For the month of April, the City is proud to present an individual who has continually worked to make Rapid City a better community.

Richard Cooper has lived in Rapid City for over twenty years. He has served as President of the Milwaukee Neighborhood Watch group and has been instrumental in developing it into the most effective neighborhood watch in the city. Richard’s nominator comments, “that his leadership has had a large effect in reducing crime in the Milwaukee Neighborhood over the past five years. His commitment goes beyond his own neighborhood and it is no doubt that our entire community is a better place because of the efforts of Richard Cooper.”

For the past five years, Richard has been committed to planning and coordinating regular meetings, scheduling speakers, organizing yearly clean-ups and neighborhood picnics. He is a leader in raising funds so that donations can be made by the neighborhood to charitable organizations such as WAVI, Boys Club, Girls Club and several others. In addition, Richard also volunteers for the “Graffiti Strike Force” where he maintains paint supplies and responds to requests to cover graffiti in the city.

Richard is a “Senior Volunteer” for the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office and assists the Weed & Seed Project in Rapid City. He assists the Rapid City Police Department with their newly organized Citizen’s Police Academy.

Richard is retired from the Army and worked for Pennington County Housing Authority for the past seventeen years. He and his wife Delores moved to Rapid City in 1984 and have three grown children and two grandchildren.

We congratulate Mr. Cooper for his commitment to become part of the solution by giving back to our community.