Funding Proposal for KIYA.LIFE Housing & Training Initiative

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The KIYA.LIFE Housing and Training Initiative responds to these overlapping needs by connecting affordable shelter, practical skills training, mentorship, and community responsibility. By teaching participants to build small cabins while helping one another, the project addresses immediate housing instability and creates a pathway toward employment, confidence, and long-term self-sufficiency. In a community where housing, youth opportunity, and access to resources are deeply connected, this pilot offers a practical, culturally responsive model that can grow over time. 

The initiative is designed as a practical cycle that turns donated support into housing, training, shared responsibility, and future earning potential. 

In addition to grant funding and KIYA.LIFE oversight, participants will bring meaningful sweat equity to the project through their own labor, time, commitment, and community service to one another. 

• Participant Labor: Each participant will contribute hands-on work in milling, hauling, framing, roofing, insulation, finish work, cleanup, and basic site preparation. 

• Time and Reliability: Participants will commit to showing up consistently, following safety expectations, learning new skills, and completing assigned tasks through each phase of construction. 

• Peer Support: Participants will help one another build cabins, creating a cycle in which each person receives help and then contributes labor to the next participant’s home. 

• Learning and Accountability: Participants will bring a willingness to learn, accept mentorship, maintain tools and materials responsibly, and take pride in producing safe, durable work. 

• Long-Term Contribution: Through contract-for-deed repayment and unpaid assistance to future participants after the pilot phase, participants will help recycle resources back into the program so additional families can benefit. 

• Pay It Forward: Participant 1 begins by helping complete the Kiya.life cabin already in progress. This first act of service gives the participant hands-on experience while helping create a finished community asset for Kiya.life programs. 

• Do It Yourself: After helping complete the Kiya.life cabin, Participant 1 builds a personal cabin with support from Participant 2, Kiya.life oversight, and training from skilled builders. 

• Pay It Back: Participant 1 then helps Participant 2 build a cabin, and Participants 1 and 2 help Participant 3 build a cabin. Future participants will agree to help one another without pay as part of the community self-help model. 

• Get Paid: By the time participants complete the building cycle, they will have gained practical experience in milling, framing, roofing, insulation, finish work, tool use, safety, teamwork, and project completion. These skills are intended to help participants qualify for paid employment in construction, woodworking, sawmill work, maintenance, or related trades. 

The purpose of this pilot project is to test and prove a small-cabin housing model that combines affordable construction, participant responsibility, job training, and long-term sustainability. 

• Complete the KIYA.LIFE cabin already in progress so it can serve as a community program space and training site. 

• Construct the first three participant cabins in the KIYA.LIFE housing initiative. 

• Provide paid pilot-phase labor support for the first three participants while they learn through hands-on construction. 

• Demonstrate a replicable self-help model in which participants receive help, then help the next participant build. 

• Create a path for participants to gain job-ready construction and woodworking skills. 

• Establish a sustainable repayment model through contract-for-deed agreements that repay material costs into the program for future cabins. 

The cabins will be constructed on designated sites within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The KIYA.LIFE cabin will serve as the first training and demonstration site, while the first three participant cabins will launch the housing initiative. 

Each participant cabin will measure approximately 16 feet by 24 feet. The cabin model is intended to be simple, durable, affordable, and teachable. Logs and boards will be milled using Kiya.life’s portable sawmill whenever possible, reducing material costs and giving participants direct experience with the full building process from raw material to finished structure. 

KIYA.LIFE will provide project oversight, training coordination, safety expectations, tool access, scheduling, and accountability. Skilled builders, volunteers, and mentors may assist with instruction and quality control while participants complete meaningful hands-on work. 

1. Participant 1 helps complete the Kiya.life cabin as the first “Pay It Forward” training project. 
2. Participant 1 builds a personal cabin with support from Participant 2 and Kiya.life oversight. “Do it Yourself”
3. Participant 1 helps Participant 2 build a personal cabin, with additional support from Participant 3. (Pay it Back) 
4. Participant  2 help Participant 3 build a personal cabin. With the help of #4.  Participant #4 is the first unpaid volunteer who agrees to a contract for deed to repay the cost of materials, 
5. Future participants continue the cycle by helping one another unpaid, while repaying material costs through contract-for-deed agreements. 

The pilot is designed to become more sustainable after the first phase. Grant funds will help launch the first three participant cabins by covering materials and participant labor during the training phase. After the pilot, future participants will agree to help one another without pay as part of the self-help housing model. This reduces future labor costs while strengthening shared responsibility and community ownership. 

Participants receiving cabins will also agree to a contract-for-deed repayment structure to repay the cost of materials over time. Kiya.life will seek to structure this repayment as low-cost, inexpensive, or interest-free financing whenever possible. Repayments will be returned to the housing initiative to help purchase materials for future cabins, allowing the program to recycle funds and serve additional participants over time. 

This structure creates a revolving community benefit: the first investment builds the first cabins, the first participants help train and support the next participants, and repayment of material costs helps fund future construction. 

The total pilot project funding request is $110,000. This includes completion of the KIYA.LIFE cabin currently in progress, construction of the first three participant cabins, and additional tools and supplies needed to support training and construction. 

• Three participant cabins at $30,000 each, including materials and pilot-phase participant labor: $90,000 
• Completion of the KIYA.LIFE cabin already in progress: $10,000
• Additional tools, supplies, safety items, and basic starter tool kits for participants, including approximately $500 in starter tools for each of the first three participants: $10,000

Total Funding Request: $110,000

The first three participant cabins are budgeted at $30,000 each to cover the costs of materials and labor during the pilot phase. The additional $10,000 for tools and supplies will help KIYA.LIFE maintain shared tools, purchase consumable supplies, support safe construction practices, and provide each initial participant with a basic starter tool kit valued at approximately $500. 

The pilot project is expected to be completed in phases so participants can learn by working on multiple cabins and then transition into future employment opportunities. 

• Project planning, participant selection, and preparation: 1 month 
• Completion work on the KIYA.LIFE cabin and initial training: 1 to 2 months 
• Construction of Participant 1 cabin with support from Participant 2: 2 to 3 months 
• Construction of Participant 2 cabin with support from Participants 1 and 3: 2 to 3 months 
• Construction of Participant 3 cabin with support from Participants 1 and 2: 2 to 3 months 
• Final review, repayment agreements, employment readiness support, and pilot evaluation: 1 month 

• The KIYA.LIFE cabin will be completed and available for programming, training, and  KIYA.LIFE activities. 
• Three pilot participants will complete personal cabins through a supervised self-help building model. 
• Participants will gain practical construction and woodworking skills that improve their ability to seek paid employment. 
• The project will establish a repayment pathway through contract-for-deed agreements to help fund future cabins. 
•  KIYA.LIFE will have a tested model for expanding affordable housing, workforce training, and community-led construction. 

Native people have long contributed to the building of the United States through skilled trades, construction, ironwork, carpentry, and labor that helped shape communities and cities across the country. One well-known example is the generations of Mohawk and other Indigenous ironworkers often called “Skywalkers,” whose high-steel work helped build bridges and iconic skyscrapers in major cities such as New York, including structures connected to the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Plaza, and the World Trade Center. This project stands in that same tradition of practical skill, courage, craftsmanship, and service by helping Indigenous participants gain hands-on trades experience that can be used to build homes, strengthen families, and contribute to the future of their communities. 

This training pathway is also timely because the United States continues to face a serious need for skilled construction and trades workers. By preparing local participants with practical skills in milling, framing, roofing, insulation, safety, tool use, and project completion, the Kiya.life initiative connects community housing needs with real workforce opportunities in a field where trained workers are urgently needed.