The GOLD Standard

– Fort Pierre’s Community & Youth Involved Center is home to the Stanley County GOLD out-of-school time program that serves 75 students year-round. GOLD is a licensed childcare program for youth ages 5-11. The GOLD Leaders program for youth ages 11-14 provides opportunity for community service, personal development and career education.

In March 2020, the Stanley County GOLD program shut its doors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and didn’t reopen until June 2020 with a socially distanced, COVID-responsible approach. To address CDC guidelines, they included Zoom meet-ups, an Artist in the Community program modified for Zoom delivery and small group outdoor programs. This approach necessitated increased employee time and an increase in staff. These extra costs resulted in a large financial burden.

The South Dakota Community Foundation (SDCF) provided a $20,000 South Dakota Fund grant to Community & Youth Involved, Inc. This grant provided support to help address the financial shortage created from the pandemic.

“COVID hit the GOLD program pretty hard”, declared Kristie Maher, Stanley County GOLD site coordinator. “The Community & Youth Involved Center is grateful to the South Dakota Community Foundation for funding that will allow us to provide activities to increase the academic achievement and physical, social and emotional wellness of our GOLD kids”.

“Having reliable, safe and accessible childcare and after-school programs is a necessity for today’s workforce”, said Ginger Niemann, Senior Program Officer, SDCF. “These services are vital and assure local economies can get back on track”.

To learn more about funding opportunities offered by the SDCF, please visit our website at https://www.sdcommunityfoundation.org/

About the SDCF

SDCF is a public non-profit organization established in 1987. SDCF, with offices in Pierre, Rapid City, Sioux Falls and Aberdeen administers over 1050 funds benefiting hundreds of charitable organizations annually. The Foundation distributed nearly $18 million in grants in 2020 which made a tremendous difference in communities statewide. This would not have been possible without the generosity of our donors. If you have a specific cause you would like to support or would prefer to give for the general good of our state, please visit https://sdcommunityfoundation.org/giving to learn more or call 1-800-888-1842.