The Cheyenne River Youth Project, Inc.

The ultimate purpose of our project is to 1) increase the skills and ability of our youth to create traditional Lakota art and to increase their skills to turn their art into a business. This will create a new generation of culture bearers and will help retain and revitalize our culture, and 2) increase the skills of our youth to express themselves by blending Lakota art and culture with graffiti art, which will leverage our Waniyetu Wowapi Art Park, and 3) increase deeper connections between our youth and elders through art that will also help retain and revitalize our culture.

The ultimate purpose is to utilize CRYP's garden to increase overall wellness of our tribal community by providing access to healthy foods and educating our youth and families about food security, starting and expanding their gardens, traditional agricultural, harvesting and preserving produce, nutritional benefits of natural gardens and more.

The ultimate purpose of our project is to 1) create opportunities for Cheyenne River youth to learn and develop as individuals and as artists. We will 2) utilize our art programs and facilities as a positive outlet for youth to express themselves, deterring them from other negative behavior. It is our hope that children and teens in our community find excitement and happiness through our programming and this project provides them opportunities to share their art with the tribal community as well as beyond the reservation.