Nourishing Native Foods & Health

Seeds of Native Health

Seeds of Native Health – created and funded by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) is a major philanthropic effort to improve the nutrition of Native Americans across the country. It encompasses efforts to improve awareness of Native nutrition problems, promote wider application of proven best practices, and encourage additional work related to food access, education and research. First Nations is one of SMSC’s strategic partners in the effort. The campaign builds on localized efforts to solve the problems of Indian nutrition and hopes to raise awareness, spread knowledge, create capacity for change, and develop additional solutions on a broader scale.

Learn more at www.SeedsOfNativeHealth.org.

In 2016 First Nations awarded 15 grants totaling $422,500 under the Seeds of Native Health campaign.

Choctaw Fresh Produce, Philadelphia, Mississippi, $33,418

The "Choctaw Local Food Ambassador" program will hire an ambassador who will work to maximize the benefits of Choctaw Fresh Produce's organic food operations for tribal members, particularly youth and low-income members. Among other activities, it will include coordination of training in organic growing, farm tours, mobile market, on-reservation sales to tribal programs (e.g. schools, health center, resort), surveying community needs/desires relative to foods grown, and improving the weekly community-donation program to low-income individuals to ensure no fresh produce goes unused. The ambassador will also coordinate the transition of one of the mini-farms to a community farm, and possibly the conversion of a high tunnel to a community garden model.

College of Menominee Nation, Keshena, Wisconsin, $34,332

The “Strengthening Menominee Health and Native Food System” project will provide members living on the Menominee Reservation and in surrounding areas with food education that aligns with Menominee traditions, while improving access to locally-produced food. The college will increase production of traditional, healthy food through the cultivation of a garden; increase community members' financial accessibility to produce by implementing financial incentives for SNAP users and garden volunteers; educate Menominee students and elders about the history, cultivation, nutrition and culinary uses of traditional Menominee winter squash; and develop a five-year agriculture outreach business plan as a guide toward self-sufficient food initiatives.

Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Portland, Oregon, $30,000

This effort is focused on education about and adoption of food safety codes by the four Columbia River tribes (Nez Perce Tribe, Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation, Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, and the Yakama Nation) for fisheries to comply with the federal Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Activities include developing a working group to review and identify issues, and presenting draft food-safety codes to tribal councils, expanding the fisher education program to include FSMA, and updating the fisher food-quality handling handbook to include information relating to the act and a checklist to help with compliance.

Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, Pablo, Montana, $34,343

The "Healing the Jocko Valley" project will increase nutrition and health knowledge by providing gardening and healthy cooking activities through monthly classes; provide opportunities to gather, prepare and preserve traditional Salish foods; increase access to healthy, locally-produced foods through a community garden and individual family gardens; create a one-acre plot that will include a community garden, greenhouse, camas baking pit, dry meat rack, and tipi learning/gathering area to prepare and preserve traditional foods; create accompanying interdisciplinary curriculum that will be disseminated and promoted to other schools; develop the project as a replicable model with activity toolkits; and create a network and learning community.

Grasshopper Livestock Association, Cibecue, Arizona, $10,000

The GLA Entrepreneurship and Growth Program will build on previous First Nations and USDA support to provide income for association improvements and potential income for association members through sale of cattle to the Native Beef program of LaBatt Foods.

Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, Odanah, Wisconsin, $31,336

The "Manoomin - The Good Berry" project will work to strengthen local, tribal food systems by increasing awareness of and access to traditional Anishinaabe food knowledge, recipes and local tribal wild rice harvesters for all 11 member tribal communities: Bad River (Wis.), Bay Mills (Mich.), Fond du Lac (Minn.), Keweenaw Bay (Mich.), Lac Courte Oreilles (Wis.), Lac du Flambeau (Wis.), Lac Vieux Desert (Mich.), Mille Lacs (Minn.), Red Cliff (Wis.), Sokaogon-Mole Lake (Wis.), and St. Croix (Wis.). The project will do this through facilitated community outreach at tribal community events and tribal youth programs.

Kalispel Tribe of Indians, Usk, Washington, $28,270

The “Kalispel Family Gardens” project will increase food security by increasing the number of family gardens and providing gardening support to community members. It will expand on existing gardens that are primarily youth projects and traditional gardens. A community educational effort will provide workshops that address food and garden-related subjects, preservation methods, and that support traditional foods revitalization.

Klamath Tribal Health & Family Services, Klamath Falls, Oregon, $34,343

The Chiloquin Community Kitchen/Food Security program will increase access to healthy foods in Chiloquin, Oregon, which has a population of about 750 people with about 60% being Klamath tribal members. This grant adds funding needed to complete the food security building renovation to create a commercial-grade community kitchen and learning classroom, food storage and distribution center.

Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Auburn, Washington, $17,418

The Traditional Healthy Beverage Campaign will work to reduce youth consumption of sugary drinks and increase the consumption of herbal teas, fruits and vegetables. To this end, the campaign will host a one-day education summit for at least 40 health educators and champions to discuss issues around consumption of unhealthy foods and beverages. The summit will also highlight opportunities for change. Finally, the campaign will develop a healthy beverage promotion campaign, including public education materials, a healthy beverage station toolkit and posters, and recipes for dissemination.

Nooksack Indian Tribe, Deming, Washington, $30,478

The "Nooksack Seeds of Health" project will establish a local community garden for Nooksack Indian Tribe members. It supports public health goals by focusing on nutritional education classes to increase individual knowledge of food choices related to chronic disease prevention and health promotion, especially for health education and prevention relating to diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Northern California Tribal Court Coalition, Talent, Oregon, $37,761

The "Tribal Food Purity Project" will respond to the concerns of coalition member tribes over unregulated chemical pesticides on and around tribal lands. In close consultation with tribal environmental professionals, the coalition will draft legislation to limit the release of chemical toxins and provide for enforcement mechanisms. Enacted pesticide legislation is considered critical for the tribes to safeguard the health and well-being of youth, elders, mothers and vulnerable individuals within its jurisdiction, and ensure that land- and water-based food resources can be safely harvested and consumed.

Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, New Town, North Dakota, $34,343

The "Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College Full Circle Nutrition Program" is a garden-to-plate program to improve the cultural connection to food, nutrition, skills and education of college students and staff, optimally preparing them to disseminate these to the community at large. Components include garden planning, planting, care, harvesting, and food-preservation to serve the cafeteria and campus, as well as composting and nutrition education.

Oyate Networking Project/Oyate Teca Project, Kyle, South Dakota, $33,072

The grant supports the "Medicine Root Gardening Program."

Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Red Lake, Minnesota, $1,000

This grant supports the Red Lake Food Summit.

Squaxin Island Tribe, Shelton, Washington, $32,385

The "Squaxin Community Garden Project" will develop a tribal community garden on the Squaxin Island Reservation to sustainably improve food security and health outcomes for the community. The garden will be a tool for community members to build skills, grow healthy food, and build community through sustainable, small-scale agricultural production. The supportive programming will provide nutrition, food-preparation and preservation education.

In 2015 First Nations awarded 15 grants totaling $523,000 under the Seeds of Native Health campaign.

View the 2015 Grantees

Bishop Paiute Tribe, Bishop, California, $40,000

This project will serve tribal members in surrounding communities by increasing access to traditional and organic foods through continued use of the existing Tribal Food Sovereignty Farm and the Tribal Community Market. The tribe will work toward farm sustainability, hold traditional food workshops and support use of local resources and land management.

