Residents of South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation face the challenges of poverty, substance abuse, and suicide, and the Oyate Teca Project (OTP), founded in 1991, is determined to change that by working toward a stronger, healthier, self-sufficient future. Their mission is dedicated to the well-being of Lakota children and families through culture, education, recreation, and health programs. Their cultural programs promote the preservation and renewal of traditional knowledge by storytelling, song, dance, traditional foods, and arts and crafts. Their programs provide access to fresh produce through their Medicine Root Gardening Program, Farmer’s Market, and Vegetable Distribution Programs. The Oyate Ta Kola Ku Community Center, underwritten by Running Strong for American Indian Youth, provides over 21,000 square feet of programming space, enabling the Oyate Teca Project to continue educating and supporting its mission and expand its services.
Vegetable distribution in 2020.
“Oyate Teca” is the Lakota name for “Young People,” and they are central to everything the Indigenous and women led organization does. OTP provides more than 700 Oglala Lakota youth with much needed programmatic activities and community outreach, including movie nights, game nights, cooking classes, sewing, music, and gardening classes, arts & craft classes, and holiday celebrations. The Medicine Root Gardening Program has become one of their most successful initiatives. Students attend classes for 16 weeks, learning how to plot a successful garden, raise healthy produce, preserve and sell their vegetables at their farmers market, and complete an accounting course. They receive all the tools they need to begin and maintain a home garden – high quality seeds, tilling, fencing, and irrigation hoses – free of charge. By supporting such organic food and garden programs, Indigenous families not only provide healthier eating options for themselves but also sell any surplus produce and generate seasonal income.
A packed room for the Medicine Root Gardening Class.