Which tribal/Indigenous community is your program/institution affiliated with?
Wakinyan Opha Community which means where the Thunders Come Through. We call ourselves Thunder Valley. We are within the Porcupine District of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
How many staff members work for your program/institution?
About 48 total staff and 16 within the language initiative.
How long has your program/institution existed?
Started in 2007 after having a sweat.
What is the contact information for your program/institution (e.g. mailing address, website, Facebook Page, etc.)?
Mailing/Physical Address
Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation
290 Empowerment Drive
P.O. Box 290
Porcupine, South Dakota 57772
Please provide a brief description (approximately 5 sentences) about your program/institution.
Our work is organized with the Oyate at the top because our work is from and for our people.
We follow the guidance and values of our community on questions fundamental to the movement we are building. Our Lifeways and Wellness Equity team connects the work of our Initiatives and our community by guiding us on healing pathways to liberation and rooting our work in Lakol Wicohan. By healing ourselves, we become sovereign, self-determined and liberated. This then extends to the thiwáhe (the family), the thiyóšpaye (the extended family unit), and eventually the entire oyáte (nation). At our foundation, we rely on the wisdom of our Board of Directors to guide us and our leadership team to ensure we achieve our intended impact. The directors and staff move the work forward, through strength and courage, always coming from a place of hope. All of us, together, believe in the prayer that began Thunder Valley’s story and continues to believe in the beauty of this place is -- we carry this responsibility because the people depend on us. It’s not what we do, it’s who we are.
What are challenges your program/institution has faced?
One of the more recent challenges we have faced came due to Covid. Many of our elders were dying at an increased rate. These are the last ones who were born into speaking Lakhota and think in this way. This means our tribes will become highly dependent on second language learners who were not able to be born into it. Another challenge we face is funding. We are a non-profit so we are always hustling to secure sustainable funding.
What are existing projects your program/institution is working on?
Existing projects happening for us are getting the adults involved within the program. Currently, we get them involved through their children being in our school. Through this, we have had adults get interested and we have helped train them for our language initiative. Through this method, we have created 9 teachers so far.
What are the short-term goals for your program institution (present-day – one month from now)?
The short-term goal for us right now is to keep providing our language immersion nest resource to our community to keep our momentum going.
What are the long-term goals for your program/institution (1 year – 5 years from now)?
Our long-term goal is to create a school and house our entire effort within that school. We don’t want to follow the non-Indian standards, we are going to create our own with our grandmothers. This space will be our own and created by us.
From your perspective, how do you view the language activity in your tribe?
Less than 8 percent of our people are actively aware of our language and our elders are dying. Out of the 8 percent, only 3-4 percent are trying to create a system to help revitalize it. The older generation is only getting older and passing on and the younger ones are not learning the language. There is a generation gap between the adults who are between the elders and the young ones. The western standards have it be that our younger generations only get a certain amount of minutes of language exposure a week whereas with the goals of creating our own school, everything will be done within the language and they will have constant language exposure.