Women Creating Empowerment

Greetings!

My name is Andreanne Catt. I am an 18-year-old Sicangu Lakota from Rosebud, South Dakota and Eastern Band Cherokee from Cherokee, North Carolina. I am a youth organizer for Seeding Sovereignty, a woman-led organization that reunifies indigenous peoples across Turtle Island. We work to bridge the knowledge gaps between; youth and elders, indigenous and non-indigenous peoples, and take on the vital tasks of traditional knowledge revitalization and environmental protection. As a youth representative from the impacted area, I reach out to you on behalf of my younger relations.

Our Pine Ridge Indian Reservation youth experience multiple chronic crises and I want to offer solutions to my peers. Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota spans 3,468.85 square miles and is larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined. It is the poorest county in the United States. Ninety-seven percent of the population lives far below the federal poverty line with a $2,600- $3,500 median household annual income. 57,000 people live on the reservation, and 40% of the population is under the age of 18.

Teenage suicide on the reservation is 150% times higher than the U.S national average, alcoholism affects an estimated 85% of families, and methamphetamine addiction is another severe problem among the youth on reservations, with local FBI offices around the reservation estimating that 40 - 50% of the violent crime cases they investigate involving the drug.

Rape and sexual abuse statistics for indigenous women and on the reservation are astronomical, though specific rape statistics for reservations in South Dakota are difficult to come by, given “differences in reporting procedures” (as reported by state representatives). According to FBI statistics, 445 forcible rapes were reported in 2009, which didn’t even include the rates of statutory rapes. It’s also been noted by the Justice Department that while indigenous peoples make up only 10 percent of the population in South Dakota, but account for 40 percent of the victims of sexual assault.

According to a study published by the Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, national teen pregnancy rates are declining, but Pine Ridge, SD is bucking the trend with the highest incidence of teen births in the country. Lack of access to medical care, contraceptives, state-banned abortion, and shaming from within their community; is causing pregnant Native teens to be less likely to seek prenatal care.

The youth population of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is ignored and underserved. There is support at IHS facilities but it is too limited for the dire needs of the people of Pine Ridge. When a person tries to commit suicide they are sent to Rapid City, South Dakota Regional Health Behavioral Health Center. It can take anywhere from 76-106 miles to reach this facility due to the size of the reservation which is 3,468.85 square miles and is larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

There are only three women’s health clinics for sexual health services, birth control, prenatal care and sexual assault education and the nearest Planned Parenthood is 347 miles away in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.


To address the crisis’ affecting the youth on our reservation, I created, and am Director of, the Seeding Sovereignty’s new Women Creating Empowerment Project for young women living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, launching this summer! I want to fill the gaps and connect young women with immediate solutions for the systemic problems they face. Our new project centers on 12 dynamic, 3-day peer-to-peer workshops running from June through October 2018.


We will provide sisterhood, informative materials, skill-sharing and skill-building opportunities, and the necessary tools for young indigenous women from the reservation to build self-love; empowering them to become community leaders. Our goal is that each youth attendee will walk away with resources, information, and a new community close to home where they feel safe, important, heard and seen.


We as youth have so much to teach each other, and I believe that it is our job to make a difference and to do it now. We needed to create our own options and we have.

We are excited about these workshops but need support. Each of the 12 workshops serves 20 youth and we are looking for partners!

Each 3-day workshop provides a comprehensive youth program from (what time does it start and what time does it end)

Your donation includes:
- Youth Workshop Facilitator 
- Healthy meals to encourage attendance because many youths from reservations go hungry without regular meals. Moreover, to address the skyrocket high rates of diabetes, this is an opportunity to expose reservation youth to healthy food choices.
- transportation by workshop organizers to ensure that if youths want to attend they have a safe, definite ride to and from workshops.
- all workshop materials and health and beauty products for each attendee. 

Your tax-deductible donations can be donated online here. In the comments please put “Women Creating Empowerment 2018” so that we can put the donation directly towards the project.

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