Friends of the Children - He Sapa

10/01/2026

🧡 Every Child Matters.

Today, on Orange Shirt Day, we remember and honor the Indigenous children who were taken from their families, communities, languages, and cultures and forced into boarding and residential schools. We remember those who never returned home, those who survived, and the generations of families who continue to carry the impacts of these systems.

This evening, Friends of the Children–He Sapa gathered our program youth and families for our final Regalia Making session, a space intentionally created for connection, culture, family, and community.

As our caregivers worked together, our youth gathered to listen to a story and participate in activities centered on a message we want every young person in our program to know:

You matter. Your voice matters. Your story matters. Your culture matters. You belong.

For generations, Indigenous children were subjected to systems designed to separate them from their families, languages, identities, and ways of knowing. Today, we have a responsibility to create something different.

At Friends of the Children–He Sapa, our commitment to lasting change means surrounding our Wakȟáŋyeža with relationships that remind them of their strength and worth. It means creating spaces where families come together, culture is celebrated, and young people are seen, heard, supported, and loved.

Tonight was about more than an activity or a regalia-making session. It was about connection across generations. It was about strengthening the relationships that sustain our children. And it was about making sure our youth grow up knowing something that should never have been taken from any child:

Every child matters. Every child has always mattered. 🧡

09/30/2026

Program Director, Keith Ferguson, enjoyed an afternoon sharing our mission and values with the wonderful staff of Black Hills Energy at the Agency Showcase! 📣

Thank you United Way of the Black Hills for inviting us and highlighting our work to build a greater nation for Indigenous youth and families.

09/22/2026

🎓 Building Stronger Schools Through Stronger Partnerships

Friends of the Children–He Sapa Executive Director Tyresha Grey Horse recently had the opportunity to visit students at Black Hills State University and share about the important role that community partnerships can play in supporting students and families.

As future educators, these students have been building a foundation in culturally responsive teaching, learning to understand not only the realities and challenges students may experience, but also the incredible resilience, strengths, and knowledge they bring into the classroom.

Tyresha shared how Friends of the Children–He Sapa works alongside schools through long-term, relationship-based professional mentoring and meaningful family engagement. When educators, families, and community organizations work together, we can build stronger networks of support around young people, helping students feel seen, supported, connected, and empowered to succeed.

We are grateful for opportunities like this to speak with future educators about what authentic school-community partnership can look like and how we can collectively support the whole child and whole family.

A special thank you to Dr. Johanna Sailor for inviting us into your classroom and creating space for this important conversation about the power of partnerships. We appreciate the opportunity to share our work with the next generation of educators! 💛

09/21/2026

📖✨ Lakota Storytellers: Our Youth Becoming Authors

Stories have always carried more than words. They carry teachings, identity, memory, and connection from one generation to the next.

Thanks to funding from the Innovation Grant through Black Hills Reads, Friends of the Children–He Sapa brought youth and caregivers together for our Lakota Storytellers event, an intergenerational gathering centered on culture, literacy, and the power of our own stories.

We began the day with Indigenous poet and engineer Anpo Jensen, who shared excerpts from her book Hero Dreams Shine and invited our youth to think about the stories they carry within themselves.

Youth learned that, traditionally, winter was a time when Lakota people gathered together and shared stories passing along wisdom, teachings, values, and history. Then came an exciting announcement:

Today, they would all become authors. ✍🏽📚

Our youth began creating their own stories, with caregivers joining them in this sacred act of storytelling. Together, generations imagined, wrote, shared, and created, demonstrating that literacy can be about much more than learning to read and write. It can also be a way to strengthen culture, relationships, identity, and belonging.

And their work isn't finished yet!

The stories and illustrations created by our youth will be compiled into a book of their own, which will be available in the coming months. We cannot wait to share what these young authors have created.

At Friends of the Children–He Sapa, we believe our youth deserve opportunities to see themselves not only in the books they read, but as the authors, artists, engineers, poets, and storytellers creating what comes next.

Pilamaya to Anpo Jensen, Black Hills Reads, our caregivers, and everyone who helped make this gathering possible. ❤️

09/16/2026

📚 Many hands. One shared commitment to literacy.

We are incredibly grateful to the volunteers from Rotary who gave their time and energy to help us assemble our Raising a Reader book bags for Friends of the Children–He Sapa youth and families!

Raising a Reader helps families build strong literacy habits by bringing books into the home and encouraging children and caregivers to read, explore, and learn together. These book bags are more than materials, they are another opportunity to strengthen the connection between learning, family, and a child’s future.

At Friends of the Children–He Sapa, our commitment to literacy is a commitment to long-term change. We know meaningful outcomes are built over time: one relationship, one book, one family, and one opportunity at a time.

That is why the hours our Rotary volunteers contributed matter so much. Their service helps us expand what we can provide to our families and moves us closer to our collective outcome: supporting strong Indigenous families and helping young people become cycle breakers who will create change for generations to come.

To our Rotary volunteers: Wopila — thank you. Your time, your hands, and your belief in this work are helping us build something much bigger than book bags. ❤️📚

Want to be part of this work? Whether through volunteering, partnering with us, or making a financial contribution, your support helps us continue investing in strengthening families, and walking alongside our youth for the long haul.

Learn more or support our work at www.friendshesapa.org.

09/08/2026

📚 We’re excited to announce a new partnership with Indigenous engineer and author Anpo Jensen!

