Prior Lake, Minnesota – Being a good neighbor is important to the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. Providing grants to organizations which provide social services for people in need is one way the SMSC honors this traditional Dakota value. The SMSC announces $186,000 in grants to nine social service organizations.

“These organizations have helped thousands of Indian families over the years. The work they do is important, and the families they help benefit greatly from their services,” said SMSC Chairman Charlie Vig.

In the heart of the Phillips Neighborhood in Minneapolis, home to 2,352 American Indians, the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center quietly provides a support system for women and their families so they can enjoy a better quality of life. MIWRC has developed innovative, holistic programming providing a wide range of services including sexual assault advocacy, a legal services program, family services, a learning center for children, parenting support, pregnancy support, chemical health services, emergency and low-income housing assistance, a library and job training clearinghouse, and outpatient treatment. Established in 1984, MIWRC works at all levels – individual, family, community, and social service. MIWRC is also a family and community gathering place, hosting healing ceremonies, regular family events, and feast days.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community made a $50,000 grant for fiscal year 2013 to the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center. The funds are for general operating funds to support their Cherish the Children Learning Center that provides daycare services combined with early childhood education for a continuum of care and early development. With this donation, the SMSC has donated a total of $654,000 to the MIWRC over the past several years.

A $31,000 matching grant was made to the Department of Indian Work of St. Paul, Minnesota, for a remodel and computerization of their food shelf. DIW fulfills a unique and essential role in the St. Paul area, ministering and providing services specifically for the American Indian community. Ninety-five percent of DIW’s clients are at or below the federal poverty level. In a one year period ending in July 2012, DIW provided a total of 1,533 people from 409 households with food from the food shelf in 4,118 visits. The equivalent of 33,000 meals was distributed. DIW is a partnership of the St. Paul Area Council of Churches.

The Indian Child Welfare Law Center of Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a $25,000 grant to support advocacy services for families navigating the child protection system and education for professionals regarding the Indian Child Welfare Act. The Law Center provides legal representation, services, and training throughout the state to protect the rights of tribes and tribal children to prevent loss of cultural identity in the court and foster care systems. The Center offers trainings about the Indian Child Welfare Act to lawyers, judges, social workers, guardian ad litems, and others.

Lakota Funds of Kyle, South Dakota, received a $20,000 grant to improve energy efficiency in the Eagle Nest Housing Development near Wanblee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Through the project, energy efficient windows, doors, and other improvements are being made, including weatherization and the addition of solar panels.

A $20,000 grant to the Division of Indian Work of Minneapolis, Minnesota, will cover programming and services to include parenting education, Women of Traditional Birthing, Mashkiki Ogichidaag (a tobacco cessation program), Strengthening Family Circles, the Youth Leadership Development program, and the Horizons Unlimited food shelf.

For more than 50 years the Division of Indian Work, in partnership with the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches, has offered a variety of services for Native American families. Some of their other services include parenting and youth mentorship programs, a food shelf, emergency assistance, a group home for boys, daily summer activities for children, after school tutoring, cultural activities, holiday meal baskets, foster parents’ licensing, and cooking classes. Including this donation, the SMSC has made total donations of $1.7 million to the Division of Indian Work over the past several years.

The SMSC provided a donation of $20,000 for fuel and generators to the Shinnecock Indian Nation, a tribe residing along the shores of Eastern Long Island as part of the Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts. SMSC tribal member Nate Crooks who is a member of the tribe’s fire department, Mdewakanton Emergency Services, helped coordinate this effort. The SMSC also provided a support vehicle for the long journey for a fire truck donated by the Chanhassen Fire Department. Hurricane Sandy struck the northeastern United States with force in November 2012 causing tidal surges, flooding, fires, and devastation.

Second Harvest Heartland received a grant for $10,000 for a food rescue program that provides fresh produce, meat, and dairy for food shelves, meal programs, and other hunger relief partners in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Second Harvest Heartland is a member of Feeding America, a national network of more than 200 food banks serving every state in the United States. Members access millions of pounds of surplus food and grocery donations from manufacturers and producers throughout the country. Second Harvest Heartland distributes great amounts of food quickly and efficiently; in 2011 alone, they collected, warehoused, and distributed nearly 70 million pounds of food. Their fleet of trucks travels nearly half a million miles a year, picking up food donations and delivering them to local food shelves, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, senior community centers, and children’s after school programs.

Children’s Law Center of Minnesota received a grant for $5,000 for legal assistance for children in foster care. Since 1995, CLC, with the help of more than 300 volunteer attorneys, has represented more than 1,300 foster children. When children are taken from abusive or neglectful parents, they need to know their legal rights. CLC provides a multidisciplinary team of volunteer and staff attorneys and a social worker to listen to the children and help them navigate the complicated systems that control their lives. These advocates help guide the children by empowering them to speak up for what they want. CLC advocates help children understand the system and help judges and other court workers understand what the children want. CLC serves about 190 American Indian youth a year.

CLC’s staff attorneys and social worker provide expertise and years of experience to volunteer attorneys to support their efforts in representing foster children, including knowledge about specific laws and services available for the children.

Project Turnabout of Granite Falls, Minnesota, received a $5,000 grant for a special event fundraiser to raise funds for scholarship assistance for clients. This organization provides addiction recovery services including compulsive gambling to men, women, and families.

About the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, a federally recognized Indian Tribe in Minnesota, is the owner and operator of Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, Little Six Casino, Mazopiya, The Meadows at Mystic Lake, and other enterprises on a reservation south of the Twin Cities. The SMSC utilizes its financial resources from gaming and non-gaming enterprises to pay for the internal infrastructure of the Tribe, including but not limited to roads, water and sewer systems, emergency services, and essential services to its members in education, health, and well-being.

A tribal charitable giving program which comes from a cultural and social tradition to assist those in need has given away more than $258.2 million to Indian Tribes, charitable organizations, and schools since 1996. Through the Mdewakanton LIFE Program, the SMSC has donated 775 Automated External Defibrillators to tribes, schools, police and fire departments, and other organizations with 21 lives saved due to their use.

The SMSC has also made more than $523 million in loans mostly to other tribes for economic and infrastructure development projects. Since 1996 the SMSC paid more than $7.6 million for shared local road construction and an additional $16.7 million for road projects on the reservation. The SMSC has also paid $14.4 million to local governments for services and another $6.4 million for other projects.Shako