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Author: Jadeyn Sjaarda

We’re getting ready for Women Build 2025 presented by The First National Bank in Sioux Falls! Affordable housing issues affect everyone, but they’re more likely to affect women and their children. Women Build brings together women for six days of building and repairing homes to help neighbors achieve their housing goals. Whether you’ve never picked up a hammer or want to put your construction skills to good use, everyone is welcome at this empowering volunteer event!

Women Build 2025 will take place September 24-27 and October 1-2. Morning and afternoon shifts are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so be sure to sign up soon!

There is a $10 registration fee to reserve your spot which helps cover the cost of lunch and a Women Build 2025 t-shirt. Businesses and groups interested in volunteering during Women Build are encouraged to email Brittany, Habitat’s volunteer coordinator.

When you volunteer, please wear clothing that can get dirty, closed-toed shoes and work gloves. You’re welcome to bring your own safety glasses if you have them. All other supplies will be provided. Due to the nature of volunteer construction, we cannot guarantee a specific location or task. However, the tentative plan for each shift will be listed on the shift registration when we get nearer to the event. We look forward to building with you!

Register for Women Build 2025

Wednesday, September 24 – New Construction

First National Bank Volunteer Day

Thursday, September 25 – Neighborhood Revitalization

Morning Shift Registration

Wells Fargo Afternoon Volunteer Shift

Friday, September 26 – New Construction

Morning Shift Registration

Afternoon Shift Registration

Saturday, September 27 – New Construction

Morning Shift Registration

Afternoon Shift Registration

Wednesday, October 1 – New Construction

CNH Industrial/Raven Industries Volunteer Day

Thursday, October 2 – Neighborhood Revitalization

Morning Shift Registration

Nielson Construction Afternoon Volunteer Shift

Calling all Habitat heroes to the Raise the Roof Rescue! Assemble your team, dust off your super suit and fly over to The District on Friday, March 27.

You must uncover the murderous villain wreaking havoc in the metropolitan area and save the day by stopping them once and for all! Jest Murder Mystery Co. will be our partners in crime-solving once again. Armed with witty comebacks and hilarious plot twists, they’ll render you powerless…because you’re doubled over with laughter. Whether you want to be a hero in the spotlight or “the guy in the chair” working behind the scenes, this is the show for you!

We know a night of crimefighting can work up quite an appetite, so ROAM will be fueling you with a delicious meal. You’ll also enjoy out-of-this-world drinks, posing for a snapshot with your team and seeing how your work is helping the civilians of Greater Sioux Falls.

All proceeds from the Raise the Roof Rescue will help complete Habitat’s first housing development, Millard Acres. The project, which began in 2020, will be completed in 2026, providing 26 families with safe and stable housing.

More details will be released when we get clearance from the authorities, but know this – justice and the fate of affordable homeownership in Greater Sioux Falls rests on your shoulders.

Tickets

Event sponsorships are now available. To secure your table and become the hero of your office, contact Rocky Welker AKA Stone Sentinel at rocky@siouxfallshabitat.org or (605) 274-6280. Tickets will go on sale to the public on February 4.

The 2025 Homeownership program application will be open October 1-31! In September, Habitat will host information meetings at the downtown library in Sioux Falls which will provide potential applicants with key information about the program as well as Habitat’s plans for the 2026-27 construction season. After a brief presentation, family selection committee members and Habitat staff will be available to answer questions.

Meetings are free and open to the public. No pre-registration is required, and household members 14 and older are welcome. We encourage applicants to review the About Homeownership page before attending the meeting.

Information Meeting Options:

  • Tuesday, September 16 @ 12 p.m. (noon) | check-in opens at 11:30 a.m.
  • Tuesday, September 16 @ 6 p.m. | check-in opens at 5:30 p.m.

Information Meeting Location:

Siouxland Library, Downtown Sioux Falls (Meeting Room A) – 200 N. Dakota Avenue

We asked you to dream big with us last Christmas, and you answered the call raising over $86,000! Now your gift is hard at work building strong foundations for local students and families in our community. Keep reading to see what you’ve helped accomplish so far in 2025!

Neighborhood Revitalization

Two volunteers smile while holding paint brushes next to the porch railing they're painting.

