Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation Case Study
Through a partnership with Pollen Midwest, we created a case study to learn how Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation created a comprehensive grassroots effort to improve the lives of the 30,000 Oglala Lakota who make Pine Ridge Reservation their home.
Excerpt from the Case Study
Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation (TVCDC) takes care to assess each new program idea and get community feedback early and often, ensuring that its initiatives align with its sustainability and community wealth-building goals. Program leaders continually bring the community together to test new ideas and maximize results.
A meeting made for the people
TVCDC embraces the unique aspects of Lakota culture in its programming, in ways that outside organizations historically have not. This commitment to culture has led to a stronger bond between the organization and the community, a bond that has brought new voices to major community decisions.
Community Genius
TVCDC leads with a simple question: “What do the people want?” Its work flows from the answers the organization hears from the community — both in identifying issues and in developing solutions. To make sure those solutions are effective, TVCDC builds cooperative groups with a mix of community experts and holders of other levers of power.
