Mission Statement

Our goal is to serve the people (Oyate) by helping to restore tribal dignity and individual pride; one family at a time.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Oglala Lakota Oyate, the Sioux people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, have a proud and extensive history but face a daily battle in trying to survive and maintain our culture and our traditions while suffering from abject poverty and coping with severe social diseases such as alcoholism, drug addiction, child abuse and neglect, suicides, family dysfunction, and a host of other problems.  There are many reasons for this dysfunction in our tribal society and while we do often understand the cause and effect dynamic at work here, it is extremely difficult to find workable solutions to our problems. 

There have been numerous federal programs developed to address these problems but the problems persist and have become even more severe notwithstanding the millions of dollars that have been appropriated by Congress to try to break the cycle of poverty and dysfunction that permeates our tribal life.  The obvious question is why?  There are no easy solutions.  One easy answer is to blame the bureaucracy that comes with the federal funding as a big part of the problem.  These programs are generally under-funded to begin with and then the paperwork requirements for getting and keeping the grants can often eat up as much as 60% or more of the funding which leaves very little money for direct services.  Another big issue is a lack of continuity in these programs as they are constantly changing and the funding levels keep getting reduced.  Often, these much needed programs are developed by well-intentioned bureaucrats that have very little hands on experience in dealing with the hard issues at hand.   

In order to develop a functional, effective, service delivery system it is necessary to analyze the problems that this system will address.  Looking at the Lakota culture we can see that over centuries the people evolved into a cohesive yet fluid society where each member of the group had a distinct role to fulfill.  There were warriors to fight to preserve hunting grounds and to protect the villages and the elderly and children.  There were hunters to provide meat and hides and other useful parts of the buffalo and wild game for clothing and utensils.  There were gatherers that harvested fruit and vegetables that could sustain the people.  There were medicine people that could help keep the people healthy in body and spirit.  There were the story tellers that maintained a history of the tribe and regaled the people with stories of the ancestors and of the bravery and dignity of our people.  But, after the wars, the treaties, and placement on reservations, there wasn’t much for the people to do, the old way was gone and there was no effective way to replace these societal roles.  We became dependent on federal handouts, we were preyed upon by thieves and opportunists, and we were given alcohol and drugs to dull the pain and despair of our new way of life.  Our tribal society is broken and it is up to us to fix it.

LAKOTA INDIAN FAMILY TRUST (LIFT)

What is the Lakota Indian Family Trust (LIFT)?  LIFT is an organization chartered under the laws and regulatory authority of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (c) (3) organization.  Our long-term objective is to serve the people of the Oglala Sioux Tribe living on or near the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and provide much needed services that will help to address the severe problems that are destroying our families and to help restore self-sufficiency.

We understand the extent of the problems that exist in our communities and families and the fact that the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council, our governing body, does not have the resources, skills, or manpower to meet these needs in an effective way.  This is not meant as a criticism of our government, we fully support our tribal council, but this is a realistic assessment of their ability to provide direct services on such a huge scale.  The unmet needs in our tribal community are overwhelming and growing as federal support continues to decrease.  Non-federal dollars are also very limited and there is never enough to provide even a minimal social benefit.  There is no such thing on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation as a safety net and families are often left to rely upon charitable groups, handouts, and already stressed extended family for survival.  This system assures that self-sufficiency cannot be achieved by a majority of tribal members.

The tribal government and other institutions like the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Indian Health Services (IHS), and Shannon County which is comprised entirely of reservation land, provide approximately 1,000 jobs.  Many of these jobs are held by tribal members and these fortunate ones have a decent level of income although most live payday to payday.  They are also stressed by the unmet needs of their relatives and often exhaust their resources helping their extended family meet their urgent needs.  It is common for those employed to house many of their relations due to the shortage of jobs and housing.  This contributes to the loss of hope and continued dysfunction within our communities.  It is estimated that the unemployment rate is over 80% and there is a backlog of over 2,000 people (families) that need housing.  It is obvious that the current system of providing direct services is not able to keep up with the needs of the people. 

LIFT will provide a focused, personal approach by working with families in each of the 9 districts on Pine Ridge.  We will conduct a needs assessment which will include all members of the family regardless of age or status and develop program services to meet each individual need.  LIFT will access the many resources already available and create programmatic services for those needs that are not provided for currently. 

 LIFT has a 3 member Board of Directors and will soon have a 9 member Advisory Board which will represent all 9 districts on the reservation  The members are chosen for their grassroots knowledge and proven capabilities and each member will bring an important resource to the organization.  Board members will select families from each of the 9 districts and we will work with these families to develop needed services based on their intakes and assessments.  The goal is to create self-sufficiency and reduce dependency and dysfunction by strengthening our communities and helping to revive our tribal pride and dignity and to provide a better life for the people.