Friends of the Children - He Sapa

Our mission at Friends of the Children–He Sapa (Friends–He Sapa) is to impact generational change through youth relationships with professional mentors—for 12+ years, no matter what. We intentionally build relationships with children and families facing the greatest obstacles to belonging and well-being, using our long-term mentorship model together with the cultural grounding of the Lakota culture to help children and families build a path to long-term stability and community.

Friends–He Sapa launched in summer 2022 as an independent nonprofit that is the first Indigenous-led, culturally specific location of the national Friends of the Children network. Our model has six distinguishing elements:

1. We intentionally serve children facing the greatest risk factors. 
2. We hire full-time, highly trained professional mentors (who we call “Relatives”) with skills and knowledge to work with children and families with histories of personal and cultural trauma. Friends spend 3 to 4 hours per week with each child, including 2 hours in school. 
3. We enroll children ages 4 to 6 and commit to them through high school graduation. 
4. We are involved in all facets of a child’s life (school, home, and community) and are grounded in Lakota culture to provide holistic, wrap-around services. 
5. Relatives develop trusting relationships with caregivers and elders, partnering to promote the child’s learning and development. 
6. We combine our network’s 30 years of proven results with our leadership’s deep attachment to Lakota traditions and their expertise in educating and serving Indigenous youth and families.