International Lifestyle Magazine Issue 51 | Page 63

and leveraging those funds
with a personal investment,
Zach Ducheneaux is currently
executing phase two of the
expansion which will add two
self-contained barrack style
bunk houses adjacent to the
large indoor climate-controlled
arena,
allowing
for
the
administration of horsemanship
training on a year-round basis.
The facility will be heated by
an artesian water source, not
only increasing the business’s
environmental
sustainability
but reducing overhead costs
as well.
While the expansion will lead to
increased profits for the ranch
by attracting more individuals,
families, and businesses that
wish to experience a unique
cultural exchange, The DX
Ranch
recognizes
those
benefits realized by visitors
from across the country could
be even more meaningful to
reservation youth.
Simply put, Zach Ducheneaux
says, “It’s time to give back.”
Individuals from as far as Texas
and New York have been
paying to participate in The
DX Ranch’s internship program
and acquire life skills through
hands on equine experiences,
but the increased profits from
the expansion will enable The
DX Ranch to offer its equinebased curricula to local
reservation youth free
of
charge.
Ducheneaux
comments, “We have sought
a business model that will help
ensure that we can provide
these services locally at no
cost.” Also in The DX Ranch’s
plans to increase
opportunities to serve its
community are reservationwide play days, youth activities,
horsemanship demonstrations,
and horse camps.

the true ingenuity of our local
entrepreneurs to blend forprofit and non-profit structures
in a
way that achieves both
financial sustainability and
social value. In the end, it is
our whole reservation that
benefits – not just with a more
stable local economy, but
also with an increased respect
for Unci Maka (Grandmother
Earth) and a renewed cultural
vitality,” says Lakota Mowrer,
Assistant Director of Four Bands
Community Fund. For the past
two years Mower has been
participating in the Native
Social
Entrepreneurship
Initiative, a unique cohort of
twelve organizations who are all
dedicated to furthering Native
community and economic
development.
Funded by the Northwest
Area Foundation, the initiative
has provided funds to Four
Bands Community Fund to
develop its Green Cheyenne
River program and work on a
broader scale to
explore and define social
entrepreneurship, a term that is
gaining popularity.
Watch out in 2014 for an update
on this beautiful destination!
For more information on Four
Band’s Green Cheyenne River
program, visit
www.fourbands.org/green.
http://thedxranch.com

“We are proud to see concepts
of social entrepreneurship at
work on our reservation. It shows

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