Igiugig Village, Igiugig, Alaska, $39,794

This project will increase food security through greenhouse-grown fresh produce. It will also train local residents to preserve the food throughout the year as well as promote youth entrepreneurial opportunities through a traditional food stand.

Intertribal Agriculture Council, Billings, Montana, $17,887

This project will implement a tribally-supported agriculture project to improve access to healthy and traditional foods in the Great Lakes Region. There will be a promotional campaign to build interest, as well as a focus on improvements in online ordering.

Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Cass Lake, Minnesota, $33,743

This project will create a community garden at the tribal school that will focus on healthy and local meal choices. The tribe will purchase and develop a greenhouse and garden beds for students and community members to cultivate traditional crops, and conduct classroom lessons, workshops, trainings and other activities aimed at developing a holistic approach to wellness.

Little Big Horn College, Crow Agency, Montana, $40,000

This project will increase knowledge of and access to fresh produce through gardening, beginning on the Little Big Horn campus. It will also promote health through the exercise of gardening and by building respect for growing one’s own food. The project includes educational workshops and trainings.

Mvskoke Food Sovereignty Initiative, Okmulgee, Oklahoma, $40,000

This project will promote healthy eating using each household’s own land for food production. It will include classes on farming and gardening skills where community members will learn how to grow on their land as well as how to help their neighbors do the same.

Nez Perce Tribe, Lapwai, Idaho, $37,629

This project will promote good health, diet and exercise through community gardening and the building of a smokehouse and pavilion in the existing community garden that will be dedicated to processing local food.

North Leupp Family Farms, Leupp, Arizona, $34,650

This project will serve Navajo Nation residents in the southwest side of the reservation where there is little access to food. The grantee will purchase fresh produce from family farmers so it can be stored, processed, marketed and distributed to the food markets, schools, restaurants, elder centers and other places.

Painted Desert Demonstration Project, DBA the STAR School, Flagstaff, Arizona, $40,000

This project will engage Navajo youth students in growing, processing, cooking and serving meals to the community by constructing a greenhouse adjacent to the community kitchen. The students also will create recipes for the locally-grown foods and will explore entrepreneurial opportunities with the produce.

Pueblo of Nambé, Santa Fe, New Mexico, $37,404

This project will continue to teach the Indigenous traditional knowledge of farming and agriculture. The pueblo will hire two farm technicians to help expand the production of fresh produce and coordinate upgrades in equipment and irrigation to suit the expansion.

Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Red Lake, Minnesota, $39,171

This project will work to improve nutrition in the Red Lake Reservation as well as stimulate the local food economy. The tribe will educate community members on growing their own food, coordinate a pre-diabetes program, and enroll participants into educational 16-week trainings to promote health.

Seneca Diabetes Foundation, Irving, New York, $32,040

This project will work to restore Native plant usage in the community. The White Corn Project will focus on the cultivation, processing and distribution of white corn to the Seneca Nation through the use of farmers’ markets. They will use volunteers to assist and to raise community awareness.

The Suquamish Tribe, Suquamish, Washington, $28,773

This project will bring together elders and other community members through the building of five smokehouses where youth will be able to learn traditional skills to feed themselves and their families. They also plan to develop a culturally-based curriculum for tribal schools, conduct creative outreach for nutritional education, and reinforce the reciprocal relationship and responsibility to protect their homeland.

Zuni Youth Enrichment Project, Zuni, New Mexico, $40,000

This project will promote small-scale local agriculture, improve the local food system, and facilitate intergenerational knowledge exchange by constructing an outdoor learning space and farmers' market area. It will also coordinate gifting some of the garden produce to the community as well as including it in the commercial food system.

Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, Porcupine, South Dakota, $21,909

The Food Sovereignty Initiative is a new project that will serve the Oglala Lakota Nation. The organization will assemble and coordinate a Lakota Food Sovereignty Coalition, continue the successful community garden program, as well as launch community education workshops targeting families and youth to encourage the development of a sustainable agriculture demonstration farm and an aquaponics greenhouse.

AARP Foundation

AARP Foundation is AARP’s charitable affiliate, focused on helping win back opportunity for struggling 50+ individuals and their families. Drive to End Hunger is AARP Foundation’s nationwide initiative to raise awareness and develop long-term, sustainable solutions to hunger among nearly 9 million older adults.

Statistics indicate that approximately 12 percent of all Native Americans living in poverty are age 55 or older. Additionally, Native American seniors often suffer from higher rates of obesity, diabetes and other diet-related illnesses. The AARP Foundation contributed $187, 660 to improve the health and nutrition of Native American seniors.

The following four organizations received funding in 2014 to increase food access and eliminate food insecurity among Native seniors:

Painted Desert Demonstration Project / The STAR School, Flagstaff, Arizona, $25,000

This project will devise and demonstrate a model that links community-based farms with local schools and senior centers. The goals are to provide elders a local source of nutritious, traditional foods at senior centers and intergenerational gatherings; decrease social isolation of elders through monthly celebrations featuring traditional Navajo foods, elder storytelling and cooking demonstrations. The project will serve the Navajo communities of Leupp and Tolani Lake, Arizona.

Pueblo of Tesuque, Santa Fe, New Mexico, $25,000

This project will connect youth and elders through a healthy traditional foods program that concentrates on honoring and preserving elder knowledge regarding food, seeds and agricultural traditions. Elders and youth will work together to prepare and store seeds, cultivate traditional gardens, harvest in traditional ways, and preserve and prepare traditional foods. The program will include an educational component for both youth and elders, and will provide healthy foods and preparation instructions for families.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Fort Yates, North Dakota, $25,000

The Nutrition for the Elderly Program will further develop and enhance current tribal food initiatives such as the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program and the tribe’s Native Gardens Project. Community gardens will provide freshly grown fruits, vegetables and herbs for meals and nutrition education courses will expand knowledge of healthy food preparation and eating.

College of the Menominee Nation, Keshena, Wisconsin, $25,000

The Gardens for Elders project will benefit elders from the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, located on the Menominee Reservation in Keshena. Gardens for Elders is an intergenerational, community-based project that focuses on helping elders grow fresh, healthy food sources in their own yards with assistance from youth in various tribal programs. The college intends to build a sustainable elder food-system model that brings together multiple community resources to ensure Menominee elders have locally grown, healthy food sources readily available to them.

In 2012 First Nations awarded $100,000 to four Native food-system projects.

View the 2012 Grantees

Sipaulovi Development Corporation, Arizona – $25,000

Sipaulovi will work to ensure elder food security by reclaiming locally controlled food systems based on traditional knowledge, contemporary practices, and coming together for the common good. Activities will focus on restoring seed and water sources, reviving community farming and gardening, and growing, processing and sharing food in the traditional manner. The gardens will be a reliable source of healthy food for elders. Sipaulovi is a self-governing Hopi village founded in the early 1700s on Second Mesa, Arizona. Of the 900 village residents, 28% are elders over 55, while 40% are youth up to age 18.

Santo Domingo Pueblo, New Mexico – $25,000

Santo Domingo Pueblo will implement a traditional farming program to engage seniors, farmers and youth in the community. Through the purchase and development of a greenhouse, the seniors will plant and cultivate traditional crops. The seniors will work directly with youth on a weekly basis to provide traditional education around the interrelationship of agriculture and various cultural practices, including songs, dances and prayers. The seedlings cultivated in the greenhouse will be sold to community members and transplanted by elders and youth in a community field, where programming will continue throughout the summer and fall. At harvest time, elders and youth will work together to harvest crops for sale at local farmers markets and convenience stores.

Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico – $25,000

The Pueblo of Nambe's Community Farm Project will use its local resources of land, water and sun to revitalize traditional agricultural knowledge while aiming to end food insecurity among seniors in the community. The Pueblo of Nambe’s project has four main components: the construction of a hoop-house, management of a program called “Inventory of Surplus,” establishment of a Senior Food Distribution Service, and the formation and operation of a food database. They hope that their efforts will not only help eliminate food insecurity among the Native senior population but also foster community involvement in food production and distribution.

Ponca Tribe, Oklahoma – $25,000

The Ponca Tribe will raise natural pork and provide it to tribal elders by way of its local food-distribution program and senior citizen center. The tribe will provide land for the venture, and the pork will be raised so as to ensure no hormones or other growth aids are used.

About the AARP Foundation

AARP Foundation is working to win back opportunity for struggling Americans 50+ by being a force for change on the most serious issues they face today: housing, hunger, income and isolation. By coordinating responses to these issues on all four fronts at once, and supporting them with vigorous legal advocacy, the Foundation serves the unique needs of those 50+ while working with local organizations nationwide to reach more people, work more efficiently and make resources go further. AARP Foundation is a charitable affiliate of AARP. Learn more at www.aarpfoundation.org.

Walmart Foundation

In 2017, with the generous support of the Walmart Foundation, First Nations launched the new “Nourishing Native Children: Feeding our Future” grant program, which falls under First Nations’ larger Native American Food Security Project. The project provides grants to Native communities interested in expanding nutrition resources for existing programs that serve American Indian children ages 6-14. Under the program, First Nations awarded 10 grants of $15,000 each. Please see the list of grantees below.

In 2016, the Walmart Foundation awarded First Nations $475,000 to conduct a culturally-based "Nutrition Education for Native American Communities" project that runs through 2017. Grantees under that initiative were announced in early 2017. Please see the list of grantees below.

In 2015, the Walmart Foundation awarded First Nations a grant of $500,000 to support a project aimed at building the organizational and programmatic capacity of Native American tribes and organizations focused on cattle and/or bison ranching. The one-year project also focused on improving their management of natural resources, engaging younger community members in ranching businesses, and/or expanding access to new markets.

The Walmart Foundation has provided significant and frequent support for First Nations’ work in the area of Native agriculture and food systems. In a previous year, the Walmart Foundation granted $500,000 to First Nations to develop or expand locally controlled and locally based food systems in numerous Native American communities while addressing the critical issues of food security, family economic security, and health and nutrition, along with promoting American Indian business entrepreneurship.

Under the 2017 project, First Nations selected 10 tribes and organizations under the "Nourishing Native Childen: Feeding Our Future" project. The effort helps Native American communities continue or expand nutrition resources that serve American Indian children. For many Native children, meals provided by their school, nonprofit service provider, or through a take-home food program (often called “backpack” programs), may be the most consistent and/or nutritionally-balanced food they receive.

The $15,000 grants for the 2017-2018 project went to these recipients:

Akwesasne Boys & Girls Club, Akwesasne, New York
Fremont County School District 38, Arapahoe, Wyoming
Keres Children's Learning Center (KCLC), Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico
Lower Brule Community College, Lower Brule, South Dakota
Lummi Indian Business Council, Bellingham, Washington
Moenkopi Developers Corporation, Inc., Tuba City, Arizona
Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, Bayfield, Wisconsin
Rocky Boy Schools District 87 J&L, Box Elder, Montana
The Center Pole, Garryowen, Montana
Yankton Sioux Tribe, Wagner, South Dakota

Under the 2016 project, First Nations selected 21 tribes and organizations across 12 states to receive grants to support nutrition education, especially among individuals who receive food under the USDA's Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), which is also commonly referred to as the "commodity food" program. Under this project, the FDPIR programs are expanding access to nutrition education programs in Native communities and measuring the effectiveness of education interventions. These grants allow tribes to design or expand culturally- and community-based nutrition education projects that encourage individuals and families to improve their nutrition, healthy habits, plus generally broaden access to nutrition education programs. Because of a variety of issues including inadequate funding, many FDPIR programs do not have the opportunity to provide nutrition education to their constituents. These grants are intended to expand these opportunities through activities such as nutrition workshops, cooking classes/food demonstrations, healthy recipe development, development and dissemination of educational materials, and more. The related online Toolkit of resources can be found here.

The grants for the 2016-2017 project went to these recipients:

Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah, Oklahoma, $20,000
Cheyenne & Arapahoe Tribes of Oklahoma, Concho, Oklahoma, $20,000
Fort Belknap Indian Community, Harlem, Montana, $10,000
Gila River Indian Community, Sacaton, Arizona, $10,000
Lummi Nation Service Organization, Bellingham, Washington, $10,000
Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, Ponca City, Oklahoma, $10,000
Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Red Lake, Minnesota, $10,000
Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, Wewoka, Oklahoma, $20,000
Seneca Nation of Indians, Irving, New York, $20,000
South Fork Te-Moak Shoshone Indian Reservation, Spring Creek, Nevada, $10,000
Spirit Lake Tribe, Fort Totten, North Dakota, $20,000
Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, La Conner, Washington, $10,000
Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, Oneida, Wisconsin, $20,000
White Mountain Apache Tribe, Whiteriver, Arizona, $10,000
Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, Keshena, Wisconsin, $26,000
Choctaw Fresh Produce, Philadelphia, Mississippi, $15,000
Painted Desert Demonstration Project DBA the STAR School, Flagstaff, Arizona, $15,000
REDCO (Rosebud Economic Development Corporation), Mission, South Dakota, $15,000
Bishop Paiute Tribe, Bishop, California, $15,000
Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, Porcupine, South Dakota, $15,000
Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Auburn, Washington, $9,000

Under the 2015 project, First Nations worked with selected Native ranching groups or tribal organizations as primary project partners. They received financial grants that were used for infrastructure improvements, equipment, training or consulting services to advance their operations. They also received instruction on improving herd health, improving land-management practices, and accessing new markets. Further, the project partners along with an additional 10 Native ranchers attended the Third Annual Native Food Sovereignty Summit that First Nations and the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin co-hosted in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in October 2015. This generated significant networking and learning opportunities for the individuals as well as strengthened the capacity of the entire rancher group.

During 2015-2016, the ranching enterprises that First Nations worked with were:

14R Ranch Inc., Chambers, Arizona, $62,500

14R Ranch is working to engage more Navajo cattle producers in the production and delivery of source-verified beef to the Navajo casinos at a premium price. After relocation to Nahata Dziil (New Lands) and working with Padres Mesa Demonstration Ranch, producers found that with proper herd-health management they could get premium pricing for their cattle, but need more producers involved in order to meet the demand. 14R staff will conduct 10 outreach sessions for the Navajo Nation that will inform interested Navajo livestock producers about how they can participate in the Navajo Beef Program. 14R will conduct an open house during the fall 2015 livestock sale and invite 10 producers to observe the auction process and learn how to participate in the Navajo Beef Program. In January 2016, 14R will participate in a two-day strategic planning session that will produce a three-year strategic plan. In March 2016, 14R will provide a one-day, on-site training for participating producers on feeding efficiency and bull genetics.

