Gliun (Rapid City, South Dakota)

Throughout 2021, NDN Holdings partnered with our Racial Equity Team to create the communityGliúŋ,  “to return for the good”, formally known as Camp Mniluzhana, to support our unhoused relatives. After spending several months visiting numerous Indigenous communities across Turtle Island who have begun and/or completed the process of developing their own tiny home communities, the Racial Equity team determined that Gliúŋ would represent a community that moved beyond transitional housing, fostering a true sense of belonging and safety to individuals choosing to live there.

We partnered with the Seattle-based organizations Block Project and Facing Homelessness to acquire tiny homes, and will be using our own creative systems to build out a 24-home community. In addition to providing housing, we will be starting a workforce development society. The Gliúŋ Workforce Society will help build the tiny homes and provide training and jobs for the local community. Residents will also be encouraged to participate in the tiny home building and greater workforce society to help build community and develop job skills, however this is not an official requirement.

Additional plans for the development of Gliúŋ include an outreach center program that incorporates spaces for a kitchen, lounge, gathering hall, wash facilities and a sweat lodge. Emergency housing will also be available for families, as well as self-determination services, which includes counseling and assistance with locating and accessing community resources. Residents will also have the opportunity to support in areas such as maintenance, gardening, kitchen assistance and repair and installation of tiny home features. 

Influenced by survey data we collected from Camp participants, one key goal of our vision is to pivot from the social services lens and move into self- determination while providing an opportunity to create generational wealth and equity building. An important aspect of this vision also includes shifting the narrative on houselessness within our Rapid City community.