The Otter Tail Corporation Foundation awarded $3,200 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch to complete safety upgrades on its Fargo campus.
Children at the Ranch often come from unstable, even harmful environments, so one of the first priorities is to meet their basic needs for safety, security, and belonging. Children cannot heal if their needs are not met at this basic level. The safety of clients and staff is a top priority at the Ranch. Physical environments are as much a part of client healing as the medical care, education, and treatment they receive.
The grant from the Otter Tail Corporation Foundation will help create a safer living environment for the at-risk children served by Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch as they heal from the effects of trauma.
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch is a Christ-centered residential treatment and education center for children and their families. The Ranch helps the most troubled, complex, and amazing kids by providing best-in-class psychiatric therapy and trauma-informed care, where staff 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.
The mission of the Otter Tail Corporation Foundation is to connect with their communities to support young minds, invest in the current and future workforce, create a vibrant culture and vital communities, improve health and human services, and protect natural resources. They focus resources on the communities where they work and live. Funds are allocated for innovative projects and programs that create measurable impacts in the areas of education; health and human services; community, civic, and cultural development; and the environment.