Our affordable repairs program has served 38 households so far this year. From house paintings to plumbing fixes, we help homeowners get the repairs they need at a price they can afford. We also work with our aging neighbors to help them stay in their homes as long as possible by installing safety modifications like grab bars and ramps.

In June, we held Rock the Block, our annual neighborhood revitalization event, in the Terrace Park neighborhood of Sioux Falls. Throughout the week, more than 80 volunteers came together to complete 11 projects. Check out our blog post to see pictures and hear more about the projects!

Homeownership

Portraits of the 2025-26 Habitat homebuyers. Top row - Vitaliy & Yana, Shagitu, Badria & Abdo, Brian, and Fantahun & Tikikil. Bottom row - Adde, Abdulkadir & Rahima, Mekdes, Reverend & Francoise, and Abrhamm & Selam.

In May, we welcomed 10 new families into our Homeownership program for the 2025-26 build season! The group is hitting the ground running with many families already joining us on build sites and taking homebuyer education classes. Meet the families and see where they’ll be building.

Rebecca smiles in her new kitchen surrounded by her children.

We also had the joy of welcoming home Rebecca and her family into their new Granite Valley home. The day was a beautiful celebration of the hard work and dedication it took for her to purchase this home for her family! We’ll wrap up our 2024-25 build season in the next few months by dedicating six homes in our Millard Acres development.

Rehab Homes

Habitat staff members Brittany and Jolynn measure and cut boards to frame walls inside of one of our rehab homes.

Our pilot project with the City of Sioux Falls is expanding! We’ll now be rehabbing six rundown and abandoned houses. We’re excited to continue this important work of giving homes a new life, improving safety and beautifying neighborhoods as a whole.

You might remember our first rehab home from these progress photos – well, we’re now working on the inside of the home and will complete it and our second rehab home this year! Then, we’ll get to start the process all over again with four more homes.

School Partnerships

The home built by CTE Academy students during the 2024-25 school year is driven out of the school grounds on a truck to Habitat's lot.

We partner with three area schools to give students hands-on construction experience by building Habitat homes. These partnerships allow students to gain skills for their future and learn the value of giving back to their community. In the 2024-25 school year, more than 200 students from Southeast Tech, CTE Academy and Harrisburg High School built with us!

The two high schools build homes on campus, so each summer they’re loaded on a truck and moved to Habitat lots. This May, we moved our CTE Academy home to Granite Valley, and our Harrisburg home will be on the move in the next few weeks. We look forward to continuing these partnerships in the upcoming school year!

Want to chat?

Our executive director would love to talk with you about what we’re doing and how you can be a part of it! You can reach Rocky at (605) 274-6280 or rocky@siouxfallshabitat.org.

Our annual Rock the Block neighborhood revitalization event took place June 4-7 in the Terrace Park neighborhood in Sioux Falls! This was the first time the event has taken place in the neighborhood, and it was thanks to the partnership of the Terrace Park Neighborhood Association. Over 80 volunteers from local businesses and the community came together to complete 11 projects throughout the week. Projects included painting, tree planting, yard cleanup, minor home repairs and park improvements. Click on photos to see what we accomplished!

About Rock the Block

Rock the Block is an annual neighborhood revitalization event that focuses on improving living conditions in a specific neighborhood. Homeowners in the neighborhood who fall within Habitat’s income guidelines may apply to be part of the event and are selected based on project suitability. Since 2022, Rock the Block events have helped more than 160 people in the community. Learn More

Thank You

A big thank you to Henkel for donating all the materials and plants needed to spruce up the Terrace Park community garden!

All of our Rock the Block projects were free to homeowners this year thanks to the generous support of Habitat donors!

We’re excited to announce that our Family Selection committee and Board of Directors approved and welcomed 10 applicants into the Homeownership program for the 2025-26 build season! These new homebuyer partners will be eligible to purchase their homes after they complete the required 300 hours of sweat equity and homebuyer education.

