Šiná Okígwa (Paints Robe) provides cultural education, wellness, mental health, and land-based programming to Lakota tribal communities across South Dakota. Built by relatives, for relatives.
We are a South Dakota nonprofit corporation founded in 2024, but the work we do is generations old. Our co-Executive Directors have led cultural programming in Rapid City and on the reservation for more than a decade — horse camps, ribbon skirt nights, ceremony, youth mentorship — long before the paperwork made it official.
What's new is the container: a Lakota-governed nonprofit organized to carry this work forward sustainably, transparently, and on our own terms. We do not assimilate into philanthropic norms that were not built for us. We bring our own.
Honoring all relations — human, animal, land, ancestor.
Courage to endure, to heal, to return to what is true.
Truth-telling in our work, our governance, our relationships.
Giving without expectation. The first virtue, taught first.
A multi-day youth camp at Lakota Homes. Horse healing, hand games, shared meals, and traditional Lakota singing instruction for koskalaka — young men learning to carry the songs, ride, and grow into their place among the people.
Koskalaka learn the songs at the drum — sitting with singers who carry them, learning by ear and by repetition the way it has always been taught.
The young men's coming-of-age hunt. A first harvest, an offering, and the teachings that come with taking a life to feed the people.
The sacred ceremony marking a young woman's passage. Held with relatives, elders, and the community standing witness.
The Creator's game. Youth learn stick handling, team play, and the older meanings that sit underneath the sport.
Weekly programming at the Oyate Center. Ribbon skirts, sweat dresses, beadwork, ledger art, moccasin making, and wičáglata singing for girls. Consistency is the point.
Children on horseback. Families gathered at the fire. Women laughing over beadwork. This is what showing up looks like.
All photographs are from our own programming, used with the consent of the families and participants pictured.
Every member of our board is an enrolled tribal citizen with deep roots in the communities we serve. We are not advised by Indigenous people — we are governed by them.
Lakota broadcaster and cultural leader. Longtime advocate for Indigenous community media and emergency preparedness across Pine Ridge and beyond.
Department Chair and Field Coordinator for Social Work at Oglala Lakota College. Born and raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Oglala Lakota. Founder of the Horse Camp and Cultural Advisor for the Great Plains Tribal Leaders Health Board.
Oglala Lakota. Executive Director of the Medicine Wheel Ride, raising awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
Lakota community organizer. Years of experience supporting families and cultural events in Rapid City.
Board photographs coming soon.
We operate lean. Every dollar funds horses, fuel, tipi canvas, drum-making supplies, food for camp, beads for skirts, and stipends for the elders and culture keepers who teach.
Šiná Okígwa (Paints Robe) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Your donation is tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law. A receipt will be emailed for your records. Other ways to give: mail a check, donate in-kind (tack, regalia materials, food), or volunteer your time.
2911 Olive Grove Court
Rapid City, SD 57703
info@sinaokigwa.org
sinaokigwa.org
For media inquiries, grant partnerships, or to volunteer with a program — please use the form. We respond within five business days.