Pine Ridge Reservation’s Thunder Valley Community Development Corp. administration: From left, Scott Moore, project coordinator and architect; Jo White, operations coordinator; Nick Tilsen, executive director; Georgine Looks Twice, public relations; and Dallas Nelson, community liaison. The grassroots organization seeks to regenerate social, cultural, economic and environmental sustainability on the reservation via a tribally-created “going green” commune of sorts. Photo Courtesy Thunder Valley Community Development Corp.
SHARPS CORNER, SOUTH DAKOTA -- Sustainability. That has become the mantra of grassroots organization Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation: A “burning vision of sustainability,” to be more precise. Thunder Valley’s latest “burning vision,” is one of genuine – and hopeful – community development: a community-created, self-sustaining and economically burgeoning neighborhood on the Pine Ridge Reservation. “This project arises from the people,” Brett Lee Shelton said in an interview with online newspaper, the Huffington Post. Shelton is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the community development project’s attorney. According to a press release, Thunder Valley is also vying to bring a sweeping “renaissance of Lakota youth, culture and spirit” back into the externally de-culturated community through a traditional collectivist approach. “Lakota culture is inclusive,” said Shelton. “The more this project reaches out, the more it honors that. There’s room for everyone, including non-Indians living on the reservation. The more, the better.” In partnership with and through its subsidiary organization, Oyate Omniciye-Oglala Lakota Plan, Thunder Valley has reached out to the reservation’s community via a series of public meetings over the last few months for innovative and meaningful input regarding an eco-friendly – as well as people-friendly – district. The district is positioned to be established from the ground up just north of Sharps Corner, on over 80 acres of land already owned by the community development corporation. “We want to be positive change makers here,” said Scott Moore, project coordinator and architect. “The community is ready for change, not charity now,” he said. “Our community-based project is well under way,” said Moore. “We have already devised a preliminary site plan.” A grocery store, coffee shop, playground, powwow circle and two- to three-story apartment complex – not before seen on the Pine Ridge Reservation – are some of the community-proposed structures included in the site plan for the ambitious undertaking. Also included in the decidedly green, communal proposal are fruit orchards, agriculture zones and wind, solar and geothermal energy plants. And perhaps most prominently featured in the all-encompassing plan is a Lakota immersion school. “Community members approach this project as an expression of what it means to be Lakota in the 21st century,” said Moore. Initial funding for the enterprise came in the form of a million-dollar grant from the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD spokesperson Brian Sullivan called the project “exciting” and a “well-rounded regional plan” in the Huffington Post. According to Sullivan, the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities was formed to reduce bureaucratic barriers and involve local people in the development process. The agency’s specific mission is to “create strong, sustainable communities by connecting housing to jobs, fostering local innovation and helping to build a clean energy economy.” Further funding for the project is being solicited from the general public. As one of the impactive local reservation agencies highlighted in the recent “A Hidden America: Children of the Plains” episode of ABC’s prime time newsmagazine program, 20/20, interest in supporting Thunder Valley and its mission is beginning to snowball, indicated Moore. “ABC news has been calling, and we have been receiving a lot of Facebook posts on our page and random emails from people who want to help,” Moore said. Focusing on the Pine Ridge reservation, the 20/20 special is the end result of a year-and-a-half of investigative reporting by Diane Sawyer. “Children of the Plains” is the third entry in a series of special reports by Sawyer that focus on America’s impoverished children. Thunder Valley has been in existence since 2007. The corporation originated out of a desire, and need, to address the social, economic and cultural issues facing OST citizens, particularly youth. Following a sequence of intensive discussions by participants in and associates of the annual Thunder Valley Sun Dance, or Winwang Wacipi, held on the reservation, the nonprofit entity was brought to fruition. The organization’s mission statement reads as “Empowering Lakota youth and families to improve the health, culture and environment of our communities through the healing and strengthening of cultural identity.” Thunder Valley is on the verge of being ready to move forward with actual construction of its well-laid and well-intended plan. “We have a good foundation for our new community and a lot of support,” said Moore. “We’re not looking for charity anymore, we’re looking for change,” he reiterated. “Long-term, sustainable change.” For further information, contact Moore at (605) 455-2700 or scott@thundervalley.org. (Contact Jesse Abernathy at staffwriter@nsweekly.com)
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