@GRASSROOTS.ORG/The Plains

Monday, Sep 08, 2008

SEARCH:

GROUPS THAT CHANGE COMMUNITIES

THE GREAT PLAINS

IOWA
Iowa Citizens For Community Improvement (CCI)

Statewide community-organizing group unites residents to attack the roots of poverty in the inner city and on the family farm.

KANSAS
The Land Institute

A center for serious research into sustainable agriculture on the prairie, it trains and sends out missionaries to spread the gospel of saving the land.

MINNESOTA
Community Campaign for Housing Now

Innovative effort to build public support for fighting homelessness in St. Paul through advocacy and lobbying.
Homeless Organizing Project

In Duluth's roistering labor tradition, homeless and formerly homeless people organize around local issues that affect them.
Sabathani Community Center

A major emergency-service provider in Minneapolis sets a standard for adding on self-reliance projects to help keep people from having to come back for food and help over and over again.

NEBRASKA
Rural Affairs Center

On the national level, it researches and promotes progressive rural and agricultural policies. On the local level, it creates innovative state and local programs to keep the family farm alive and prospering.
Wicahpi Vision Arts Cooperative

Nonprofit arts and crafts cooperative provides income and pride for Lakota artists in the bleak landscape of far northwestern Nebraska.

NORTH DAKOTA
Abused Adult Resource Center

Model shelter not only protects abused women but helps them regain self-esteem and their legal rights.
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Food Distribution Program

Serious thoughts from an American Indian advocate who's responsible for ensuring that there's enough food to go around on a North Dakota reservation with 90 percent unemployment.

OKLAHOMA
The Education and Employment Ministry Inc. (TEEM)

A remarkably simple program builds an impressive track record of getting unemployed people back to work through a quick and simple, no-nonsense training course.
Neighbor For Neighbor

Serving almost 38,000 poor and hungry Tulsans annually, this program offers a broad, holistic range of emergency and supportive services that doesn't stop with handouts.
Oklahoma Bean Project Inc. (Grateful Bean Cafe)

Dishing up hearty food in a historic Oklahoma City restaurant, it also provides jobs and job training for people who used to be homeless.
SPARK (Support Program of Arts and Reading for Kids)

Innovative after-school program nourishes youngsters' bodies and their minds, and involves their parents as well.

SOUTH DAKOTA
KILI Radio

Non-profit radio station not only communicates across the sprawling Pine Ridge reservation but builds Lakota pride.
The Lakota Fund

Respected micro-loan organization based on the Bangladeshi "Grameen Bank" concept is returning locally owned small businesses to reservation towns where unemployment has been endemic.
Organic Gardening Training Program

An odd but lovely partnership between colleges in Germany and on the Pine Ridge reservation yields a demonstration organic garden in which German and Lakota youngsters learn important things from each other.
Slim Buttes Community Farming Project

Hands-on and down to earth, Tom Cook literally spreads home gardens across the landscape of southwestern South Dakota.