Future Millard Acres Neighbors

This summer we’ll begin building the last three twin homes in our Millard Acres development. These future homebuyers and their families will be the final additions to the 26-household neighborhood:

  • Vitaliy & Yana
  • Reverend & Francoise
  • Brian
  • Mekdes
  • Abrham & Selam

Future Granite Valley Neighbors

Students from CTE Academy and Harrisburg High School built two homes for us during the 2024-25 school year. These homes will be moved onto their foundations in the Granite Valley neighborhood this summer and completed for the following future homebuyers:

  • Badria & Abdo
  • Fantahun & Tikikil

Future Rehab Neighbors

Last year, we started a pilot project with the City of Sioux Falls to purchase rundown homes in need of rehabilitation. Through this partnership, we found and purchased two existing homes in Sioux Falls and are in the process of rehabbing them for these future homebuyers:

  • Adde
  • Abdulkadir & Rahima

If you see any of these families around town or on one of our build sites, please help us welcome them to the Habitat family and encourage them along their journey to homeownership!

On May 2, we welcomed Rebecca and her family into their new Granite Valley home built in partnership with CTE Academy! After Rebecca finished all her partnership requirements, she purchased the home with an affordable mortgage provided by Habitat. The home dedication was a beautiful celebration of Rebecca’s hard work and the stability she and her family now have through homeownership.

Meet Rebecca

Rebecca grew up in a farming family in South Sudan in a refugee camp. Living conditions in their mud home were difficult, and it was not a safe place. She immigrated to the U.S. in 2008 seeking a better place to live and a good community. Even though she works full-time at a production facility in Sioux Falls, homeownership was unaffordable for her on the open market. Rebecca applied for Habitat’s Homeownership program in October 2023. She and four of her children were sharing an apartment with crowding and expense issues, so they were excited when they were accepted into partnership with Habitat in April 2024. She said, “My children will have their own space and can pursue their dreams.”

About the Home

Rebecca’s new home was built by students at the CTE Academy during the 2023-24 school year. In July 2024 the home was moved onto Habitat’s foundation in the Granite Valley neighborhood in Sioux Falls where it was finished by Habitat’s construction team, volunteers and partner families.

Thank You

Thank you to the students and instructors at CTE Academy for their hard work building this home in the 2023-24 school year.

This home was made possible by the generosity of the Sheldon F Reese Foundation, MidAmerican Energy, Wells Fargo, Olson Oil, Blue Tide Car Wash, Xcel Energy, Sioux Valley Energy and the Midco Foundation. We would also like to thank our many other corporate and private donors for their support.

Thank you to Project Warm-Up for their donation of blankets.

Thank you to the 113 volunteers who devoted 838 hours to building this home alongside Rebecca and her family.

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sioux Falls has now completed 196 homes, providing 314 adults & 742 children with secure, affordable housing.

Have you ever wanted to tour a completed Habitat home? Come to our open house at 1700 E. 71st Street N. from 4-6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29! See what goes into a Habitat home, get your questions answered by the Habitat team and enjoy light refreshments. We can’t wait to host you!

About the Home

This Granite Valley home was built by students from the Sioux Falls CTE Academy during the 2023-24 school year and was moved onto Habitat’s foundation last summer. Our construction team and volunteers have been working to finish up the home which will be dedicated to a family in May!

Have you heard about Housing Education Resource Organization (HERO) certificates? They are awarded after completing homeownership education from HERO partner organizations like Lutheran Social Services, Sioux Empire Housing Partnership and Sioux Falls Thrive.

Through these classes, people learn how to evaluate their finances, understand the timeline and agents involved in the home closing process, and about lending options to make homeownership more affordable. It gives people confidence in the process and sets them up to become successful, knowledgeable homebuyers. Even if someone is not yet ready for homeownership, the class can help renters learn about options for securing decent rental housing and how to manage tenant-landlord issues.

A HERO certificate also benefits Habitat Homeownership program applicants when they are assessed for ability to pay and willingness to partner. Habitat uses a scoring system, and a recent HERO certificate can earn an applicant extra points!

In the past several years, we’ve seen a significant number of applications get denied in the initial financial screening stage of the application process. As many as 50% of each year’s applications have been denied for one or more of these reasons:

  • Monthly debt burden is too high
  • Unpaid balance of collections, judgments and liens is too high
  • Income is too low
  • Credit issues

By incentivizing HERO education classes, we hope that applicants will take steps ahead of the application process to make sure they meet Habitat’s financial requirements.

