Rural
America Initiatives
Building successful futures for Lakota Youth through education since 1986.
Rural America Initiatives (RAI), the largest non-profit, continuously operating Native American organization in Rapid City, is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization. Founded in 1986 to partner with Native American families to strengthen the development of healthy, sober, self-sufficient lifestyles, it has been the most effective service provider for the most at-risk Rapid City families for over thirty years. RAI addresses the needs of the most vulnerable Native American families who suffer from chronic pervasive poverty and have restricted access to services. We do this through programs for children from prenatal through middle school, reaching over 800 children and their families annually. Over ninety percent of our full time staff is Native American.
Our programs include Early Head Start and Head Start programs, the Ateyapi (Lakota for “fatherhood”) positive role-modeling mentorship program in middle schools in Rapid City and a Lakota language program including Lakota language immersion classrooms. RAI also operates Early Head Start and Head Start programs on the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota.
Our Activities
Are alcohol and chemical dependence free (ALL ACTIVITES/ALL STAFF).
Provide role models demonstrating success for Native Families.
Strive to support the Seven Lakota Values:
- Respect (Wauonihan)
- Generosity (Wacante Ognake)
- Wisdom (Woksape)
- Humility (Wahwala)
- Compassion (Waunshila)
- Service (Wawoihakikte)
- Honesty (Wowicake)
Why Rural America Initiatives
One target population for RAI is the “transitional” families, those who move from area reservations to Rapid City looking for greater opportunities for their families in the City.
For many of these transitional families, the opportunities they hoped to find in Rapid City aren’t there for them. Many are one paycheck, one health crisis or one bit of bad luck from disaster. If this happens, these families are at risk to end up in shelters, living with several families to a motel room, on the sofas of friends or relatives, or on the street. They can fall between the cracks of traditional services, and may be the most at-risk for alcohol and substance abuse, domestic violence, teen pregnancy and lifestyle-based preventable diseases such as childhood obesity and juvenile diabetes.
A priority is to serve children who are homeless, handicapped or in foster care. Almost 50% of the children in our programs are homeless.
Between RAI’s Early Head Start, Head Start and Ateyapi programs in the elementary and middle schools, we serve children from pregnancy through High School and their families.
These are the families, and the children, that Rural America Initiatives serves.
How Does RAI Serve?
Through educational programs that address the needs of the whole family: early childhood development programs Head Start and Early Head Start, serving poverty level children prenatal through age 5 and their families, and Ateyapi (Lakota for “fatherhood”), a positive role modeling mentorship program in Rapid City’s middle schools.