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Siċaŋġu Co
Siċaŋġu Co, the economic development engine of the Siċaŋġu Lak̇ota nation, seeks to improve their tribal relatives' wellbeing through the 7Gen Vision, embracing ancestral wisdom to create a just, abundant and prosperous world for future generations.
Organisational purpose and mission statement
Siċaŋġu Co’s is guided and inspired by the tribe’s 7Gen Vision, where the impact of decisions must be considered seven generations into the future to help create the type of world the tribe would like to see its descendants living in 175 years from now. Its actions are guided by the question: how do we live today to create a healthy, just, abundant world for our grandchildren?
With a deep understanding of the profound challenges faced by its people, Siċaŋġu Co is grounded in ancestral and cultural wisdom of the Siċaŋġu Oyate. They use a holistic and systems-level approach to achieve Wicozani, or “the good way of life”, and create holistic health, economic self-sufficiency, cultural revitalisation, sustainable housing, food sovereignty, climate resilience and shared, lasting prosperity.
Siċaŋġu Co draws strength from the timeless words of their ancestors: “Nake Nula Wauŋ” – I am always prepared, anytime, anywhere, for anything.
Challenge faced by organisation
The Siċaŋġu Lak̇ota nation is one of the poorest communities in the United States, facing a wide range of poverty-related development challenges such as:
Their economy is heavily reliant on federal funding and lacks a strong or diversified private sector. Further, there is no prioritised economic development plan to leverage the tribe’s resources and competitive advantages to address these issues. Without a strong intervention, the tribe faces the real risk of descending further into poverty.
How we helped
Built support around a clear vision with a shared view of “What Good Looks Like” and created alignment on where the tribe should focus its efforts
Prioritised sectors with the most potential by leveraging resources and competitive advantages in renewable power, construction and agriculture
Defined what needs to happen to eliminate barriers hindering economic growth, including removing regulatory and governance constraints and building capability through partnerships and internal skills development programs
Helped develop a roadmap for implementation that identifies funding requirements and defines specific strategies, needed resources and timelines
Worked with tribal members to identified potential sources of equity funding
Impact achieved
Delivered a 10-year economic development roadmap (EDR) focused on developing renewable energy, agriculture and construction that will deploy a total project value of $0.5bn across four strategies, $210m of which will be equity funded and the remainder will be debt.
If successfully implemented, the roadmap has the potential to:
Double the economic growth rate from 2% to 4%
Add over $1bn to tribal income over the next decade
Create 3,000+ new jobs (an 80% increase over the existing baseline)
Increase economic diversification and create economic resilience
Developed a partnership and capability development plan to support the tribe in successfully implementing the EDR
To learn more or to contribute to this great organisation, please visit https://www.sicangu.co/
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