place that is inspirational, joyful, and a nurturing, safe place to learn. We are now out of room, we have a waiting list that is 5 pages long, and we must expand. The building was designed with expansion in mind, and no additional funds will be required for operation. We have launched a $4 million capital campaign to add 8 classrooms. Please see our capital campaign page for details. We are growing!