Latest news with #TwoBulls
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal cut to children's advocacy funding ‘abandons American children,' says South Dakota nonprofit leader
Makenzie Huber South Dakota Searchlight A Rapid City-based nonprofit that advocates for children in the state court system lost $15,000 last week after the federal government terminated grant awards to the National Court Appointed Special Advocates Association. The decision 'abandons American children' and will cause ripple effects throughout the state, said Seventh Circuit CASA Program Executive Director Kehala Two Bulls. The organization serves children in Pennington, Fall River and Custer counties. Seven other organizations serve South Dakota's other circuit courts. Volunteers with CASA advocate for children who've been removed from their families and placed in state care due to suspected abuse and neglect. The volunteers meet with the children and other contacts, such as teachers, therapists and caseworkers. They also write reports to judges about the children's needs, strengths and interests to create 'customized services and decision making,' Two Bulls said. Over 330 CASA volunteers worked with 658 children in 37 counties last year, according to the state Unified Judicial System. The national organization suspended all services and support to state and local programs, it announced last week, after the Trump administration's Department of Justice terminated funding. In a statement to Reuters, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said grants were rescinded that 'do not align with the administration's priorities,' but she said the Department of Justice will 'continue to ensure that services for victims are not impacted and any recipient will have the ability to appeal and restore any grant if direct impact on victims can be thoroughly established.' The national CASA office said it is appealing. Though the Seventh Circuit was the only South Dakota CASA office receiving grant funds from the national office, other local organizations rely on services provided by the national organization. That includes training and coordination, Two Bulls said. About 80 percent of the Seventh Circuit CASA's cases are Indian Child Welfare Act cases. Shifting that administrative burden and coordination to states will result in redundancy and reduced efficiencies, she added. 'Children will be destabilized by these changes,' Two Bulls said. 'It's important for people to make these decisions responsibly. Whether people agree with this or not, there's a need for people at a local level to partner with us and step up and come up with the funding, the infrastructure, the support needed, because these are real kids that deserve good futures.' Seventh Circuit CASA was awarded $25,000 in grant funding this year — $5,000 to conduct background checks of volunteers and $20,000 to develop support and specialized services for older youth in the system. The organization already received and spent about $10,000, but won't receive the remaining $15,000. In 2014, 207 kids in the Seventh Circuit were in state care over the course of the year, Two Bulls said. In 2024, that grew to 795 children because cases are taking longer to resolve. Older children are staying in the system longer and aging out once they turn 18 years old, she added. Last year, 35 kids aged out of foster care in the area. Nearly a decade ago, that number was closer to five children a year. About 80 percent of the Seventh Circuit CASA's cases are Indian Child Welfare Act cases. Youth who age out of the system are more likely to become homeless, incarcerated or die than their peers, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Two Bulls said the grant was intended to build supplemental training for advocates focused on building life skills for older children. The grants amounted to about 5 percent of the organization's operating budget, Two Bulls said. While the terminated funding won't shutter the program, she'll have to reallocate funds or find new revenue for the increasing need the grant was intended to address. 'This action was completely disconnected from the need and the vulnerability in our community,' Two Bulls said. 'What we have is less funding and less infrastructure to properly address it. We're painfully aware of how many kids it leaves at risk.' Greg Sattizahn, state court administrator for the South Dakota Unified Judicial System, said in a news release that the state is committed to 'providing leadership, support and encouragement' to the eight CASA nonprofits across the state.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal cut to children's advocacy funding ‘abandons American children,' says SD nonprofit leader
The Pennington County Courthouse and jail complex in Rapid City, in June 2023. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight) A Rapid City-based nonprofit that advocates for children in the state court system lost $15,000 last week after the federal government terminated grant awards to the National Court Appointed Special Advocates Association. The decision 'abandons American children' and will cause ripple effects throughout the state, said Seventh Circuit CASA Program Executive Director Kehala Two Bulls. The organization serves children in Pennington, Fall River and Custer counties. Seven other organizations serve South Dakota's other circuit courts. Volunteers with CASA advocate for children who've been removed from their families and placed in state care due to suspected abuse and neglect. The volunteers meet with the children and other contacts, such as teachers, therapists and caseworkers. They also write reports to judges about the children's needs, strengths and interests to create 'customized services and decision making,' Two Bulls said. Read more South Dakota Searchlight coverage of Trump administration firings, funding freezes, spending cuts, grant cancellations, tariffs and immigration enforcement on our Federal Fallout page. Over 330 CASA volunteers worked with 658 