The first year of Strengthening Communities Fund ends March 30, 2011. Second-year participants have been selected and began their program in December 2010. A complete list of participating organizations can be viewed below. The SCF grant ends September 29, 2011 and will not be renewed.


Participating Organizations: First Year

• Care Net Pregnancy Resource Center (faith-based nonprofit) - Care Net Pregnancy Resource Center’s target population is the young woman and man who are experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. The demographics reveal a high percentage of clients who are economically challenged. Care Net’s core value is to connect their clients with community resources to meet their immediate needs. They are there to help them through the initial crisis time and find the key resources available in their community.

• Front Porch Coalition (community-based nonprofit) - The Front Porch Coalition hosts suicide awareness events and provides suicide prevention counseling and postvention support services to suicide survivors (those who have lost a family member, friend or colleague to suicide). Recent economic conditions have contributed to an increase in people struggling with mental health issues, including leading them to attempt or complete suicide. People who have recently become unemployed may struggle with mental health concerns, or those with mental health concerns struggle to retain their employment status. With economic conditions affecting employers’ abilities to keep people employed full-time or continue to provide health insurance benefits, people continue to struggle even more to find resources to help them during this time. Demographically, we are seeing an increase in people struggling with a mental health or substance abuse disorder in which the severity is a direct result of their financial distress or need to find employment, as well as an increase in the number of people who attempt or complete suicide in which the circumstances are a direct result of financial distress or need to find employment.

• Jackson-Kadoka Economic Development Corp. (community-based nonprofit) - The Jackson-Kadoka Economic Development Corporation actively seeks new businesses to start in their community or relocate to provide jobs for the unemployed or underemployed. It was formed by five volunteers who were trying to attract a business to the community. The goal of the group is to provide quality, good-paying jobs for the community, which has no housing authority, chamber of commerce or visitor’s center. They currently offer a resource guide on their web page full of useful community links and resources. They provide a listing of all homes and properties for sale and rent as a free service for all community members. They provide a welcome gift and words of encouragement to all new businesses in the community; they provide any type of help that they can to all businesses and potential businesses.

• Love INC [In the Name of Christ] of the Black Hills (faith-based nonprofit) - Love INC started in 2001 as a way to organize churches to help people in need. Starting with ten area churches, Love INC has grown to include over fifty Black Hills churches and a strong working relationship with area service providers. The vast majority of people they serve are struggling financially. Many come from generational poverty and lack the personal life skills and resources to move beyond their current circumstances. The difficulty of finding and maintaining employment in an economic downturn impacts this population especially because of the life difficulties they already have working against them. All four of Love INC’s main programs are geared towards helping people get back on their feet and move toward self-sufficiency.

• Northern Hills Area CASA [Court Appointed Special Advocate] Program (community-based nonprofit) - Northern Hills Area CASA provide advocacy to children from birth-19 years involved in abuse or neglect proceedings. Many children come into the system because their parents/caregivers have lost their jobs, along with other hardships that leave them incapacitated and unable to meet the basic needs of their children. Their parents/caregivers have minimal skills with regard to parenting, budgeting, making good choices, etc. Most of the homes are broken, and the families are in need of serious intervention. Our ultimate goal is to reunify families. They work with parents to change past defeating patterns and work toward a renewed future and success. Part of their service requires meeting with parents/caregivers to ensure they are working toward their goals. Another aspect of NHCASA is community education and prevention. They provide training to parents, judges, social workers, volunteers, therapists, law enforcement officers, and attorneys. Training topics are geared towards better serving children and assisting NHCASA with meeting their long-term, wholistic goal of stopping the cycle of abuse, and enabling children to become productive members of society.

• Rapid City Club for Boys (community-based nonprofit) - Club for Boys began in 1963. The three main programs and services related to economic recovery are:
  1 - Boys have a safe place to go after school and during the summer so parents can keep their jobs or attend college or other training programs. The Club gives them the support they need to hold down a job without having to pay for expensive childcare or stay at home with their children during working hours.
  2 - The Club’s individual services program focuses on families having an especially tough time economically. For example, if children need shoes, there is a special account that allows the individual services director to take the boys and buy them shoes. If the family doesn’t have enough food, the Club prepares food baskets to send home with the boys. For job training and housing needs, the Club actively refers families to other resources.
  3 - The Club’s Thrift Store provides a valuable service to the community by recycling goods and offering merchandise at very low prices. This helps community members stretch their dollars and still meet the material needs of their families.

