{"id":39369,"date":"2025-10-22T02:01:45","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T07:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/after-more-than-70-years-a-community-center-is-one-step-closer-to-fruition\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T02:01:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T07:01:50","slug":"after-more-than-70-years-a-community-center-is-one-step-closer-to-fruition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/after-more-than-70-years-a-community-center-is-one-step-closer-to-fruition\/","title":{"rendered":"After more than 70 years, a community center is one step closer to fruition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Chante<\/a><\/p>\n

Chante Heart, executive director of He Sapa Otipi. (Photo by Marnie Cook)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

NORTH RAPID CITY \u2013 The ground blessing for the He Sapa Otipi was held on the site of the planned community center on Friday. It was a chilly morning, and the wind could be heard whisking through the grasses of the four acre area in North Rapid behind the Haines Dollar General. A community center has been a dream in the making for many decades \u2013 a place for the Lakota community to use for ceremonies and gatherings.<\/p>\n

Executive Director Cante Heart (Sicangu Lakota) thanked NDN Collective and its founder and CEO Nick Tilsen for donating the land. She asked the audience to look at the land behind her. \u201cThis is the future site of the He Sapa Otipi. It\u2019s not just a community center. It\u2019s going to be a place for our future generations to sing and dance and celebrate our culture, our land, our heritage, our family, and our relatives, but also a place where we can have journey services so we can send our relatives off in a good way on their journeys. It\u2019s going to be a beautiful place, and I know you can see it already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heart explained it was important to give thanks. \u201cBefore we do anything we wanted to start off in a good way and respect the land and do a ground blessing. Because Mother Earth is our mother and we want to respect her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valeriah Big Eagle (Ihanktonwan Nakota\/ Hunkpati Dakota), who leads NDN Collective\u2019s He Sapa Initiatives and is a He Sapa Otipi board member, wanted to remember board members who had passed since the latest project began in 2016 \u2013 Randy Ross, Sandra Woodard and Beverly Stabber Warne. \u201cThis has been an ongoing battle for our community for over 70 years. The unci\u2019s of our community have been asking for an Indian center where we can convene so for this to finally come to be, for us to have a ground blessing, for us to be on land where the future of the Indian center of Minneluzahan will be, is very humbling and I\u2019m a little emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big Eagle said it has been hard without any journey services. \u201cThe only place that we have is Mother Butler and we know we can\u2019t stay overnight there and send them off the way that we want to.\u201d She said that the kids often can\u2019t afford the cost of the YMCA, but the center will provide a place where all those things can happen.<\/p>\n

Tilsen spoke about completing an intention. \u201cWe have to meet the Creator halfway. We have to meet the ancestors halfway. We can\u2019t just pray for things to change. We have to roll up our sleeves and make them happen. And that\u2019s what has been going on all this time, all this work that has been done, even the work being put in by the city to commit dollars to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted that the Oceti Sakowin Community Academy has already opened but eventually there will be a whole community. \u201cWe\u2019ll be able to decide what kind of housing we want and need for our community. We\u2019ll try to develop housing for the people that work in the school, develop housing for the people who work at the Indian center.\u201d He said what is most powerful, is the process of people coming together, making change, and collaborating.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just really excited to see this happening today,\u201d said Big Eagle through tears of gratitude and joy. \u201cWe are continuing on the prayers of the ancestors before us who advocated for this Indian Center to be,\u201d she told Native Sun News Today, \u201cand started that advocacy over 70 years ago, and so we are one step closer to that vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council member Callie Meyer representing <\/p>\n

Ward 5 was present and spoke briefly about her support for the project.<\/p>\n

While the center would be Indigenous hosted, Big Eagle said that it is a center for the entire community. \u201cIt isn\u2019t just for Native people, it\u2019s for all of us. This is one of the ways we can come together and recognize that this is all of our community.\u201d She noted the community members who came to take part in the ground blessing, \u201cIt\u2019s so wonderful to see everyone here from all walks of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization secured nine million dollars in Vision Funds and launched their He Sapa Otipi Capital Campaign to raise funds for building construction dollars and focus fundraising efforts both locally and nationally. <\/p>\n

They are asking the community to participate in a community visioning survey. They are also planning community input sessions. Anyone interested in service on community advisory boards is asked to apply to serve on a building committee, cultural committee, Capital Campaign committee and youth advisory committee. You can find out more about upcoming events and workshops on He Sapa Otipi\u2019s social media.<\/p>\n

The building construction is expected to begin next year. <\/p>\n

(<\/span>Contact<\/span> Marnie<\/span> Cook<\/span> at<\/span> cookm8715@<\/span>gmail.<\/span>com)<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

The post After more than 70 years, a community center is one step closer to fruition<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Chante Heart, executive director of He Sapa Otipi. (Photo by Marnie Cook) NORTH RAPID CITY \u2013 The ground blessing for the He Sapa Otipi was held on the site of the planned community center on Friday. It was a chilly morning, and the wind could be heard whisking through the <\/p>\n

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Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> October 22, 2025<\/p>\n

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