Reporter Jim Kent and producer Antonia Gonzales

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, with a diverse landscape of grassy plains, hills and wooded areas, covers more than two million acres in southwestern South Dakota. It is home of the Oglala Lakota Nation. Federal statistics estimate the reservation’s population to be more than 20,000, while the tribe and various organizations on the reservation estimate the number of people living there closer to the 40,000 mark.

The Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation mission is to build the power of the Pine Ridge reservation by creating lasting systemic change including a new housing community. (Photo by Jerry Matthews)

Statistics show rates of 85 percent unemployment and more than 90 percent poverty, and like other reservation communities across the United States, Native Americans on Pine Ridge are more likely to struggle with poor health outcomes compared to other demographic groups.

Mainstream news reports often highlight the struggles on the reservation, and statistics show the challenges facing community members. However, the Oglala Lakota people persist, and have created for themselves an organization to address a wide array of economic, health and cultural challenges. The Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation was established a decade ago by young people and young families who were reconnecting to cultural spirituality and identity through ceremony. They wanted to create lasting systemic change and work to end poverty on the reservation.

“And then that spiritual process became a call to action,” said Andrew Iron Shell, a spokesman for Thunder Valley. He explained that the organization stemmed from people venting about the various needs of the Lakota people.

“So really pointing fingers back at ourselves and asking ourselves as community people, as citizens of this tribal community, what’s our role? And what’s our responsibility?” said Iron Shell. “From those thoughts started this conversation about do we have the capacity to create change among this small circle that’s doing this complaining? When we looked around and acknowledged each other’s talents and virtues and things like that, (we recognized) let’s do something together.”

Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation spokesman Andrew Iron Shell says the non-profit group was created as a result of a spiritual gathering called to address the needs of the Lakota people on the Pine Ridge reservation. (Photo by Jerry Matthews)

Iron Shell added that the key to Thunder Valley’s development was realizing from the start that there would be challenges with personalities, politics and available resources. Supporting each other helped in that process, recalls Iron Shell. But, understanding that change would take time and having the patience to accept that has been equally important in Thunder Valley’s success he said.

Now, 10 years later, Thunder Valley programs incorporate Lakota values and culture in workforce development, food, housing, language immersion, community development and youth leadership. Local leaders point to home ownership, several new Lakota entrepreneurs and building the capacity of individuals, and families to achieve their goals as some of the results of Thunder Valley programs.

Thunder Valley leaders believe they have arrived at a place where they finally have the capacity to build their own community – at Thunder Valley’s headquarters, where a food demonstration farm is housed and space is used for training, and across the reservation.
Thunder Valley’s momentum has created a ripple effect across Pine Ridge, said Iron Shell. He adds that Thunder Valley may be a model for the outside world to learn from and may help other rural communities address some of the challenges they face.

State of Change is a project in collaboration with High Country News and the Solutions Journalism Network. Ten New Mexico news organizations are examining the challenge of building resilient rural communities, and are looking at what some communities are doing to address a number of issues they face. National Native News is taking a look at how one group is building economic resiliency on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota through the grassroots community development corporation Thunder Valley. We’re also exploring what other rural communities across New Mexico, and the United States may learn from the organization’s programs.