Prior Lake, Minnesota - The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community announces a grant for $1 million for fiscal year 2008 to the Yankton Sioux Tribe of Marty, South Dakota, for two community centers.

Three hundred thousand dollars of the grant will be used to complete the center at Marty. Previous grants of $2 million over fiscal years 2006 and 2007 helped fund that community center as well. The remaining $700,000 will allow for construction to begin on a community center at Lake Andes.

The community center in Marty, South Dakota, is near tribal headquarters. Marty is a small village miles from the nearest town. There are few resources for the 302 youth who call Marty home. Groundbreaking for the new community center was held on July 26, 2006. The two-level building houses an activity hall for wakes, ceremonies, meetings, and community sporting activities, an indoor basketball court with bleachers, an indoor walking and jogging track, locker rooms, restrooms, a weight and exercise room, an office, and a kitchen. Other major areas are for tribal elders and a community shelter for families at risk. The community center also houses a local Boys & Girls Club.

The new community center at Lake Andes will be similar in form and function to the one in Lake Andes.

In previous years the SMSC made the following donations to the Yankton Sioux Tribe: $1 million for economic development and improvements at the Fort Randall Casino; $150,000 for energy assistance for families; $100,000 for a youth education and activities program through the Yankton Sioux Housing Authority; $100,000 for a diabetes integrated prevention and management program; $100,000 for a tribal college library; and $150,000 to fund equipment and operation of the Wagner Dialysis Unit housed at the Indian Health Service Clinic.

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