On the road with Clues To Community Survival
in Moody County, South Dakota

Gordon Goodwin leads a training session in Louisiana, for Leadership Cenla, a program of the Rapides Foundation for community leaders in central Louisiana.

Over the past few months, more than 200 community residents and leaders participated in Clues to Rural Community Survival workshops. Heartland Center trainers have taken this popular program into the mountains and onto the plains. Gordon Goodwin worked with community leaders in the Plateau Valley of Colorado, and with the Utah City Managers Association. Milan Wall presented a Clues workshop for the people of Evanston, Wyoming, and nearly 100 people in Moody County, South Dakota, held their event at the community center in Flandreau.

The town is the county seat and tribal headquarters of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Indian Reservation. Approximately 12% of the county’s residents are tribal members. This swatch of plains in southeastern South Dakota enjoys a rich heritage that meshes Native and European cultures. One of the last federal Indian Schools still operates here, serving native students from across the nation. The state’s second oldest theatre and hotel are still in business, and the Royal River Casino is expanding. The gravesite of Santee Sioux patriarch, Chief Little Crow, is located here. So is the monument to Mrs. Joseph Thatcher, a captive of the Spirit Lake Massacre, who was drowned in the Big Sioux River.

Development specialist Reggi Carlson teamed up with Valerie Shangreaux, a Heartland Center associate who has directed numerous educational programs on behalf of Native American families in several states. Together they presented Clues to Rural Community Survival using examples of social capacity and success stories that are culturally relevant and respectful of European and Native communities and values.

The workshop was held on a Thursday evening in April. According to an article in the Moody County Enterprise, “Participants represented a wide cross section of citizens, from young to old, a variety of communities, city and rural, business and professional, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, law enforcement and Flandreau public and Flandreau Indian schools.”

Groups of people at 16 tables explored the Six Myths about the Future of Small Towns, they studied the success story of a diverse rural community, and then worked together as teams to identify their own community’s strengths and weaknesses. By the conclusion of the five-hour workshop, the top four strengths were identified as: a strong belief in and support of education, the evidence of community pride, a problem-solving approach to health care and a sound and well-maintained infrastructure.

Participants represented a wide cross section of citizens, from young to old, a variety of communities, city and rural, business and professional, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, law enforcement and Flandreau public and Flandreau Indian schools.

The weaknesses identified within Moody County were the need to develop a realistic appraisal of future opportunities, a deliberate transition of power to a younger generation of leaders, and a cooperative community spirit.

As a result of the 20 Clues Workshop, an organizing task force is now forming committees to work on strategies that build on strengths and minimize weaknesses, as well as address potential opportunities and threats within the community.

This successful community training event was sponsored by the Moody County Commission and the Flandreau Development Corporation, and was made possible with additional funding by a grant from Visions TECWEB. The sponsors did an exceptional job at recruiting participants, and used several promotional materials provided by the Heartland Center. If you are interested in bringing a 20 Clues workshop to your community, call Reggi Carlson at the Heartland Center for assistance at 800-927-1115 or email info@heartlandcenter.info.