North side land acquired and City Council action move Native community center forward

RAPID CITY – On March 18, 2024 supporters of the non-profit He Sapa Otipi were hugging and crying tears of joy after action by the Rapid City Council allowing them to finally move forward on their plan to build an Indigenous led community center. The Council voted unanimously to remove a contingency that had been holding up the Vision Fund money allocated to He Sapa Otipi in 2022. The City Communications Director Darrell Shoemaker told Native Sun News Today that removal of the contingency and allowing Otipi to move forward is completely separate now from the lands issue and does impact resolution of the lands issue. There wasn’t a lot of discussion on the subject at the Council meeting, but He Sapa Otipi officials had given a thorough presentation at the Legal and Finance Committee meeting the previous week.

In July of 2021, He Sapa Otipi submitted their Vision Fund application for a community center and community development corporation plan jointly with the Rapid City Boarding School Lands Project and the Mayor’s Working Committee on the City Council Resolution #2020-084 “Resolution to Resolve Three Outstanding Deeds Related to the Rapid City Indian Boarding School Lands.” They stated that this Vision Fund proposal was directly related to the ongoing discussions of the Resolution which had been passed by the City Council in November of 2020.

In January 2022, the Rapid City Council allocated the $9 million dollars for construction of an urban center. Tatewin Means (Oglala Lakota), a member of the Rapid City Indian Boarding School Lands Project said that the dispersal was a substantial investment by the city to the Native community, for the first time.

A community center for Natives has long been proposed going back to at least the 1950’s when the Winona Club advocated for resources for a community center. The Club had even raised funds and developed a detailed plan for a Sioux Indian Cultural Center.

At a special city council meeting on January 10, 2022, Heather Thompson from the lands project told the council that the Department of Interior would be the final decision maker for any negotiation regarding the project. She said that the City and the Native Americans needed to come up with a compromise to submit to DOI, after which DOI would decide if the proposal was fair and equitable. There is no mention in the minutes of any language regarding the contingency, but Alderman Lance Lehmann on the video moves to allocate $9 million dollars in Vision Funds “to the Indian boarding lands project contingent on Interior Department approval of our package we’re going to put together for them.”

The issue ended up back before Council because Heart said that they just couldn’t wait any longer for dispersal of monies and they had some updates. In a letter to the city attorney, she requested the release of the money saying that “the contingency placed on our Vision Funds requires Department of Interior approval in an effort to resolve the three outstanding deeds of prior Rapid City Indian Boarding School Lands that are in violation of the 1948 Act.” She stated that their organization is separate from the boarding school land issue. Heart said since the initial request, they had secured a permanent location and asked the issue be placed on the agenda for the Legal and Finance Committee as well as the City Council agenda.

At the Legal and Finance Committee, Heart said that they had acquired some land on the north side of town. “We have a piece of land donated to us from NDN Collective, about 5 acres because they see the importance of a community center here in Rapid City. They see our vision. They see our goals and they would like to support us and so we are working in collaboration. They donated the land to us to create this community center because we see it as a positive solution for our community.” Heart continued, “This is an exciting time for our community but also an historic time for us. It’s a time for us to come together to create a better relationship between Natives and non-Natives because there never really was a great relationship.”

Heart said it’s up to a new generation and Rapid City to create these new relationships. “To build trust. This is a chance for us to work in collaboration and make a difference for our future generations so we can learn about each other. I’ve learned from my Unci Bev Warne that we don’t have a good relationship because we don’t know each other. And so this is a chance to come together, to get to know each other, to learn about our cultures, to learn about our values, because we are more alike than we are different. One thing we do love is our community and that’s one thing we have in common. “

He Sapa Otipi Director of Design and Planning Bobbie Koch (Sicangu Lakota) explained to the committee that the center would be a hub of resources. “We imagine it as an epicenter of healing. As an epicenter for resilience. A place where we can come together and learn from each other, reconnect with each other, connect to Lakota lifeways and wolakota ways of life.” Because they have funding only for the first phase, Koch said that in the first few years of the project they would be focusing on a few specific services – like a gymnasium. She explained it would be a place where youth and community can come together and recreate, play basketball and hold different kinds of events there.

Koch said that they had a very lengthy visioning process over the past four years and found that more services are needed for elders and youth. “Another really big need in our community is a place to have wakes and funerals. Currently, there are no places in Rapid City where we can hold traditional Lakota wakes and funeral services.” A traditional Lakota funeral includes two-day and sometimes three-day wake services which require staying overnight with the deceased loved one’s body. “The next thing that the community is looking for is a commercial kitchen to have meals so we can feed our relatives who are here for an event or a funeral.”

Koch explained that their big dream is a 40,000 square foot facility featuring a large gym, a large gathering space, with offices for He Sapa Otipi as well as other organizations in Rapid City. Perhaps working space for people who might be small business owners or people working from home. “A large space could accommodate a large wake or funeral or other large event. We imagine there would be classrooms, meeting spaces, and Maker Spaces which bring people together to share arts and crafts like sewing and beading. The other components would focus on elders and youth.

Heart thanked the community and Council as well as founding members Randy Ross (Oglala Lakota) and Sandra Woodard (Oglala Lakota) who have made their Journey, for their guidance.

Heart said that they have $9 million in Vision Fund money as well as another $3 million which will help them complete the first phase of the project. Koch said this first phase would be a portion of each of those spaces. “This is a good thing for our community. This isn’t just for Native Americans. We want to teach the community about us.” She said that they had spent a lot of time reaching out to council members and city officials. “We had one on one conversations with each of them to clarify the separation. We’re glad that they finally listened to what we had to say and took the time to learn what is going on.” He Sapa Otipi plan to break ground in 2025 but in the interim will have community outreach and invite the community for input.

(Contact Marnie Cook at staffwriter@nativesunnews.today)

The post North side land acquired and City Council action move Native community center forward first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

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