children in 37 counties last year, according to the state Unified Judicial System. The national organization suspended all services and support to state and local programs, it announced last week, after the Trump administration's Department of Justice terminated funding. In a statement to Reuters, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said grants were rescinded that 'do not align with the administration's priorities,' but she said the Department of Justice will 'continue to ensure that services for victims are not impacted and any recipient will have the ability to appeal and restore any grant if direct impact on victims can be thoroughly established.' The national CASA office said it is appealing. Though the Seventh Circuit was the only South Dakota CASA office receiving grant funds from the national office, other local organizations rely on services provided by the national organization. That includes training and coordination, Two Bulls said. Shifting that administrative burden and coordination to states will result in redundancy and reduced efficiencies, she added. 'Children will be destabilized by these changes,' Two Bulls said. 'It's important for people to make these decisions responsibly. Whether people agree with this or not, there's a need for people at a local level to partner with us and step up and come up with the funding, the infrastructure, the support needed, because these are real kids that deserve good futures.' Seventh Circuit CASA was awarded $25,000 in grant funding this year — $5,000 to conduct background checks of volunteers and $20,000 to develop support and specialized services for older youth in the system. The organization already received and spent about $10,000, but won't receive the remaining $15,000. In 2014, 207 kids in the Seventh Circuit were in state care over the course of the year, Two Bulls said. In 2024, that grew to 795 children because cases are taking longer to resolve. Older children are staying in the system longer and aging out once they turn 18 years old, she added. Last year, 35 kids aged out of foster care in the area. Nearly a decade ago, that number was closer to five children a year. About 80% of the Seventh Circuit CASA's cases are Indian Child Welfare Act cases. Children will be destabilized by these changes. – Kehala Two Bulls, executive director, Seventh Circuit CASA Program Youth who age out of the system are more likely to become homeless, incarcerated or die than their peers, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Two Bulls said the grant was intended to build supplemental training for advocates focused on building life skills for older children. The grants amounted to about 5% of the organization's operating budget, Two Bulls said. While the terminated funding won't shutter the program, she'll have to reallocate funds or find new revenue for the increasing need the grant was intended to address. 'This action was completely disconnected from the need and the vulnerability in our community,' Two Bulls said. 'What we have is less funding and less infrastructure to properly address it. We're painfully aware of how many kids it leaves at risk.' Greg Sattizahn, state court administrator for the South Dakota Unified Judicial System, said in a news release that the state is committed to 'providing leadership, support and encouragement' to the eight CASA nonprofits across the state. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Lakota artist smudges the former gold mine inside the Black Hills
When Lakota artist Marty Two Bulls Jr. looks at the Black Hills of South Dakota, he doesn't just see its natural beauty. He also sees a scar cut deep into the heart of the universe. The mountain range is central to the origin story of several tribal nations, including his, and it has become an international symbol of the ongoing struggle for Indigenous land rights and the destruction of sacred sites. To the Lakota, Mount Rushmore is the most visible scar on the mountains. The former gold mine beneath is another, and that's what motivated Two Bulls to use his performance art to cleanse it. 'You hear 'land back', and it means a lot of different things to different people,' he said, referring to the Indigenous-led movement to restore tribal self-determination through ownership and stewardship of their homelands. 'It's been interesting trying to reframe some of these conversations about stewardship and land rights and treaties.' When the green pines on top meet the blue sky above, it creates the perception of a black outline, which is why the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people call it 'He Sapa', which means 'black ridge.' To them, it is where their creation began. But for generations, this sacred place was mined and stripped of gold, leaving lasting marks. Today, the former Homestake Gold Mine, a 300-mile (480-kilometer) tunnel system carved inside the mountains, houses the Sanford Underground Research Facility, where scientists study particle physics and dark matter. The deep mine shafts encased in granite are ideal for research into the secrets of the stars. As an artist in residence at SURF last year, Two Bulls felt a connection to its depths but a tremendous sense of loss when he ventured into the mine. 'I was bearing witness to the desecration that Homestake did every day. It was heartbreaking,' he said. And it left him wondering: 'How do you recover from a desecration or a crime?' Two Bulls also respected the work being conducted by some of the world's top minds inside the Black Hills, and he wanted to find a way to show them that this place was important long before its value was measured in gold or scientific research. He decided the best solution was also the simplest: smudge. Smudging is the act of cleansing, spiritually and physically, by burning plants like sage, cedar or sweetgrass and enveloping one's self or a space in the smoke. It has been a common practice across Indian Country for generations. Last week, using sage donated by Native people from as close as the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and as far away as the West Coast, Two Bulls burned several bundles, each representing the prayers of the community that donated it. For an hour, he burned the bundles in a small stove at the entrance to the former mine, fanning the flames with eagle feathers to smudge the place that his people revere as the center of the cosmos. Sensors in the mine nearly a mile below ground detected the smoke, a spokesperson for SURF said. 