• SANI-T [Society for the Advancement of Native Interests-Today] (community-based nonprofit serving American Indians) - SANI-T advocacy work assists American Indian people with difficulties they encounter when adjusting to essentially foreign systems in urban living they are not accustomed to. Primary economic recovery issues include securing employment and/or better-quality jobs, adequate healthcare, and equity in appropriate education, housing, homelessness, childcare and financial management training. The American Indian community, to obtain economic self-sufficiency, needs culturally appropriate training and assistance negotiating the community systems that provide help. All four of SANI-T programs affect the local economy by providing needed and practical services and training that positively affect individuals in obtaining and/or retaining employment, how to secure and maintain housing, and how to manage their financial resources. They have developed eight educational trainings over the past seven years, all of which are related either directly or indirectly to economic recovery in the Rapid City area.

• South Dakota Center for Enterprise Opportunity (community-based nonprofit; part of Black Hills State University Foundation) - The rural state of South Dakota has not enjoyed the relative prosperity generated by entrepreneurship in the way many other American metropolitan areas have. Current economic conditions only exacerbate the issue of lagging economic development. Women and American Indians, especially, lack opportunity in South Dakota. There is a need to increase their earning power, which can partly be addressed by providing avenues for training or education. SDCEO provides counseling and training to improve business skills of the target populations, especially women who have been out of the workforce or underemployed during child-rearing years; and a network of business resources, as well as training and support for women entrepreneurs in South Dakota, especially for businesses launching from rural and American Indian communities.

• Sturgis Center for the Arts/My Sister’s Closet (community-based nonprofit) - Sturgis Center for the Arts was founded in 2004 to provide a safe location for students of all ages to participate in “an environment of learning and appreciation for the arts.” The organization has two programs strongly relating to economic recovery issues in the community of Sturgis. The first is a scholarship/financial aid that enable community members who are in financial need to participate in music, art and theatre-related classes and activities. The second program is a thrift store, My Sister’s Closet, in existence since 2007. They accept donations of clothing, household items and furniture to resell at very low prices. Sturgis Center for the Arts and My Sister’s Closet work closely with other community organizations to determine families and individuals with specific needs: clothing, beds, etc. My Sister’s Closet also provides opportunities for court-mandated community service participants to work off their hours.

• Youth and Family Services (community-based nonprofit) - Begun in 1965, Youth and Family Services (YFS) is a very large nonprofit with a wide variety of programs and services geared towards assisting those in poverty. They serve over 11,000 children annually. Needs specific to families in YFS programs include emergency/crisis intervention, transportation, food requests and affordable childcare. Programs and services include the Poverty Initiative, Economic Literacy Initiative, Girls Inc. of Rapid City, Prenatal to Five Head Start Program, YFS Counseling Center, Western Prevention Resource Center, the Fatherhood First Program, nutrition services, childcare, and the Boys’ Health Advocacy Program. Benefits of offering these multiple services under one umbrella agency include an experienced board of directors with a broad community picture, comprehensive services for clients and wrap-around programs in which staff develop strong relationships with the families they serve. Additionally, by sharing administrative staff, we are able to commit over 87% of our funding directly to our programming.