Grasshopper Livestock Association, Cibecue, Arizona, $60,000

Grasshopper Livestock is focusing on creating a well-organized and sustainable enterprise while practicing good stewardship of the people, land and animals on their grazing allotment. Their livestock revitalization effort includes rebuilding the organizational structure by introducing members to new business, organizational and agricultural techniques, improving the management of natural resources, engaging younger people in the community, and eventually expanding into other markets. Grasshopper will implement best management practices by conducting a Cattleman’s 101 training workshop for every association member to empower livestock producers to create a better breed of cow and increase marketability of cattle sent to market, as well as conducting a full-scale health assessment of entire herd to increase herd health and cattle quality.

Point of Pines Livestock Association, San Carlos, Arizona, $65,000

Point of Pines Livestock Association’s overall goal is to create and retain a natural grass-fed beef operation by utilizing the land resources of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. The ranch has more than 300,000 acres with a carrying capacity of over 3,000 head of cattle. Although cattle prices are high, Point of Pines believes it can get a higher prices for cattle in the natural grass-fed beef market. A market research study, conservation and business plan will be developed.

Ute Mountain Ute Tribe & Ranch Enterprise, Towaoc, Colorado, $62,500

Ute Mountain Ute Tribe & Ranch is working to increase grazing forage on minimal acres by utilizing proper stocking rates, education on vaccination protocol, quiet cattle-handling techniques to create a stress-free environment, and encouraging youth to participate in tribal ranching. Ute Mountain Ute will host a Mesa Man seminar for tribal members to promote education in herd health, understanding of stocking rates, and best practices for implementing quiet cattle-handling techniques.

In 2011, Walmart contributed a significant grant to help develop and expand sustainable food systems in the following Native communities:

Eyak Preservation Council, Alaska – $22,355

The Eyak Preservation Council is developing an environmentally friendly food-processing and cold-storage plant to support and preserve sustainable and independent food harvesting in rural Alaska.

Bay Mills Community College Land Grant Department, Michigan – $32,129

Bay Mills Community College is developing the capacity to produce, process and make available naturally raised poultry for the Bay Mills Indian Community.

White Earth Land Recovery Project, Minnesota – $32,200

The White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP) assists local growers with independent food production, recovery of local food system production, restoration of Native varieties of foods and to expand the farm-to-school pilot project. Download WELRP's new Indigenous farm to school guide, Indigenous Farm to School Programs: A Guide for Creating a Farm to School Program in an Indigenous Community.

Hays Community Economic Development Corporation, Montana – $30,117

Hays Community Economic Development Corporation has established a food co-op, developed a community garden, and provided classes on preparing wholesome meals, menu planning, and budgeting.

Cochiti Youth Experience at Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico – $32,179

The Cochiti Youth Experience has created a localized food system by supporting existing farmers, instructing Cochiti youth on traditional farming techniques, and recreating the tradition of farming to strengthen the Cochiti community.

Hasbidito, New Mexico – $27,200

. Hasbidito increased Navajo-controlled food production infrastructure in three chapters on the eastern edge of the Navajo Nation – Counselor, Ojo Encino and Torreon – by increasing certified food-production sales, developing food entrepreneurs, providing healthy cooking classes and holding social events centered on healthy food.

Wind Hollow Foundation, Inc.,Oklahoma – $30,000

Wind Hollow Foundation is using their grant to provide for the completion of its business incubator for agribusiness, and to support a seasonal farmers market, a local farmer co-op and a greenhouse program.

Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, Wisconsin – $30,700

The Oneida Tribe is using their grant to support “Tsyunhehkwa,” a project that seeks to improve food-preservation processes of white corn. Additionally, this project is intended to help mitigate the negative effects of climate change and support a symposium for the other 10 tribes in Wisconsin that are working with traditional foods.

Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College, Wisconsin – $31,200

Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College will use their grant to support the continued development and expansion of canning and preserving classes, provide community members access to local foods throughout the year, and promote community farming and gardening.

W.K. Kellogg Foundation

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) has been a long-term and generous supporter of First Nations Development Institute's work in Native food systems and agriculture. In 2011, WKKF awarded First Nations $2.88 million over three years (2012-2014) to increase positive outcomes in Native children’s health and economic well-being. WKKF and First Nations partnered to support initiatives aimed at enhancing Native control of local food systems – especially in addressing issues such as food insecurity, food deserts, and health and nutrition – while simultaneously bolstering much-needed economic development in those communities. In 2015, WKKF provided an additional grant of $2.95 million to extend First Nations’ work in the area of Native agriculture and food systems for three years, 2015 through 2017. The 2017 grants were supplemented by additional funding from the Agua Fund for three of the grantees, as noted.

Here are our current and recent grantees.

In 2017 First Nations awarded $454,000 in Native Agriculture & Food Systems Grants to 15 tribes and Indian organizations in 11 states.

Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment, Inc., Hogansburg, New York, $35,000

The grant will assist Akwesasne community members by supporting traditional agricultural practices such as planting community gardens, maintaining apple trees, planting strawberries, tapping maple trees, canning and drying produce, sharing Haudenosaunee seeds and knowledge with other nations, and advocating for traditional cultural practices and language.

American Indian Resource Center, Inc., Tahlequah, Oklahoma, $30,000

The funding will help build a sustainable food source (fruits/vegetables) for three tribal communities, with the aim of increasing consumption of healthy foods. Families will be reintroduced to growing/gathering their own foods while making healthier lifestyle choices.

Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Toppenish, Washington, $35,000

The Kamiakin's Garden Program will serve families on or near the Yakama Nation reservation, where there is food insecurity and limited access to healthy food. The effort will cultivate community gardens using the traditional history of the original gardens grown by Chief Kamiakin in the 1840s.

Diné be’ iiná, Inc., Window Rock, Arizona, $27,000 from Agua Fund

The Sheep-to-Table project will help retain and share traditional Navajo foodways. Navajo families will gain an understanding of food sources and how survival skills are embedded in tribal traditions. It will involve gathering, documenting and sharing vanishing knowledge of wild edible plants, cooking techniques, and traditional butchering and shepherding practices.

Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute, Española, New Mexico, $21,000

The grant will support expansion of the Pueblo Food Experience/Kwi-tewah project, an effort that has included building traditional adobe ovens, a traditional bread house, and a women's ceremonial house. The project is about returning to a diet of original foods for health purposes, while keeping native seeds and traditional crops alive and supporting spiritual and ceremonial life.

Fort Belknap Community Economic Development Corporation, Harlem, Montana, $35,000

The Red Paint Creek Kitchen Project will create a commercial kitchen to increase the food capacity for the Red Paint Creek Trading Post and satisfy the healthy food needs of the Lodge Pole community. The kitchen will allow for locally-grown food preparation and preservation, as well as culinary classes.

Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Peshawbestown, Michigan, $35,000

The Edible Forest Project will launch the first phase of planting on at least 20 acres of new, public forest gardens for tribal members and the wider community. A plant nursery and seed bank will be started to offer plants and seeds to tribal members to grow themselves. Free food, water and ecology workshops will be offered.

Indigenous ReGeneration, Valley Center, California, $35,000

The grant will support establishment of an educational outdoor space for Native youth to provide regenerative living concepts. Indigenous ReGeneration, the San Pasqual Education Department and the Ecology Center will operate the space with programming that includes food cultivation, medicinal farming, and culture and eco-village education. The project will also increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables on the reservation.

Laulima Kuha'o, Lanai City, Hawaii, $35,000

The project will help develop Lanai's food systems and will help address the needs of Native Hawaiian agricultural producers and families by providing access to food though production development and building a Community Mala 'Ai (food garden).

