- VIRTUAL BUSINESS MEETING VIA ZOOM : FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8
- 11AM CT / 10AM MT – 5PM CT / 4PM MT
- SAT OCT 9 : IN PERSON & LIVESTREAMED FARM TOUR(S)
- VIRTUAL BREAKOUT SESSIONS VIA ZOOM
- CELEBRATION HOG ROAST @ FRUIT OF THE COOP IN BRANDON
This year’s Annual Meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. Additional events around the annual meeting will take place in a combination of in person and virtual settings. While we would love to be with you all again, we realize that not all members are comfortable attending in person gatherings. And for those members we will offer options to participate virtually as much as possible.
IT’S TIME TO CHOOSE OUR MEMBER OF THE YEAR! AND WHAT A YEAR IT HAS BEEN! :O
Show your appreciation for the DRA member you think MOST deserves some extra love and adulation this year. You know the one! Nominate your fellow members in recognition of their hard work, commitment and dedication to build the organization and uphold the values and vision on which DRA was founded.
Can’t choose just one? Use the form and submit as many nominations as you like!
Nominations are due by end of day on Friday, September 24.
SUBMIT NEW & UPDATED RESOLUTIONS!
During the Business Meeting DRA members will have an opportunity to vote on and pass new resolutions or updates to current resolutions. Making Resolutions is a way for DRA to articulate values, and going through a process to confirm and publicly share them is an extremely helpful framing exercise that can guide our actions as an organization and help us and others assess where we are making progress and where where we need to focus more energy.
- PLEASE SUBMIT ANY NEW OR UPDATED RESOLUTIONS TO FRANK JAMES, AT FEJAMES@DAKOTARURAL.ORG.
- You can view our current and past resolutions HERE.
Potential resolutions are due by end of day on Friday, September 24, so that we have time to include them in the Annual Meeting Packet.
Save the Date: Powertech Uranium Hearing October 6th in Pierre
On October 6th, the State Water Management Board (WMB) will consider Powertech USA’s motion to resume their water permit & ground water discharge permitting processes for their proposed In Situ Leach uranium mine in Custer and Fall River Counties.
Those processes were put on hold in 2013 so that Powertech could pursue their federal permits–and those permits are still not finalized. While remote participation will be an option during this hearing, DRA and allies will also be making an effort (following COVID safety protocols) to fill the hearing room in Pierre to demonstrate strong public opposition to allowing this process to move forward. You do not have to be an intervenor to attend–ALL concerned citizens should plan to make their position known!
More details will be sent via membership-wide email soon!
In the meantime, if you are on the intervenor list, PLEASE check that your contact information is up to date here:
If your contact info needs to be corrected, you MUST send corrections no later than 5pm CT on September 13th by writing: Ron Duvall Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources Joe Foss Building 523 E. Capitol Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
Failure to provide updates to your contact information will result in your removal from the parties of record list.
If your contact information is accurate, no action is needed.
SoDak Grown Punch Cards Go Digital
THIS SUMMER, WE ARE CHALLENGING YOU TO EAT MORE LOCAL FOODS!
- Earn a punch for each local food item in your shopping basket or for each crop or item harvested from your garden!
- Keep track and once you’ve bought or harvested twelve local foods, fill out this digital punch card form and get entered for the monthly drawing.
The SoDak Grown punch card program runs June through September to highlight South Dakota’s growing season. You may fill out this form multiple times per month and be entered to win more than once!
We’ll be giving away 4 $50 gift cards each month. We hope this encourages you to ask for more local foods in your community and to help support SoDak Grown agriculture in a bigger way. Participate to grow South Dakota’s local food economy! Visit facebook.com/SoDakGrown for details.
Recently, the SD Department of Education (DOE) released their version of the new Social Studies standards. These changes continue our state’s history of trying to erase Indigenous people and their ongoing relationship with this land. The DOE’s edited version drastically changes the proposed curriculum without consent from the working group tasked with making recommendations and updates to the curriculum.
We are calling on all of our members, our allies, and our community to speak out against this attack on our community members, our shared history, and our future. INDIVIDUALS CAN VIEW PROPOSED REVISIONS AND SUBMIT PUBLIC COMMENTS VIA THE FOLLOWING LINKS:
AND also attend the four public hearings between now and 2022 before the Board of Education Standards considers the draft standards for approval in spring 2022. The first of these hearings is set for Sept. 20 in Aberdeen, followed by meetings in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City.
As COVID infections spread Wotakuye Mutual Aid Society is seeking funds to continue feeding families in the Rapid City area. Their goal is to raise $10,000 to continue this important work. Per their fundraising website:
+++We have reopened our fundraising effort here, due to urgent demand as COVID-19 surges in August 2021 in Rapid City SD. Rooted in our Lakota values and led by women & 2spirit people, this effort coordinates COVID-19 relief for families and individuals in the Mni Luzahan. We started cooking for 16 people and 3 households on May 10, 2020 and operated every single day through March 13, 2021, cooking and delivering over 6,000 meals as well as assembling & delivering over 350 family aid packages of traditional medicines, hygiene and cleaning supplies. We have also distributed 17,000+ cloth, surgical disposable & kn95 masks to the Lakota families and community in Rapid City for prevention. We are a grassroots community response to the actual unmet needs of the people facing this pandemic in a state irresponsibly responding to the devastating impact of this pandemic. We hope you will donate and spread the word: WE NEED YOUR HELP AGAIN! Wopila~+++
HELP END GERRYMANDERING IN SD : CIRCULATE A PETITION IN YOUR COMMUNITY
The League of Women voters is spearheading an initiated Constitutional amendment to create an INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE, which would be composed of 3 Democrats, 3 Republicans, and 3 Independent and third party voters, who would have the task of creating NEUTRAL DISTRICTS.
This petition drive needs YOUR help collecting signatures ahead of the November deadline. All signatures must be collected by the first week in November.
We have a chance to get it on the ballot, but definitely need to step up our game, if that is to happen.
+++For folks who are circulating the petitions in the Rapid City area, DRA member Jay Davis has volunteered his services to notarize them, and get them to Sioux Falls.
You can contact the DRA West office, and we’ll connect you with Jay. 605-697-5204 x260 -OR- email rebeccat@dakotarural.org OR jordan@dakotarural.org
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