One thousand miles, three days.

Citi Community Development's Ruth Christopherson, George Wright and Ashley Thompson set out recently on a road trip to visit our non-profit partners and grant recipients across South Dakota. The journey covered 1,000 miles in three days. Here is Part One of their story:

Our journey started early on this bright morning and our first stop was in Fort Thompson. There we visited our partners at The Harvest Initiative, a project organized in 2008 to create and facilitate economic opportunity on the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation. Harvest Initiative is two years old and Citi has been working with them from the beginning to support Native American small businesses.

We met Sherwood Hawk, the first grant recipient and proud owner of Hawk Tire Service. He truly captures the spirit of entrepreneurship in Indian country, and quickly demonstrated his sharp wit and keen sense of business when he charged us a $50 photograph fee. (He was kidding!)

Next we set course for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 185 miles to the Southwest. It was a three-hour drive through the Badlands - an intriguing part of the state named for its rolling, barren hills marked by colorful rock formations. Pine Ridge is the largest reservation in the state - population 42,000+ - but also one of the most disadvantaged.

We met with the leadership of Lakota Funds, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in the town of Kyle, and learned about the rich history of the Lakota tribes and the wonderful work that Lakota Funds is doing to bring economic empowerment to the area. Citi has partnered with Lakota Funds for many years. Currently, we are helping the organization prepare its Youth Financial Education project. The initiative is timed to launch at the same time as Lakota Funds' own credit union - the first and only bank on the entire reservation!