'To see how that was put together, that floored me,' said Rylan Sprague, a botanist and member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe who chairs SURF's cultural advisory committee. 'Leave it to an artist to take something that seems so regular and turn it into something totally different.' Two Bulls said Western science often overlooks or misunderstands Indigenous ways of thinking about the world and our origins, and that he wants his art project, called Azilya — the Lakota word for smudging — to be a way for the two to meet. An exhibition of his art from his time at SURF exploring that concept is currently on display at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Several researchers and members of SURF's staff watched Two Bulls smudge the mine. Sprague said he could see from the looks on their faces that the SURF employees in attendance understood the reverence Two Bulls and his community have for the place where they work. The room was largely quiet as Two Bulls sent smoke and prayers a mile beneath the earth's surface. 'It's not a site that I think they think about as a sacred site. It's a work site,' Two Bulls said. 'I hope that that happens. That's my intention.'
The Independent
05-04-2025
- General
- The Independent
Lakota artist smudges the former gold mine inside the Black Hills
When Lakota artist Marty Two Bulls Jr. looks at the Black Hills of South Dakota, he doesn't just see its natural beauty. He also sees a scar cut deep into the heart of the universe. The mountain range is central to the origin story of several tribal nations, including his, and it has become an international symbol of the ongoing struggle for Indigenous land rights and the destruction of sacred sites. To the Lakota, Mount Rushmore is the most visible scar on the mountains. The former gold mine beneath is another, and that's what motivated Two Bulls to use his performance art to cleanse it. 'You hear 'land back', and it means a lot of different things to different people,' he said, referring to the Indigenous-led movement to restore tribal self-determination through ownership and stewardship of their homelands. 'It's been interesting trying to reframe some of these conversations about stewardship and land rights and treaties.' When the green pines on top meet the blue sky above, it creates the perception of a black outline, which is why the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people call it 'He Sapa', which means 'black ridge.' To them, it is where their creation began. But for generations, this sacred place was mined and stripped of gold, leaving lasting marks. Today, the former Homestake Gold Mine, a 300-mile (480-kilometer) tunnel system carved inside the mountains, houses the Sanford Underground Research Facility, where scientists study particle physics and dark matter. The deep mine shafts encased in granite are ideal for research into the secrets of the stars. As an artist in residence at SURF last year, Two Bulls felt a connection to its depths but a tremendous sense of loss when he ventured into the mine. 'I was bearing witness to the desecration that Homestake did every day. It was heartbreaking,' he said. And it left him wondering: 'How do you recover from a desecration or a crime?' Two Bulls also respected the work being conducted by some of the world's top minds inside the Black Hills, and he wanted to find a way to show them that this place was important long before its value was measured in gold or scientific research. He decided the best solution was also the simplest: smudge. Smudging is the act of cleansing, spiritually and physically, by burning plants like sage, cedar or sweetgrass and enveloping one's self or a space in the smoke. It has been a common practice across Indian Country for generations. Last week, using sage donated by Native people from as close as the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and as far away as the West Coast, Two Bulls burned several bundles, each representing the prayers of the community that donated it. For an hour, he burned the bundles in a small stove at the entrance to the former mine, fanning the flames with eagle feathers to smudge the place that his people revere as the center of the cosmos. Sensors in the mine nearly a mile below ground detected the smoke, a spokesperson for SURF said. 'To see how that was put together, that floored me,' said Rylan Sprague, a botanist and member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe who chairs SURF's cultural advisory committee. 'Leave it to an artist to take something that seems so regular and turn it into something totally different.' Two Bulls said Western science often overlooks or misunderstands Indigenous ways of thinking about the world and our origins, and that he wants his art project, called Azilya — the Lakota word for smudging — to be a way for the two to meet. An exhibition of his art from his time at SURF exploring that concept is currently on display at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Several researchers and members of SURF's staff watched Two Bulls smudge the mine. Sprague said he could see from the looks on their faces that the SURF employees in attendance understood the reverence Two Bulls and his community have for the place where they work. The room was largely quiet as Two Bulls sent smoke and prayers a mile beneath the earth's surface. 'It's not a site that I think they think about as a sacred site. It's a work site,' Two Bulls said. 'I hope that that happens. That's my intention.'
