SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A dozen graduate students from Illinois are headed to South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation this week to fix roofs, repair trailer skirts and build porches in a community that’s constantly battling poverty and high unemployment.

The 900-mile trip west is part of an ongoing effort by MBA students from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who created the not-for-profit Kola Foundation two years ago as part of a long-term commitment to build relationships with the Oglala Lakota people.