Friends of the Children–He Sapa is continuing our commitment to strengthening literacy through a cultural lens with Lakota Storytellers: Honoring Oral Traditions Through Youth Literacy: a project designed to honor the rich tradition of oral storytelling while building literacy skills, confidence, creativity, and cultural connection among our youth.

On September 19, Anpo will join our youth for a special storytelling workshop where they’ll explore how stories can connect art, memory, meaning, and lived experience. This workshop is the beginning of something even bigger: youth will create original artwork and record themselves telling their stories, which will ultimately be brought together into a full-color picture book featuring QR codes so readers can hear each young storyteller in their own voice.

We are incredibly grateful that this work is made possible through an Innovation Grant from Black Hills Reads through United Way of the Black Hills. Their investment allows us to continue creating literacy opportunities where our children can see their voices, identities, culture, and ways of knowing reflected in their learning.

At Friends of the Children–He Sapa, literacy isn't just about learning to read.. it is about helping our Wakȟáŋyeža understand that their stories are worth telling, their voices are worth hearing, and their culture belongs in the books they read. ❤️📖

This special event is being offered specifically to youth currently enrolled in the Friends of the Children–He Sapa program and their caregivers, allowing us to create an intentional learning experience for our program tiospaye.

Pilamaya to Anpo, Black Hills Reads, and United Way of the Black Hills for helping us create spaces where literacy, culture, creativity, and community come together.

09/05/2026

🪶 Creating Regalia. Building Community. Strengthening Families.

Our caregiver regalia-making sessions continue to be about so much more than what we create with our hands. They are spaces for connection, culture, conversation, and community.

As caregivers work together on their regalia, our professional mentors intentionally use this time to strengthen relationships with families, support caregiver well-being, and help build strong social networks. Sharing a meal, learning alongside one another, laughing, visiting, and simply having a space to connect can be powerful. These relationships remind us that supporting a child also means creating opportunities for the adults who care for them to feel connected and supported.

And while our caregivers are creating, our youth are learning, too!

This week, our youth made medicine wheels while listening to Buffalo Fluffalo by Bess Kalb. Through the story and activity, staff helped youth talk about making good decisions, friendship, and something we all experience, what to do when we accidentally make a mistake or hurt someone we care about. 💛

These moments give our youth opportunities to practice empathy, accountability, reflection, and making things right, all while engaging in culturally meaningful, hands-on learning.

At Friends of the Children–He Sapa, our commitment extends beyond the individual child. We believe lasting change happens when we strengthen the whole family unit, creating spaces where youth and caregivers can learn, connect, heal, and grow together.

✨ You can help us continue creating these opportunities for our youth and families. Your support helps provide culturally grounded activities, family engagement opportunities, meals, supplies, and experiences that strengthen the relationships surrounding every child we serve.

Consider making a gift and joining us in this work. Every contribution helps us continue showing up for our youth and families no matter what. 🦬❤️

09/02/2026

Thank you to our partners at the Rotary Club!

The culturally grounded literacy initiative’s long-range goal is to help Native youth graduate from high school or earn a GED and become scholars, leaders and lifelong learners. ⤵️ Find a link to the story in the comments.

08/27/2026

👀 SNEAK PEEK: Our 2026 Impact Report is coming soon!

Four years ago, Friends of the Children–He Sapa began with a promise: One Child. One Friend. 12+ years, no matter what.

Since opening our doors in 2022, that promise has grown into thousands of hours spent alongside youth, relationships built with caregivers and schools, new opportunities for our young people, deeper connections to culture, and a growing community committed to showing our children that they are valued, capable, and never alone.

Our upcoming 2026 Impact Report tells that story. 📖

Inside, we look back at where we started, celebrate the milestones that have shaped our first four years, share stories of our Wakanyeja and their Relatives, and highlight the ways culture, literacy, family, and long-term professional mentorship are coming together in He Sapa.

But this report isn't simply about numbers.

It's about showing up.

It's about a young person discovering something they love.
It's about finding confidence in culture and identity.
It's about caregivers and children learning together.
It's about relationships built with consistency, trust, and love.
And it's about keeping a promise year after year.

We can't wait to share the full report with you.

For now, here's a little sneak peek at the story we've been building together. 👀💙🧡

08/20/2026

On behalf of the Board of Directors, it is with great pride that we announce the appointment of Tyresha Grey Horse as Executive Director of Friends of the Children–He Sapa

Since joining our organization as Program Director in March 2025, Tyresha has demonstrated a strong record of leadership, growth, and advancement. She has led with wisdom, humility, and a deep commitment to our youth and families while strengthening our programming, supporting our professional mentors, and helping guide our organization through an important period of growth and transition.

Since our founding in 2022, Friends of the Children–He Sapa has made a promise to walk alongside our children and families through long-term professional mentoring relationships—12+ years, no matter what. As Tyresha steps into this role, that promise remains unwavering.

This next chapter is possible because of the families who have trusted us, the donors and partners who have invested in this work, our dedicated staff and professional mentors, and a community that continues to believe in our children.

Pilamayaye—thank you for believing in this work and for continuing to walk alongside us.

Our first four years have built a strong foundation, but our story is only beginning!

The Board looks forward to partnering with Tyresha, our staff, our families, and our community as Friends of the Children–He Sapa moves into this next chapter.

Please join me in congratulating Tyresha Grey Horse, Executive Director of Friends of the Children–He Sapa!!

With gratitude and hope,
Jade Herman, Ed.D.
Board Chair
Friends of the Children–He Sapa