The wild horse butte community development corporation (whbcdc) proposes to implement the lakota intern project (LIP)

The U.S. Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) awarded a 3-year, $500,000 Project Grant under the VOCA Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside Program (CFDA 16.841) to the Wild Horse Butte Community Development Corporation (WHBCDC), a minority-owned non-profit organization in South Dakota. The grant will fund WHBCDC's Lakota Intern Project, which aims to develop a workforce to serve victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and adjacent counties. Over 18 months, the project will recruit and train at least six interns from local tribal colleges and the community to provide services at the Sacred Shawl Society Women's Shelter, potentially expanding to other victim service organizations in the area.

The purpose of this project is to develop and build a workforce to serve the victims of the whbcdc service area, which includes the pine ridge indian reservation and two adjacent counties, bennett and jackson, in south dakota. At least six interns (two cohorts of three interns each) will be recruited from surrounding tribal colleges and among community members in the service area. The interns will receive training on various victimization and professional skills-related topics and will serve in internship positions for 18 months. Internship placement will be at the sacred shawl society womens shelter, which serves lakota victims of domestic violence and sexual assault living on or near the pine ridge reservation. Internship sites could potentially be expanded to other organizations serving crime victims in the area, but those sites are to be determined.