Participating Organizations: Second Year

• Behavior Management Systems, Inc. (community-based nonprofit) - Behavior Management Systems began offering services in 1948 as the Mental Health Clinic of Rapid City. The name was changed in 1992 to better reflect the future of mental health and substance abuse treatment. We have grown into one of the region’s largest comprehensive mental and behavioral health care organizations, serving over 10,000 clients annually in 10 western South Dakota counties. Five oper-ating divisions address the varying needs of our clients:
  - Family Pathways, providing treatment to children and adolescents in a family setting and with family participation.
  - Mainstream Mental Health CARE/Impact West, serving adults recovering from severe and persistent mental illness on an outreach basis, usually in the client’s home or other community setting.
  - Outpatient counseling services with master’s level professional therapists.
  - Full Circle, a residential substance abuse treatment and prevention program designed for pregnant women and mothers with alcohol and/or drug problems which are impacting their ability to be a good parent.
  - Outpatient alcohol, drug and gambling addiction treatment, for those suffering from dependence on addictive substances or behaviors.

• Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Black Hills (community-based nonprofit) - Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Black Hills is dedicated to providing one-on-one relationships between trained adult volunteers and children as well as new/teen mothers. The organization is committed to giv-ing these children and teen mothers opportunities to recognize the resources and options that are availa-ble to them. Our goal is to offer friendship, support and guidance to the children in our program, helping them lay foundations they can build on as they grown and mature into adults. We’ve been providing quality mentoring services since 1961. Current programs include:
  - Big Brothers/Big Sisters/Big Couples/Big Families
  - Mother Mentor Program
  - School Mentoring Program
  - Campus Kids
  - Mentoring Children of Prisoners
  - Youth Hunting Adventures
  - Native American Mentoring Initiative
  

• Black Hills Area Habitat for Humanity (faith-based nonprofit) - Established in 1990, Black Hills Area Habitat for Humanity works to provide housing for low-income fami-lies in this area. Through the provision of volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, we are able to build and sell affordable homes to people currently living in substandard housing. Families work alongside local volunteers to build their own simple and decent house, which is then sold to them at no profit and with no interest. To date we have built 63 houses for partner families, providing hundreds of individuals with a permanent solution to their housing need. Our ReStore Outlet generates income to support the affordable housing program and offers a recycling service to the community. ReStore re-cycles overstocked, discontinued, new and used building materials and household appliances donated by manufacturers, stores, contractor and individuals. ReStore currently serves about 1000 paying customers per month and receives over 100 donations per month.

• Northern Hills Alcohol & Drug Services (community-based nonprofit) - Northern Hills Alcohol & Drug Services (NHADS) works closely with school systems, law enforcement agencies and other social service agencies in the areas of prevention, counseling and treatment. When a significant percentage of society suffers from the results of addiction, it has a huge impact on the economy, both in terms of human suffering as well as lost wages and the impact on businesses that depend on their workers. In addition to the human suffering and economic loss to families of the addicted, there is tremendous cost to society in areas such as law enforcement, as well as the cost of treatment and recovery programs. By providing a bridge to sobriety and drug-free living, NHADS helps bring financial stability to its clients, who are then able to hold jobs and function as contributing members of society.

• The Dahl Arts Center/Rapid City Arts Council (community-based nonprofit) - Few people realize The Dahl Arts Center is a work training host agency for Experience Works, Behavior Management Systems, SD Dept. of Labor services through TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) and Vocational Rehabilitation, and Community Service, among other programs. Training sites are an important component of the strategies for each of these programs, and coordinators for each of them tell us that high-quality placements—those where trainees have meaningful work, feel welcome, experience personal growth, acquire bankable job skills, experience ongoing success, and where trainees and placement coordinators believe participants make substantial progress—are in short supply. Formed in 1968, the Rapid City Arts Council is committed to the growth of the entire arts and culture sector of our economy. To support this, we work with the Rapid City Downtown Association, Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce, Rapid City Convention and Visitors Bureau, Allied Arts Fund, and the City of Rapid City to represent arts interests, arts businesses and artists.