Our 2024 Impact Report is here, and we’re so excited to share what we’ve accomplished together! With the help of our amazing community of volunteers, donors and ReStore customers, we served 168 residents through our programs last year. Thank you for making a difference in 2024 and for partnering with us in this life-changing work! We can’t wait to see what 2025 brings.

View the 2024 Impact Report View the 2024 Impact Report

Want more detailed financial information? Curious about our impact from years past? Check out our Financial Reports page!

Today is the National Day of Mourning for President Carter, a man who spent his life serving others and championed the work of Habitat for Humanity around the world. He and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, have served as Habitat for Humanity’s most famous volunteers over the 40 years they helped to build affordable housing with our organization.

“We are deeply saddened by President Carter’s passing, and our prayers are with the rest of the Carter family,” said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. “President and Mrs. Carter began volunteering with Habitat for Humanity near their home in southwest Georgia, soon bringing worldwide attention to the need for decent and affordable housing. We are grateful for the incredible impact the Carters have had on Habitat and on the families who have benefited from their shining example. The Carters put Habitat for Humanity on the map, and their legacy will live on in every family we serve around the world.”

Jimmy smiles while watching Rosalynn hammer a nail at the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project in 1987.
Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project 1987 – Charlotte, North Carolina

After leaving the White House, the Carters sought out meaningful ways to continue their commitment to social justice and basic human rights. They first volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in Americus, Georgia, near their home of Plains, in March 1984. Later that same year, the Carters joined Habitat volunteers in New York City’s Lower East Side to renovate an abandoned building in partnership with families in need of affordable housing. That trip marked Habitat for Humanity’s first Jimmy Carter Work Project (later renamed the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project). Each year since then until 2019, the Carters volunteered with Habitat to build or improve houses alongside homeowners in communities across the United States and around the world. President Carter also served as a member of the organization’s board of directors from 1984-1987.

“I think every human being has within himself or herself a desire to reach out to others and to share some of our blessings with those who are in need,” President Carter has said. “What’s opened up that avenue for me and my wife and hundreds and thousands of others is Habitat for Humanity. It makes it easy for us to reach out and work side by side with the homeowner who’s never had a decent house, perhaps. I haven’t been on a Habitat project that I wasn’t thrilled and inspired and wept.”

Jimmy Carter laughs with a group of volunteers at the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project in 2017.
Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project 2017 – Canada

Over the last three decades, the Carter Work Project has touched lives around the world by inspiring more than 108,000 volunteers across the U.S. and in 14 countries to build, renovate and repair 4,447 Habitat homes. Since its founding in 1976, Habitat has served more than 62 million people around the world.

In 2016, Habitat named President and Mrs. Carter as the inaugural Habitat Humanitarians for their extraordinary dedication to service in alignment with Habitat’s vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live.

Habitat for Humanity will be celebrating President Carter’s life of service with a memory book. To share a tribute, visit habitat.org.

Learn more about President Carter’s work with Habitat and hear from our executive director in these news stories from Dakota News Now and KELOLAND.

On December 6, we welcomed Ali, Rumiya and their family into their new home built in partnership with Harrisburg High School! It was a fun afternoon enjoying delicious food and the community of their friends, family and Habitat supporters.

Ali and Rumiya's home is pulled out of the Harrisburg Home Builders Academy on a truck to be transported to Habitat's lot.

This home would not have been possible without the students and instructors at Harrisburg High School who helped build the home during the 2022-23 school year! We’re thankful for all the time and effort they put into this home and for joining us at the dedication to present the family with keys.

Ali and Rumiya stand with their eight children in front of their new home.

We would also like to thank our sponsors, Wells Fargo and the South Dakota Trust Association, along with all the other donors and volunteers who supported Ali, Rumiya and their family as they worked to build and purchase their home. Thank you to everyone who came out to the dedication to celebrate with their family and to Project Warm-Up for presenting each family member with a blanket.

Hidray and Almaz smile with five of their six children while holding up keys to their new home.

Habitat staff also got to welcome home Hidray, Almaz and their family on December 19! This rehab home was sold to a Habitat homebuyer in 2017, and we purchased the home back in 2023. The home is all fixed up and ready for Hidray and Almaz’s family to make their own just in time for the holidays.

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sioux Falls has now completed 195 homes, providing 312 adults and 739 children with secure, affordable housing.