On December 18, 2015, Teach for America, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe announced an agreement to recruit tribal members to teach at reservation schools. The hope is that more tribal college graduates will be encouraged to become teachers.
The Jamestown Sun reported that Teach for America would work with Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, North Dakota. Graduates would spend a minimum of two years teaching in South Dakota reservation schools.
Teach for America program director Jim Curran, said “They hope to have half its South Dakota teaching corps made up of Native Americans in 5 years.” He said, "Having a teacher with the same racial identity can add a different type of affirmation and inspiration for kids."
Teach for America has similar partnerships with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Lydia Yellow Hawk joined the program in Rosebud in 2019 as a Middle School Teacher. She recalled her experience that led her to teaching, “When I was in middle school, Sage Fast Dog was our Lakota language teacher and led our drum group. The one thing that my Lakota teachers always did with students is they extended that relationship as a relative. I always felt comfortable in their classroom because I viewed them as aunties and uncles. Extending that relationship automatically made me feel comfortable with who I am, where I was, and what I wanted to be.
Teach For America is a nationwide organization with the goal to “find, develop, and support equity-oriented leaders so they can transform education and expand opportunity with children, starting in the classroom. TFA set a new 10-year goal in 2020 to have twice as many children in communities where they work to reach key educational milestones and be on a path to economic mobility and have a future filled with possibility.
Production help is provided by Doctor Brad Tennant, Professor of History at Dakota Wesleyan University.