Ma Ka Hana Ka 'Ike, Hana, Hawaii, $35,000

The Mahele Farm program reclaims ancestral abundance through the community-based production of local, healthy and organic foods, including traditional staple foods such as kalo (taro). The foods are shared according to Native Hawaiian systems of reciprocity, thus decreasing the community's food insecurity.

North Leupp Family Farms, Inc., Leupp, Arizona, $35,000 ($3,000 of that from Agua Fund)

North Leupp Family Farms is a small cooperative with about 100 acres of land cultivated by 30 family farmers. It aims to develop solutions to deficiencies in the community food system, encourage healthy lifestyles, and promote food security. It is developing a business plan for a local food enterprise to aggregate, process, store, market and distribute fresh, locally grown vegetables.

Pueblo of Nambé, Nambé Pueblo, New Mexico, $15,000

The grant will help the Community Farm Project in its continued expansion and field renewal. It will help increase production of healthy and nutritious food for this isolated food desert while also helping revitalize and retain traditional farming knowledge, language and culture.

Tewa Women United, Santa Cruz, New Mexico, $35,000

The Española Healing Foods Oasis project serves northern New Mexico. It will provide opportunities for this distressed area to experience sustainable agriculture while expanding knowledge of the linkages between foods, Native cultures and food justice through community education workshops, forums and mentoring on dry-land farming techniques, water catchment and other topics.

Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, Porcupine, South Dakota, $30,000 from Agua Fund

The grant supports the Food Sovereignty Initiative that aims to improve food access, nutrition and public health on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation while decreasing the economic burden on low-income families. It will help build out the Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Center to provide educational opportunities.

Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Belcourt, North Dakota, $16,000

The Healthy Foods Healthy Families project aims to address the needs of the Turtle Mountain community by establishing and expanding healthy foods initiatives while exploring new partnerships and economic opportunities in agribusiness.

In 2016 First Nations awarded $435,208 in Native Agriculture & Food Systems Grants to 20 tribes and Indian organizations in 10 states.

Black Mesa Water Coalition, Flagstaff, Arizona, $12,699

The coalition will map Burnt Corn Valley's social structure (kinship systems), ecological processes (watershed) and the traditional food-system infrastructure as it affects three chapter communities on the Navajo Nation. It will also engage families and community members in mapping strategies for residents on restoring the health of land and people that will include use of the Diné Philosophy of Sa'aah Naaghai Bek'e Hoozhoon.

California Indian Museum & Culture Center, Santa Rosa, California, $30,000

The "Bi Du Ka Nemay: Advancing Cultural Opportunities for Reclaiming Nutrition" (ACORN) project seeks to increase consumption of acorns by California Indians and others and advance local tribal traditions associated with acorn gathering and processing. Acorns, once a staple food of many California tribes, are no longer part of everyday diets. About 20 Native youth will develop a recipe for an energy bar made of acorn flour and other local, healthy ingredients and determine the needs associated with producing and selling the product commercially.

Crow Tribe of Montana, Crow Agency, Montana, $30,000

The "Crow Nation Youth Farm and Ranch Leadership Program" is a pilot project to serve 10 to 12 youth in junior agriculture production as beginning farmers and ranchers on the Crow reservation. Participants will be mentored by seasoned agricultural leaders and learn about financial literacy, livestock evaluation, conservation management, animal husbandry, marketing, ranch management and related topics.

Diné College, Tsalie, Arizona, $20,190

Diné College will work with local farmers and ranchers to identify barriers in putting land into agricultural development and production. It will also create five traditional organic farms and measure economic, social, legal and cultural impacts of traditional agriculture on Navajo communities. Finally, it will identify core and pragmatic reforms to Navajo Nation land laws that will allow for the diffusion of traditional agriculture across the reservation.

Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, Cloquet, Minnesota, $23,650

The college will host a number of community engagement efforts to raise awareness of issues related to food, diet, health, agriculture and economy. It will also engage the community in planning next steps of the Fond du Lac Fresh Food Initiative.

Fort Belknap Community Economic Development, Harlem, Montana, $30,000

The "Red Paint Creek Greenhouse Project" will construct a greenhouse to grow fresh produce. It will ensure the residents an opportunity to purchase fresh organic garden vegetables to instill healthy eating and lifestyles. The residents currently have a diet of high-carbohydrate, processed foods found in stores in neighboring communities. The youth of these communities will have the opportunity to practice this life-changing event and promote healthy eating habits.

Hannahville Indian Community, Wilson, Michigan, $29,385

The "Food Sovereignty Phase II" project will improve the facilities, storage space and, thus, food safety for an existing greenhouse and aquaponics facility that produces a variety of herbs, vegetables and fish, some of which is served in the school lunch program and some of which is sold at local farmers' markets.

Hopi Foundation, Kykotsmovi Village, Arizona, $1,000

Sponsorship for the "Hopi Agriculture and Food Symposium."

Ilisagvik College, Barrow, Alaska, $30,000

The Healthy Futures Program, established in 2014, delivers quality, hands-on instruction in nutrition, basic cooking and household budgeting to Iñupiaq residents in seven remote villages of the North Slope Borough. Instructors travel to the villages to provide instruction tailored to participants aged 5 to 25, along with elder involvement. Participants engage in workshops that integrate traditional foods and knowledge, with the aim of addressing high rates of diabetes and obesity in arctic Alaska.

Intertribal Agriculture Council, Billings, Montana, $1,000

Grant to sponsor the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Summit hosted by Gun Lake Pottawatomi Tribe at its Jijak facility.

Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Housing & Community, L'Anse, Michigan, $30,000

The "Keweenaw Bay Fishers' Association" project will serve the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community by increasing efficiencies in local fish production, increasing the volume of local tribal-member fish production enough to sustain an eventual fishers' cooperative, increasing tribal-member control of local fish production and the local fish market, and increasing awareness of and access to locally-caught fresh fish.

Laulima Kuha'o, Lanai City, Hawaii, $10,000

Laulima Kuha'o supports pig farmers on the island of Lanai. It will begin to look at the feasibility of creating a commercial kitchen for joint use by pig farmers. Moreover, it will begin drafting a business plan to examine the feasibility of formalizing a food hub and developing other business materials such as a brand for products, a website, etc. This business will go far in subsidizing the household income of Native Hawaiian pig farmers.

Meskwaki Food Sovereignty Initiative & Local Foods, Tama, Iowa, $27,439

The "Seed to Seed: Healthy Traditional Food Access Through Seed Sovereignty" project supports wellness through food and seed sovereignty activities, and increases the connection and access to traditional foods for the Sac and Fox of the Mississippi in Iowa. The project impacts students and staff at the Meskwaki Settlement School by expanding and supporting the farm-to-school program activities and gardens.

Native Village of Port Heiden, Port Heiden, Alaska, $30,000

The "Meshik Farm Reindeer Sustainability Project" will increase the reindeer population at the tribal/community reindeer farm, helping put the farm on the path to long-term food sustainability for the village. The project will purchase and transport additional reindeer, which over 10 years can increase the herd by more than 500. This project is a cultural, economic and community effort that positively impacts the people and economy, and provides a food source that is gone because they cannot hunt caribou.

Northern California Tribal Court Coalition, Talent, Oregon, $1,500

This grant is a sponsorship to support the "Restoring Balance: A Food Sovereignty Gathering" conference planned by the coalition.

