Oceti Ŝakowiŋ

Mentorship

In partnership with the office of the University of South Dakota’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) funded by the National Science Foundation, we have developed a paid mentorship program that matches community members with young people across the Oceti Sakowin. Mentors and students have established stable and nurturing relationships, providing them with consistent support as they grow as students. The students meet regularly with their mentors to discuss everything from challenges the student is facing at home, to college planning with the aim of increasing the college attendance of Native American youth.

Lakota Nations Invitational and Lakote Education Conference

In 2022, Project Rousseau was proud to participate in as well as sponsor the Lakota Education Conference — a yearly conference dedicated to providing educators from across the Oceti Sakowin a space to collaborate and develop educational opportunities for Lakota youth. The conference takes place each year alongside the Lakota Nations Invitational, one of the largest gatherings of Native Youth in North America. Project Rousseau participated in the Lakota Nations College Fair and distributed hundreds of school supplies and toiletries for the families in attendance.

Student Needs

Project Rousseau has distributed thousands of basic toiletries to young people on the Oceti Sakowin. We are proud to have partnered with Souls4Soles to distribute over 500 shoes to homeless youth on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. Project Rousseau has also distributed over 150 hotspots to youth on Oceti Sakowin to improve their access to educational resources in one of the country’s most under-connected communities.