About Us
Our Story
Buffalo Youth Nation Project (BYNP) was created by Lisa Ansell Frazier, a Native/Indigenous woman enrolled in the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Lisa believes that children are our greatest gift. She felt compelled to take action after seeing and personally experiencing the challenges that our Indigenous/Native children face on Reservation communities.
In the summer of 2018, Lisa loaded up her minivan with school supplies, kids, and love for her Nation; driving 800 miles round trip to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation to give resources to the children of her tribe. What started as a single act quickly grew into a bigger movement. Lisa began delivering necessities to multiple tribes in the Great Plains region.
As the trips up to the Reservations grew, she could see there was much more healing needed. Lisa called in help from other women warriors (Akicita). Women from all walks of life came together in the spirit of healing and the BYNP 501(c)(3) was established in April 2021. A sacred circle was created.
Board of Directors
Lisa Ansell Frazier
Founder | Director | President
Lisa Ansell Frazier is enrolled in the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and currently lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She is a primary parent of 3 amazing children, a USPS mail carrier, and a full-time honors student at IAIA (Institute of American Indian Arts) in the Native American Studies program. Her free-spirited nature attracted the four most analytical board members who made it their mission to make her dreams a reality.
Brooke Packheiser
Director | Secretary
Brooke Packheiser claims to live in Texas. We can’t confirm this as nobody has seen her in 2 years. Prior to this, her IP address says she was in Wyoming where she met Lisa, Andrea, Mo, and Andi on a rugby Facebook page. Brooke took teleworking to heart and we are now convinced she is part human, part Google Drive, part Zoom. She is the paperwork filing extraordinaire.
Megan Olson
Director | Treasurer
Megan “Mo” Olson currently lives in Minot, North Dakota. She met Lisa, Andrea, and Brooke through a women’s rugby club in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Mo is passionate about rugby and building community. She is still trying to convince Lisa to change the name to BRNP…Buffalo Rugby Nation Project.
Andrea Bauer
Director
Andrea Bauer is currently living in Cheyenne, WY. She has lived in 8 states and 2 countries! Throughout all of her travels, she has remained passionate about helping anyone she can and is an outspoken fighter for the underdog. Her second passion is crafting and hopes to teach everyone she meets the art of wreath making.
How We Work
BYNP uses a number of resources and outreach to determine what is needed the most and where. We connect to our populations and establish relationships to understand and address the current needs of K-12 children.
Tools
Some of the resources we use to plan and execute projects are:
- BYNP Webpage
- Excel
- Google Workspace
- Social Media
- Zoom
- Educational Directories
- Collaborative Relationships with Businesses and Organizations
Planning
BYNP holds meetings via Zoom. The meetings serve as a work time for any active project, proposal, or endeavor. All meetings are recorded on meeting minutes and are available to the public via written request.
Executing
Decisions on executing BYNP’s vision are made collaboratively, thoughtfully, and with input from the communities we serve.
We document all donations into our data system to maintain the highest level of accountability and transparency. Additionally, we used collected data to determine how we can better serve communities and expand our outreach in the future.
As a grassroots organization, we focus on a few projects at a time to make sure we are providing supplies and resources with the highest standard of quality at minimal overhead cost.
Future Education
BYNP strives to stay educated on current events, history, and demographics of the populations we serve. Some examples of this are: reading congressional releases, learning about the various histories of Indigenous reservations, researching Native and Tribal Policies, and speaking with leaders active within tribal communities. We educate ourselves about the diverse communities we serve to support them with integrity and authenticity.