• Sturgis Economic Development Corporation (community-based nonprofit) - Sturgis Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) is charged with creating new jobs and retaining ex-isting jobs. We are the only organization in Sturgis and Meade County with this full-time focus. The county’s geography and population contribute to this challenging responsibility. At 3,482 square miles, Meade County is the largest county in South Dakota, with a population density of only seven people per square mile. (By contrast, Rhode Island has an area of only 1045 square miles and a population density of 1003 people per square mile.) It is mainly agricultural, comprised of ranching operations and small agri-businesses. Since its formation in 1973, SEDC has created business industrial parks to provide relocation options for new businesses and expansion options for growing, local businesses. We work one-on-one with business owners and offer free business consultation services from the resources of its diverse board of business professionals. SEDC chose to expand its economic development initiatives in 2009 to extend beyond its primary jobs focus, recognizing that many factors are involved in creating a healthy economy. Thus, SEDC elected to positively use the economic slowdown to assist in the creation of a “value-added” community. We became a founding supporter and major financial benefactor to the Future Sturgis movement, a grassroots effort that provides citizens an active voice in revitalizing the greater Sturgis area.

• The Journey Museum (community-based nonprofit) - The Journey Museum was built by the City of Rapid City and officially dedicated in May 1997. We house three permanent collections and exhibit artifacts of two others. The natural landscaping of the Western Dakota Native Gardens extends the Museum outdoors. The Journey Museum is an educational resource of the history and heritage of western South Dakota, including the five areas of Geology/Paleontology, Archaeology, Lakota Sioux Indian, Pioneer, and the outdoor gardens. Every year, thousands of school-children from the reservations, cities and towns of the region make regularly scheduled guided visits with their teachers and parent volunteers. We serve 40,000-50,000 people every year. Our programs include:
  - Storyteller Series
  - Family Fun Day
  - Children’s Library Lab
  - Museum Theater
  - Amazing Science
  - Final Frontier Friday
  - Journey into Space
  The Museum Store is open to the public. It showcases book titles by regional, national and internationally known authors. Locally crafted works of leather, bone, wood and ceramic are one-of-a-kind and hand-painted or trimmed with beads or quillwork. Adjacent to the store, the Sioux Indian Museum presents a series of promotional sales exhibitions introducing contemporary American Indian arts and crafts by emerging artists.

• Volunteers of America – Dakotas (faith-based nonprofit) - Volunteers of America – Dakotas (VOA-D) works with the most vulnerable people in our region, helping them rebuild whole lives, reach their potential and become productive members of our communities. We focus on bringing higher levels of care and safety through safe, nurturing environments where individuals and families become healthy and self-sufficient. Our areas of focus include promoting self-sufficiency for the homeless and for others overcoming personal crisis, and supporting positive development for troubled and at-risk children and youth. Programs like:
  - Homeless Prevention Rapid Re-Housing Program,
  - Mommy’s Closet,
  - AmeriCorps*VISTA,
  - Youth & Family Intervention Program,
  - HIV/AIDS & STD Education, Prevention & Testing, and
  - the Ryan White Program
  provide housing assistance, emergency items, mental health counseling, medical care, HIV testing, emergency financial assistance, family literacy training, and community outreach and education. Original-ly chartered in the 1920s, VOA-D has been a leader in developing innovative programs to meet the needs of people identified as underserved.

• Wellspring, Inc. (community-based nonprofit) - Wellspring was founded in 1990 by Dr. Stephen Manlove, Judge Marshall Young and Al Scovel to provide an array of innovative therapeutic services. Wellspring’s programs are based on the fundamental assumption that families have the potential to be the greatest source of positive change and support for youth in trouble. Our therapists help family members recognize and utilize resources and strengths they already possess and refer them to appropriate services in the community if needed. A strengthened family is the greatest, yet least utilized, resource available to a young person. The majority of families receiving services through Wellspring struggle with needs like housing, transportation, education, and employment.
  Wellspring’s program emphasizes a holistic approach to therapeutic and educational programming that addresses risk and resilience factors in youth and their families. The goal is to facilitate the development and maintenance of healthy environments that enable those at risk to develop the life skills necessary for contributing, fulfilling lives.
  We provide four major programs, including two residential treatment programs, Family Reconciliation Center and the Chemical Dependency Treatment Program for Girls; and two outpatient treatment pro-grams, the Youth Challenge Program and Soaring Eagle Treatment Center. We provide services to the entire family unit, not just the child referred for services. We are honored to be part of the journey tra-velled by the youth and families we serve. They leave with more tools and skills to use when facing life’s challenges.