The Tipi Raisers invites you to join us in thinking big! For over a year we have been hard at work with a top-tier team of investment specialists and are excited to launch this pioneering approach to wealth management over the next ten years. By engaging this strategy, you'll have the peace of mind that comes from both growing your investments while contributing to transformative solutions aimed at ending generations of poverty, addiction, violence, and marginalization on the reservations we support! In collaboration with our tribal partners we have outlined seven potential projects that each have the potential to create culturally meaningful, sustainable industries in the communities we serve. Vision 2035 is our shared hope for the ripple effect of impact that each project has the potential to create!
Reservation Home Construction
Project Introduction and Background
Reservation communities are in deep need of quality, affordable homes. The Oglala Sioux Housing Authority has estimated that there are 1,100 homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation, while a total of 4,400 are needed to adequately house all tribal members living there. Many of the existing homes on the reservation are in disre-pair, as is the case in other tribal communities across the country. Often, the homes are crowded, with many inhabited by 10 or more people at a time. Almost since its inception, The Tipi Raisers has worked with tribal members to repair reservation homes. Through volunteer labor, tribal contract work, and donor support, the nonprofit has conducted everything from minor plumbing repairs to full-scale home construction across three reservations. In 2024, a tiny home was built for a Diné elder by a crew of Tipi Raisers volunteers. The home was built in such a way that additional rooms can be added as needed and desired - a culturally-responsive feature in tribal com-munities where families often live intergenerationally, and in which family members come and go over the months and years. With such experience, our aim is to now expand home construction efforts into a full-scale business which not only provides needed housing for tribal members, but which also offers sustainable income for Indigenous employees and creates value for stakeholders.
The Vision:
The aim of the Tipi Raisers’ Reservation Home Construction Program is to: + Construct and sell culturally-appropriate, transportable and expandable tiny homes to tribes and tribal members + Combat housing inequities and provide safe, durable, comfortable shelter to elders, families and individuals + Employ and empower tribal members to gain skills and consistent income through construction, business, and management experience
A crew of tribal members will: + Construct tiny homes on site at our Hub in Colorado and according to high-quality, professionally-sourced blueprints + Transport the homes to reservations + Work with tribal officials, grantors, and individual homebuyers to sell the homes at a fair price + Install the homes on the land of each new homeowner and add rooms as needed, pending additional purchase by tribes and/or homeowners
This program will not only generate reliable income and skills training for tribal employees, but also has the potential to transform housing realities for families who have faced housing inequity for far too long. With innovative and durable designs that respond to cultural and social needs and a Native-led construction team working directly with tribal officials, the Tipi Raisers’ Reservation Home Construction Program can be both a profitable business and an exciting solution to the current housing crisis.
Path to Sustainability:
Several highly-skilled architects within the Tipi Raisers community have offered to draw blueprints for tiny homes that will be built by a crew of tribal members. The blueprints will incorporate elements that respond to cultural needs around intergenerational living, transient accommodation, and modifiable floorplan expansions. Ample space and tools for the construction of these homes are available on site at The Tipi Raisers Hub in Lafayette, CO.
Several tribal members with home-construction experience work with The Tipi Raisers as contract employees already, and are prepared to take on the role of team members within the Reservation Home Construction Program. Once they have built and sold their first tiny home to the tribe and/or homeowners on the reservation, the team will begin scaling up operations to construct more homes for transport and sale.
While the majority of the homes produced will be sold to tribes and/or tribal members to combat the housing crisis on reservations, additional tiny homes can be sold to non-tribal buyers as a means of generating income for the program and value for stakeholders. Non-tribal home buyers will be energized to purchase tiny homes from the program as a means of supporting an Indigenous-run enterprise seeking to address housing inequities - all while obtaining their own high-quality tiny home. Given the proper investment needed to fund wages for tribal employees, trans-port and material costs, the program can quickly begin producing homes for purchase and transforming the housing landscape for reservation communities.
"For the sake of future generations, we must act now—working alongside our tribal families and community to provide what the U.S. government and others have not!" - Dave Ventimiglia | Executive Director
To learn more call Dave at 720-412-3335 or email us!
