Health

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Addressing community health and wellness

Indiginous people in the United States are experiencing a health crisis. Poverty and food insecurity are causing conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and alcoholism to surge, which threatens mental and physical health and well-being in many Native communities.

80%

of people on the Pine Ridge reservation live in poverty.

40%

of families on Pine Ridge experience food insecurity.

800%

diabetes rate on Pine Ridge reservation over the general population.

Our Tiospaye is committed to addressing food insecurity at Pine Ridge through the Slim Buttes Agricultural Project.

By reconnecting our people with the land, employing farming practices that regenerate the soil naturally and holistically, and producing food that nourishes body and mind, we are uplifting our community – and creating a model that can be adopted in food deserts around the world.

Slim Buttes Agri-Development began with six community gardens in 1985, and this year we prepared 331 gardens over most of the 5,000 square-mile reservation. Our mission is to help the people with their immediate survival and nutritional needs, and help communities develop out of the poverty that surrounds them.

— TOM COOK

Slim Buttes Agricultural Project

The Slim Buttes Agricultural Project (SBAG) was founded by Tom Cook and Loretta Afraid of Bear–Cook in 1983 as a way to bring healthy, organic food to the residents of Pine Ridge. One of the oldest indigenous gardening projects, the organization helps Lakota people learn to grow small gardens throughout the reservation and employs gardeners to manage larger-scale jobs like tilling, growing and delivering seedlings, and installing irrigation systems.

This program provides food for more than 100 families each year and has improved health and wellness in our community. What’s more, it encourages self-reliance and care for the land – principles that are vital to indigenous life – and inspires social connection on Pine Ridge.

This project is supported in part by our partners at Running Strong for American Indian Youth and Plenty International.