St. Joseph’s Community Health Foundation (SJCHF) distributed $20,670 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch to create outdoor learning areas at Dakota Memorial School, Minot—the on-campus school of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. Through the SJCHF’s Twice Blessed program we were able to raise $16,170 in addition to the SJCHF match grant of $4,500 to underwrite the entire project.
The outdoor learning spaces will provide children and teachers at Dakota Memorial School with additional places to engage outside of the typical education classroom. The space will also provide safe, non-threatening environments for staff to build therapeutic rapport with students. Children who come to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch are dealing with mental health and behavioral challenges, trauma, abuse, and/or neglect. The grant and donations will make it possible to further children’s education at Dakota Memorial School in the outdoors, a unique and therapeutic environment.
DMS students are primarily from Minot and the surrounding communities. The benefits of this project go beyond the doors of Dakota Memorial School, impacting the lives of everyone involved with the children we serve. Schools, families, neighbors, and friends all benefit when a child with complex needs gets help. In addition to providing DMS students with a quality education, school staff provide valuable tools and information to school districts and parents as children transition back to their home schools.
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch is a Christ-centered residential treatment and educational center for children and their families. We help the most troubled, complicated, and amazing kids by providing best-in-class psychiatric therapy and trauma-informed care, where we look kids in the eye, walk with them, and help them become their best selves. In addition to Residential Treatment Facilities in Fargo, Bismarck, and Minot, the Ranch provides Outpatient Psychiatric and Psychological Services, and Spiritual Life Programs. Our on-campus school, Dakota Memorial School (DMS), provides a personalized education for kids who have psychiatric, behavioral, and trauma issues.
The mission of St. Joseph’s Community Health Foundation is to promote healthy and sustainable communities by providing financial gifts, strengthening relationships, and supporting local initiatives that impact the mental, physical, and spiritual well-being of residents in Northwest-Northcentral North Dakota.