Associated Press
05-04-2025
- General
- Associated Press
Lakota artist smudges the former gold mine inside the Black Hills
When Lakota artist Marty Two Bulls Jr. looks at the Black Hills of South Dakota, he doesn't just see its natural beauty. He also sees a scar cut deep into the heart of the universe. The mountain range is central to the origin story of several tribal nations, including his, and it has become an international symbol of the ongoing struggle for Indigenous land rights and the destruction of sacred sites. To the Lakota, Mount Rushmore is the most visible scar on the mountains. The former gold mine beneath is another, and that's what motivated Two Bulls to use his performance art to cleanse it. 'You hear 'land back', and it means a lot of different things to different people,' he said, referring to the Indigenous-led movement to restore tribal self-determination through ownership and stewardship of their homelands. 'It's been interesting trying to reframe some of these conversations about stewardship and land rights and treaties.' When the green pines on top meet the blue sky above, it creates the perception of a black outline, which is why the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people call it 'He Sapa', which means 'black ridge.' To them, it is where their creation began. But for generations, this sacred place was mined and stripped of gold, leaving lasting marks. Today, the former Homestake Gold Mine, a 300-mile (480-kilometer) tunnel system carved inside the mountains, houses the Sanford Underground Research Facility, where scientists study particle physics and dark matter. The deep mine shafts encased in granite are ideal for research into the secrets of the stars. As an artist in residence at SURF last year, Two Bulls felt a connection to its depths but a tremendous sense of loss when he ventured into the mine. 'I was bearing witness to the desecration that Homestake did every day. It was heartbreaking,' he said. And it left him wondering: 'How do you recover from a desecration or a crime?' Two Bulls also respected the work being conducted by some of the world's top minds inside the Black Hills, and he wanted to find a way to show them that this place was important long before its value was measured in gold or scientific research. He decided the best solution was also the simplest: smudge. Smudging is the act of cleansing, spiritually and physically, by burning plants like sage, cedar or sweetgrass and enveloping one's self or a space in the smoke. It has been a common practice across Indian Country for generations. Last week, using sage donated by Native people from as close as the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and as far away as the West Coast, Two Bulls burned several bundles, each representing the prayers of the community that donated it. For an hour, he burned the bundles in a small stove at the entrance to the former mine, fanning the flames with eagle feathers to smudge the place that his people revere as the center of the cosmos. Sensors in the mine nearly a mile below ground detected the smoke, a spokesperson for SURF said. 'To see how that was put together, that floored me,' said Rylan Sprague, a botanist and member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe who chairs SURF's cultural advisory committee. 'Leave it to an artist to take something that seems so regular and turn it into something totally different.' Two Bulls said Western science often overlooks or misunderstands Indigenous ways of thinking about the world and our origins, and that he wants his art project, called Azilya — the Lakota word for smudging — to be a way for the two to meet. An exhibition of his art from his time at SURF exploring that concept is currently on display at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Several researchers and members of SURF's staff watched Two Bulls smudge the mine. Sprague said he could see from the looks on their faces that the SURF employees in attendance understood the reverence Two Bulls and his community have for the place where they work. The room was largely quiet as Two Bulls sent smoke and prayers a mile beneath the earth's surface. 'It's not a site that I think they think about as a sacred site. It's a work site,' Two Bulls said. 'I hope that that happens. That's my intention.'
