Locals Take In School Projects

    GROW South Dakota, a leading nonprofit organization committed to improving the lives of individuals and communities, has become a driving force for positive change in South Dakota’s communities. Some of the organization’s board members and staff, including a couple of locals, recently had an opportunity to head west and see some of GROW SD’s efforts in action.
    The group, including Tom Farber, the GROW SD Board Chair, and Patty Roehr, a board member, visited four schools on the Pine Ridge Reservation, including a new high school. On the reservation, until recently, the schools were aging. The only building that didn’t need rehab was the Oglala Lakota County School District Virtual High School — and that’s because it only existed in cyberspace. To provide the community, which has one of the highest poverty rates in the country, with what it needed would require more than renovations; it would require a new brick-and-mortar building for a proposed high school, which had never physically existed before. 
    But a unique partnership between the school system, an investment banking firm specializing in public finance, and GROW South Dakota, has resulted in stronger schools by using new market tax credits. The result includes renovated Rockford, Batesland and Wolf Creek Elementary schools and the new Lakota Tech High School, which opened in 2020. This spring will mark the first graduates who started there as freshmen.
    “It has been a dream for many principals in our district and also teachers and community members that we would one day have a public high school again,” shares Connie Kaltenbach, superintendent of the school district. Before, when students graduated from the 8th grade, they had options of going to schools nearby, including off reservation or to Little Wound High School in Kyle. And of course they had the online option. Some attended and were absolutely successful, she says. “But when we traced our eighth graders to see if they were successful in high school, we found that half dropped out in their freshman year or were not attending.”
    The school projects financed through an innovative New Markets Tax Credit model through GROW South Dakota serve to increase educational resources for students on the Pine Ridge Reservation, creating an environment conducive to learning. These initiatives also have the added benefit of generating and retaining jobs within the Oglala Lakota County School District, which significantly contributes to the economic development of the region. 
    Board members and staff of GROW South Dakota were inspired by the impact their work has had in the school district and for the students in the region. GROW South Dakota Board Member Patty Roehr of Britton said, “The board retreat was a great opportunity to meet and get to know the other board members, as well as touring and learning about the schools. It is clear that the schools create an environment that encourages youth to learn and grow.”  
    Farber added, “I was so impressed with these new schools and the pride in them that was very evident from the students, faculty, and support staff. In our brief interaction and tour of each school, one could not help but notice the great detail and forethought that went into planning these fine facilities.”
    He also emphasized that he hopes such projects will facilitate positive outcomes in the future. “I can envision notable and measurable positive results down the road because the new schools send out a clear message that the communities and administrations of these school districts care and want to see their students succeed in life,” said Farber. “As a board member, it is very gratifying to know that GROW SD had an important role in seeing that these schools became a reality. “  
    Both Roehr and Farber are pleased to see an organization they are involved with help finance the schools and look forward to other projects fulfilling GROW SD’s mission: providing innovative advancement of housing, education, and economic opportunities throughout South Dakota.