Teach For America South Dakota works shoulder-to-shoulder with the communities we serve, striving toward self-determination and identity-rooted pride for all Native students living on reservations in South Dakota.
South Dakota corps members teach in schools located in the Sicangu Lakota and Oglala Lakota Nations, which are located across the south central and southwest parts of the state, respectively. Most live in close proximity to the schools in which they teach, almost always on the reservations themselves, and become active members of their communities.
Our region is one of striking physical beauty, steeped in a complex history that has shaped the lives of the Indigenous Lakota people. Todd and Oglala Lakota Counties are situated at the foot of the scenic Black Hills, or Paha Sapa, which hold tremendous spiritual significance for the Lakota people and are viewed as the heart and soul of their culture and history. Bordering our communities, the rugged beauty of the eroding formations of the Badlands hides fossils, deer, prairie dogs, bighorn sheep, black-footed ferrets, bison, and more.