Gina Good Crow
Hello, my name is Gina Good Crow and I greet everyone with a warm-handshake from my heart. I am from the Knife Chief (Mila Yatapika) Community of the Porcupine District. My parents are Philip Good Crow and Violette Titus-Good Crow. My maternal grandparents are Julius Titus and Caroline Good Shield and my paternal grandparents are Stephen and Ella (Bush) Good Crow. I have two sons, Seneca Chase (5) and Sequoia Chant (3) Valandra.
I have been employed with the Oglala Oyate Woitancan Empowerment Zone for 4 years. Currently I am the Controller, handling the finances and maintaining the budgets. I also work closely with USDA, our source Grantor to receive funding that assists our reservation and the people. It feels good to be part of an organization that benefits the Lakota Oyate.
I recently joined the Lakota Funds IDA Program with plans to purchase my first home. I wished I had joined earlier because they offer so much and provide opportunities for people, especially for a single mother like I. I have lived off the reservation and attended college for a number of years in Omaha, Nebraska but returned home upon the arrival of my first son. My family has always persuaded that education would be vital in my life, but they also stated that when I graduated to just stay out there and live my life in a good way because there is nothing here on the reservation for me. Well I tried that way but my heart has always been here close to family and the Lakota way of life.
I always thought and wanted to be a positive part of our people to help them in anyway so that we could make the reservation a better place for the children, so I moved back. When I came home, of course housing was difficult to find. I still am currently living with my parents, saving what I can to purchase a new home. I did apply for housing in 2003 but have never heard anything back to this date. I was excited when the OST Housing Authority had the Ellsworth houses available for a down payment of $2500.00 and a low mortgage; it was my opportunity for homeownership and quickly got the down payment with the vision of a house so close I could grab it. It was my opportunity to own a house as a “fixer-upper” and take pride in doing the little stuff for the house to make it a home. That quickly fell through within the housing organization, so I began wondering what I could do to purchase a home for my children and I. I began slowly saving what I could, and one day turned the station to KILI Radio and heard David White Bull talk about the IDA Program and how it could help a person like me save. I quickly e-mailed David and asked what I needed to do, what the program was about and when I could start. It was simple, and within a couple weeks I opened my account and began saving. When I joined I found out that they offered classes to help empower me to know what to look for in a new home. I recently attended the HomeBuyers Training course, which gave me knowledge on how to purchase a new home, closing costs and all the little steps needed to complete a purchase. They offered advice to help get my Credit Score in good standing so I would have a better chance to get better rates when I do purchase a house. I hope to use the money saved as a down payment and it feels awesome to know that the Lakota Funds is backing my every step because it is a scary process not knowing where to start. I am currently looking at what type of house I want, and by next Spring I hope to have my own home for my children and me- a place they can grow up in and call their own.
Being a home owner is a dream of almost every person, and has always been a dream of mine to take pride in where I live; to be able to run through my own house singing and dancing at the top my of lungs alongside my sons-without getting “the look” from my mother who we live with telling me to quiet down and to plant flowers and trees and other pretty things around my own home, then build a “boys only club-house” for my sons. Unfortunately our reservation lacks in the resources, making the journey a little harder. I figure these bumps in the road that we have to endure will make me an even stronger person and will realize it the day I am standing on my own patio just before sunrise, listening to the wildlife awake. The IDA program is giving me the opportunity to match every dollar I save so in the end I will have my own home, on the land my family has lived for generations, and that is important to me; that my children will know who they are, where they come from and have a stable home to grow and prosper in.
Thank-you,
Gina Good Crow