These funds will be used to support the Oglala Lakota Children’s Justice Center in its critical advocacy work on Pine Ridge Reservation.
The Periclean Scholars Class of 2021 and their mentor, Associate Professor of Human Service Studies Bud Warner, capped a successful three years of partnership with the Oglala Lakota Children’s Justice Center (OLCJC) with news that the center will be the recipient of a $715,000 grant from the National Children’s Alliance.
This award will fund the agency and will be used to create a mobile forensic lab to help investigate and treat child maltreatment on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The grant application was authored as part of an ongoing partnership between the Periclean Scholars and OLCJC staff.
This grant is part of the National Children’s Alliance’s National Sub-Award Program to expand Children’s Advocacy Centers in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities. There are plans to continue this partnership with the people of Pine Ridge after the Class of 2021 has graduated.
The Periclean Scholars Program is a three-year, cohort-based learning experience that focuses on forming mutually beneficial partnerships locally and abroad. Students in the program take a series of academic courses, culminating in a partnership related to social justice initiatives. Each cohort has the opportunity to work with partners from around the world, but the Periclean Scholars senior class decided its efforts were most needed domestically, turning their attention to the Pine Ridge Reservation’s Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe.
The senior cohort selected the Oglala Lakota Children’s Justice Center as its partner in 2019, when students visited the reservation to learn about the Lakota culture and people. Since that visit, the Periclean Scholars have worked with the OLCJC to produce newsletters, fundraise and write grants to help the organization advance its mission of advocating for the well-being of physically and sexually abused Lakota children.
The Periclean Scholars Class of 2027 will also be focusing their efforts on OLCJC, under the guidance of class mentor Mark Enfield, associate professor of education.