Red Willow Center, Taos, New Mexico, $30,000

The "Growing a Food System at Taos Pueblo - Growing Healthy Kids Initiative" will focus on strengthening partnerships and collaborating with several tribal programs -- Community Health, Senior Center and Head Start -- as well as a new partnership with the Taos Pueblo Day School on creating a healthy community food system at Taos Pueblo. This will include planning, planting, growing, harvesting, preparing and educating the community on how to grow food, which foods to grow, and healthy meal planning, and developing a healthy meal plan for school students, building a school garden, and developing an age-appropriate science curriculum based on traditional and modern methods of farming and healthy eating and cooking. It also includes building a community compost, new wheelchair-accessible raised-beds at the Senior Center and a new water catchment/irrigation system..

Tyonek Tribal Conservation District, Anchorage, Alaska, $28,000

The "Developing Food Systems for Alaska Native Villages" project will involve outreach, training and technical assistance to Alaska Native farmers and ranchers in 13 Native villages to primarily enhance food security by increasing knowledge, skills and tools available to them. The effort will demonstrate sustainable agricultural practices, planning, and business and operational processes to support local food production and increase access to healthy and fresh foods, while linking with traditional customs and economic opportunities.

Waimea Hawaiian Homesteaders' Association, Kamuela, Hawaii, $30,000

The "Waimea Nui Inc. Farmers' Market" will serve the region’s agricultural lessees under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, specifically 43 families who have participated, completed and are now farming in the association’s "Farming for the Working Class" program. The new farmers' market will service the entire Waimea Community of 15,000, of which 6,000 are Native Hawaiians, while bringing additional income to the Native community.

Wiyot Tribe, Loleta, California, $29,393

The "Wiyot Tribe Healthy and Traditional Food Systems Initiative" (Table Bluff Reservation Healthy and Traditional Food Systems Initiative) is a multifaceted approach to secure greater food sovereignty and sustainability within the Wiyot tribal community. It involves the development of the tribe's community and traditional gardens, creation of a food pantry and distribution program, food education workshops, and the reclamation of traditional plant- and marine-harvesting practices.

White Earth Reservation Tribal Council, White Earth, Minnesota, $23,651

White Earth will build a greenhouse and expand outreach and branding for its mobile market. It will also be working across tribal departments and organizations to form a food sovereignty working group to build consensus across the tribe for food sovereignty work. Finally, the tribe will be mapping community needs around food access and developing plans to meet these needs in at least eight communities."

In 2015 First Nations awarded $205,000 to nine Native organizations.

View the 2015 Grantees

Center Pole Foundation, Wellknown Buffalo Indigenous Food Project, Garryowen, Montana, $25,955

This project is a hands-on demonstration model based on the Crow Tribe’s traditional food cycle. Tribal elders will guide and educate tribal youth about organic gardening, hunting and gathering. At the end of the grant cycle, tribal youth will sell traditional foods at a local farmers’ market and store.

Cheyenne River Youth Project, Winyan Toka Win (Leading Lady) Garden, Eagle Butte, South Dakota, $25,000

The Winyan Toka Win Garden is a community garden planted and harvested by tribal youth. Fruits and vegetables from the garden are transformed into healthy, nutritious meals and snacks for local children and teens and sold at the community farmers’ market.

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Food Distribution Hoop House, Durant, Oklahoma, $26,000

The Choctaw Nation’s food-distribution program will construct a new hoop house to produce fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs that will be distributed to 1,000 low-income families. The food produced in the hoop house will be distributed through the Choctaw Nation’s Nutritional Education Program.

Northwest Indian College, Grow Our Own, Bellingham, Washington, $20, 262

This project is focused on developing and implementing traditional food curriculum for K-12 students. Tribal college interns will work with tribal elders to design the curriculum that emphasizes traditional knowledge, environmental values and service learning.

Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, Youth Entrepreneurs in Agriculture, Oneida, Wisconsin, $25,000

This project is an experiential learning model that emphasizes agricultural entrepreneurship among tribal youth. This project, rooted in partnership, will allow the Oneida Nation to formalize a youth agricultural entrepreneurship curriculum and share it with teachers and students on the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation.

Pueblo of Pojoaque, Tewa Farms’ Crop Expansion Project, Santa Fe, New Mexico, $24,500

This grant will support the expansion of the tribe’s existing farm. It will allow the tribe to purchase and install two new hoop houses, a heated greenhouse and milling machine that will allow the farm to operate year-round, significantly improving community health and nutrition.

Ramah Navajo School Board, Inc., Wild Food Orchard, Pine Hill, New Mexico, $14,192

This project is a permaculture model for young entrepreneurs. During the school year, middle school students will plant, grow, harvest and sell wild pine nuts. This project is intended to teach students the basics of agriculture and business.

Red Willow Center, Growing Community Food Systems, Taos, New Mexico, $26,000

This grant will allow the expansion of several existing projects in the Pueblo of Taos. This will include expansion of a greenhouse, farmers’ market and food-distribution program. This project seeks to increase access to fresh, healthy foods by designing and implementing two new tribal food-service programs for tribal youth and elders.

Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, Porcupine, South Dakota, $18,091

In 2014 First Nations awarded $400,000 to support 12 Native food-system projects.

View the 2014 Grantees

Bay Mills Community College, Brimley, MI, $37,500

The grant will support the Waishkey Bay Farm 4-H Club and Youth Farm Stand. Waishkey Bay Farm is a sustainable farm and orchard located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The club’s purpose is to recruit tribal youth to help grow, harvest and market fruits and vegetables.

Choctaw Fresh Produce, Choctaw, MS, $37,500

The grant will be used to expand a small community garden. Food from the garden will be sold at the casino restaurant. Additionally, project organizers plan to sell surplus fruits and vegetables throughout the community via a mobile farmers’ market. The project aims to increase access to healthy food on the reservation while creating jobs and stimulating economic development.

Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Portland, OR, $28,125

The grant will assist tribal fishers as they build new relationships with tribes to develop and expand market opportunities for salmon products. The project aims to increase opportunities for the fishers of the Columbia River tribes.

Diné Community Advocacy Alliance, Gallup, NM, $20,300

The funds will be used to help the alliance support the Healthy Diné Nation Act and Junk Food Tax, which was vetoed by the Navajo Nation president in February 2014. The act seeks to impose a 2 percent sales tax on sugar-sweetened beverages and junk food, and eliminate sales tax on fresh fruits and vegetables.

Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College, Hayward, WI, $37,500

The grant will be used to build capacity and expand the college’s Sustainable Agriculture Research Station (LSARS). LSARS will increase healthy food access by providing a mobile farmers’ market, online and telephone food-ordering service, and EBT-SNAP purchases.

Lakota Ranch Beginning Farmer/Rancher Program, Kyle, SD, $37,500

The grant will be used to establish an active gardening club on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Fruits and vegetables harvested will be sold at a local farmers’ market to promote healthier food choices.

Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, Ponca City, OK, $28,125

The funding will build capacity and expand the local community greenhouse. The goal is to produce twice as many fruits and vegetables in the expanded greenhouse. Additionally, the funds will be used to host weekly diabetes health education and cooking classes.

Pueblo of Nambe, Nambe Pueblo, NM, $28,125

The Community Farm Project will focus on expanding to create more traditional meals with locally grown, highly nutritious food items. Nambe Pueblo is a food desert with issues of access and affordability of fresh, local produce. The farm can expand with eventual creation of a marketplace on pueblo land, instituting practices such as composting and seed saving, and working to revitalize Indigenous crops, harvesting wild plants, and raising hormone-free, locally slaughtered meats.

Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, Tama, IA, $37,500

The grant will build capacity and expand the Meskwaki Grower’s Cooperative. The food co-op launched in 2013 and needs to expand to include a greenhouse, seed-saving program and food-preservation workshops, as well as increasing co-op membership.

Sust’ainable Molokai, Kaunakakai, HI, $37,500

The grant will be used to launch the Molokai Food Hub, which will give the Native Hawaiian farming community better access and control over its local food system. The Food Hub will help accurately manage orders and monitor product quality.

Taos County Economic Development Corporation, Taos, NM, $37, 500

The organization will lead and coordinate the Native Food Sovereignty Alliance (NAFSA), including coordinating board meetings, proactively recruiting and growing the membership base, and moving the organization toward achieving its 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax-exempt status. The organization will also coordinate development of a three-year strategic plan and a priority list of policy areas to be addressed.

Waimea Hawaiian Homesteaders' Association, Kamuela, HI, $32,825

The grant will continue to fund the "Farming for the Working class" project and will enable another 10 Native Hawaiian homestead families to start actively farming their fallow land. The program consists of hands-on farm training, paired with classroom-based learning and business training.

In 2013 First Nations awarded $382,500 to support 11 Native food-system projects.

View the 2013 Grantees

Big Pine Paiute Tribe of Owens Valley, Big Pine, California – Sustainable Food System Development Project

The tribe will create a permaculture demonstration garden and an organic seed bank on the Big Pine Indian Reservation, with the purpose of increasing availability of locally grown food as well as knowledge of sustainable gardening practices and native plants. The project will provide entrepreneurship opportunities through a farmers market, and will supply tools and equipment for the community garden and greenhouse.

Hunkpati Investments, Inc., Fort Thompson, South Dakota – Crow Creek Fresh Food Initiative

Due to low incomes, a general reliance on the federal food program, and a lack of affordable access to fresh fruits and vegetables in the area, Hunkpati aims to create a self-sufficient food economy on the Crow Creek Reservation through projects that support local fresh food production and local food entrepreneurs and increase the number of tribal youth familiar with food production and entrepreneurial opportunities. It will also work on developing value-added food products and a fresh-food financing product.

Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College, Hayward, Wisconsin – Increasing Food Security

Fish have been a traditionally significant source of protein for the Ojibwa people. Due to mercury and other contaminants, there are restrictions in the diets of children, childbearing women and those with other health issues. The group will seek methods to raise fish in safe and environmentally sound ways, and investigate tribal chicken and egg production as an expanded protein source.

Northwest Indian College, Bellingham, Washington – Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project

The project will address the difficulties they have in accessing traditional and local healthy foods due to a variety of reasons. It will foster initiatives that support community members in overcoming and addressing these barriers, such as developing gardens, providing food-related educational opportunities, creating a food sovereignty plan, and using community kitchen policies to create healthier, traditionally-based meals.

Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, Oneida, Wisconsin – Oneida Youth Food System Entrepreneur Project

The effort will provide youth with opportunities to learn about food systems and business, with the goal that more youth will develop business skills while becoming interested in agriculture and food industry careers. It will focus on creating a system where youth educate other youth on healthy local food, creating a sustainable youth business for website development, and increasing youth experience with technology and economics by providing incentives to participate in the program. With adult supervision and specialized curriculum, it will teach business management and financial record-keeping associated with the purchasing, processing and profits from selling agricultural products.

Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, Ponca City, Oklahoma – Egg Production for Us, by Us.

As another step toward tribal food sovereignty, the [Ponca Tribe will develop a chicken flock and egg-laying operation to provide the tribal store with fresh eggs. The reservation is considered a food desert and does not have access to fresh, quality eggs even at the nearest store, or even adequate transportation to that store for many tribal members.

Pueblo of Nambe, Nambe Pueblo, New Mexico – Nambe Pueblo Community Farm

The pueblo will expand its community farm to increase the output and diversity of the fresh, local foods produced there, with the goal of moving toward fiscal sustainability. The farm’s original intent was to combat food insecurity by providing free food, but with increased production it can also sell products to external markets while creating new youth jobs and a healthy business enterprise. Additionally, Nambe will explore developing its own brand and creating value-added products.

San Carlos Apache Tribe, San Carlos, Arizona – Traditional Western Apache Diet Project

To address several social issues and diet-relate diseases, and to build knowledge of nutrition, the tribe will create a detailed description and nutritional analysis of its pre-reservation Western Apache diet, work to retain valuable traditional knowledge and use it to inform strategies aimed at maintaining physical health and ecologically sustainable lifestyles, and make this knowledge available for community members to leverage in order to build health-related programs and businesses in Apache communities.

Taos County Economic Development Corporation, Taos, New Mexico – Native Food Sovereignty Alliance

The corporation is receiving continued funding for it to be the lead coordinator/organizer of a new Native American Food Security and Food Systems Alliance. The purpose of the alliance is to build a national Native movement and voice on Native food security and food-system control. This will include developing a collaborative group of Native leaders who are concerned with Native food security, hunger and nutrition issues.

Waimea Hawaiian Homesteaders' Association Inc., Kamuela, Hawaii – Farming for the Working Class

Hawaiian homesteaders are qualified Native Hawaiians with land allotments for agricultural, residential or pastoral use. Only five of 150 agricultural lots in the Waimea homestead were being farmed when the program began. The goal is to empower numerous additional families with the resources they need to begin farming their fallow land and growing fresh produce for themselves and the community. The program consists of hands-on farm/greenhouse training, paired with classroom-based learning and business training. Creating additional farms will allow the community to reach the scale needed to access larger local markets.

Diné Community Advocate Alliance on the Navajo Nation – Junk Food Tax Act Campaign

Diné Community Advocate Alliance (DCAA) was awarded $12,500 to support their efforts to advocate for the Navajo Nation Junk Food Tax Act of 2013. DCAA is a grassroots organization formed by 70 healthcare professionals and community leaders across the Navajo Nation to combat chronic diet-related diseases, including obesity, diabetes and heart disease. DCAA used the grant to launch a major campaign to increase public awareness of the Navajo Nation Junk Food Tax Act. The proposed act seeks to impose a 2 percent sales tax on sugar-sweetened beverages and junk food, and eliminate sales tax on fresh fruits and vegetables. The revenue generated would be used to help fund various health and wellness projects.

In 2012 First Nations awarded over $436,000 to support 11 Native food-system projects.

View the 2012 Grantees

Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Portland, Oregon - $44,403

The four treaty tribes (Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warms Springs and Yakama) have long used the river as an integral part of tribal culture, diet and economy. However, tribal fishermen have been at the bottom of the fish-marketing chain and have not shared in its full economic value. This project will improve that by developing an entrepreneurial program to teach proper food handling and harvest safety practices along with business and marketing strategies. The commission’s latest publication is Tribal Fisher’s Handbook: Improving the Quality and Safety of Tribally Harvested Salmon through Sanitation and Proper Handling. You can view a PDF of it here.

Diné College, Tsaile, Arizona - $44,959

The project will address the lack of access to healthy, affordable and traditional foods in the region directly around the college and revitalize traditional food systems by establishing a regional food policy and a farmers market, and conducting public education about Navajo food-system issues and agriculture.

Hunkpati Investments, Inc., Fort Thompson, South Dakota - $45,000

The initiative will provide fresh vegetables, gardening and entrepreneurial education, and youth employment on the Crow Creek Reservation. A planned community garden will have 10 personal plots for community members, leaving the rest for communal gardening. The project will facilitate community-wide farmers markets, provide nutrition and gardening education via the Boys and Girls Club, and will provide work for teens by hiring them to care for the garden and run the farmers markets.

Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, Barrow Alaska - $44,660

Provide locally grown vegetables, herbs and edible flowers by using innovative technology to grow organic produce hydroponically with Tower Gardens® and LED lights, thus eliminating the need for soil and, during the winter, sunlight. The produce will allow Arctic Slope natives to improve their diets and long-term health. Currently available plant-based foods are prohibitively expensive. The project also will allow the school system to take advantage of a farm-to-school program.

Northwest Indian College, Bellingham, Washington - $43,703

The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community is committed to strengthening its food systems to improve the health of members through increased access to fresh produce. The recently established Swinomish Food Sovereignty Committee is developing a long-term food system plan. This project will complete a community garden space; provide education on gardening, food harvesting and preparation; and offer support and materials for home container gardens.

Oglala Sioux Parks and Recreation Authority, Kyle - South Dakota, $45,000

This project makes a traditional food source, buffalo, readily available to Oglala Lakota tribal members who otherwise would not have access to the meat. There is no outlet to purchase it on the Pine Ridge Reservation unless a tribal member purchases a bison hunt, which is limited and expensive for low-income families. The opportunity to buy processed buffalo meat allows tribal members to purchase just what they need instead of paying the cost of a hunt and the processing of hundreds of pounds of meat at a time. It will be available at tribal farmers market sites and transported in a mobile freezer truck to rural areas.

The Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, Oneida - Wisconsin, $34,861

The project will improve traditional food security through enhanced food-preservation processes of organic heirloom white corn (a culturally important tribal food), which will prevent crop loss due to mold, pests and insects. This project will address improvements in white corn harvesting, storage, shelling and the processing of products.

Painted Desert Demonstration Project (doing business as The STAR School), Flagstaff, Arizona - $44,334

The k-8 STAR School adjacent to the Navajo Nation will partner with the Navajo community of Sandsprings Farm on recently partitioned Hopi lands to pilot the first farm-to-school project in northern Arizona as a model for Navajo and Hopi schools and farms. They will collaborate to research and document state and federal requirements, certify the farm to supply public school meals, strengthen school gardens, prepare and disseminate a farm-to-school procedure manual, and mentor additional Navajo and Hopi initiatives.

Taos County Economic Development Corporation, Taos, New Mexico - $45,000

Taos County Economic Development Corporation will be the lead coordinator of a new Native American Food Security and Food Systems Alliance. The purpose of the Alliance will be to build a national Native movement and voice on Native food security and food system control. This will include developing a collaborative group of Native leaders who are concerned with Native food security, hunger and nutrition issues.

Waimea Hawaiian Homesteaders’ Association, Inc., Kamuela, Hawaii - $45,000

The "Farming for the Working Class" program enables Native Hawaiian homesteaders to actively begin farming fallow land. It consists of hands-on training, classroom learning and business training. Wow Farm, a successful farming enterprise, developed a highly productive greenhouse. That system will be taught to participants, allowing them to grow healthy crops that provide additional income along with fresh produce.

About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, founded in 1930 by breakfast cereal pioneer Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Based in Battle Creek, Mich., WKKF works nationally and internationally, and engages with communities in priority places in across the U.S., Mexico and Haiti to create conditions that propel vulnerable children to realize their full potential in school, work and life. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.

W.K. Kellogg Foundation - Food Sovereignty

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) has been a long-term and generous supporter of First Nations Development Institute's work in Native food systems and agriculture. In 2011, WKKF awarded First Nations $2.88 million over three years (2012-2014) to increase positive outcomes in Native children’s health and economic well-being. WKKF and First Nations partnered to support initiatives aimed at enhancing Native control of local food systems – especially in addressing issues such as food insecurity, food deserts, and health and nutrition – while simultaneously bolstering much-needed economic development in those communities. In 2015, WKKF provided an additional grant of $2.95 million to extend First Nations’ work in the area of Native agriculture and food systems for three years, 2015 through 2017. In addition to the other major grants listed separately, these 2017 and 2016 Food Sovereignty Assessment grants were made possible by that funding.

These grants were made for the purpose of conducting community food sovereignty assessments, which can help communities gain a better knowledge and understanding about the historical, current and future state of their local food systems. This data-collection process can provide a variety of information about the evolution of the local food system; help quantify individual, household or tribal program/government spending on food; Native dollars spent off-reservation on food purchases; potential for food business development; traditional food access; community desires for local food-system development; food policy desires or needs; and more.

In 2017 First Nations awarded nine grants of varying amounts to Native American tribes and organizations.

Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, Concho, Oklahoma, $10,400
Chugach Regional Resources Commission, Anchorage, Alaska, $15,000
Nipmuc Indian Development Corporation, Grafton Massachusetts, $10,000
Ogema Organics, Callaway, Minnesota, $15,000
Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, Pawnee, Oklahoma, $15,000
Pueblo of Jemez, Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico, $14,000
Red Willow Center, Taos, New Mexico, $15,000
Santa Clara Pueblo, Española, New Mexico, $13,500
Sust`āinable Molokai, Kaunakakai, Hawaii, $15,000

In 2016 First Nations awarded 10 grants of $10,000 each to Native American tribes and organizations.

Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Odanah, Wisconsin
Chahta Foundation, Durant, Oklahoma
FAST Blackfeet, Browning, Montana ($7,335 plus NoVo Foundation funds below)
Menominee Tribal Clinic, Keshena, Wisconsin
Nebraska Indian Community College, Macy, Nebraska
Prairie Island Indian Community, Welch, Minnesota
Saokio Heritage, East Glacier, Montana
Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, La Conner, Washington
Tanana Chiefs Conference, Fairbanks, Alaska
The Center Pole, Garryowen, Montana
Yakanal, New Laguna, New Mexico

NoVo Foundation Fund at the Tides Foundation - Food Sovereignty

In 2016, First Nations received a generous $480,000 grant from the NoVo Foundation Fund at the Tides Foundation for a project aimed at strengthening food sovereignty in Native American communities. Through a request-for-proposals process, First Nations selected 21 tribes and Native American organizations for grants under the project, so they can conduct community food sovereignty assessments.

Also referred to as a “community food assessment,” a food sovereignty assessment (FSA) is a collaborative and participative process that systematically examines a range of community food assets in order to inform social and economic change and begin the process of strengthening a food system. The FSA takes a solutions-oriented approach that looks at assets and resources as well as problems. This process has the potential to truly promote local food-system control by increasing knowledge about food-related needs and resources, and by building collaboration and capacity. Using a participatory approach that advocates for community control of the food system, FSAs can (and should) be conducted by communities and their members.

The 2016 grant recipients were as follows. Grant amounts are $20,000 each unless otherwise indicated:

Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association, Anchorage, Alaska
Bii Gii Wiin Community Development Loan Fund, Minneapolis, Minnesota
California Indian Museum & Culture Center, Santa Rosa, California
Center for World Indigenous Studies, Olympia, Washington
Chugach Regional Resources Commission, Anchorage, Alaska, $19,979.85
FAST Blackfeet, Browning, Montana, ($2,665.15 plus W.K. Kellogg Foundation funds above)
Fort Belknap Community Economic Development Corporation, Harlem, Montana
Ho-Chunk Housing & Community Development Agency, Tomah, Wisconsin
Hunkpati Investments, Inc., Fort Thompson, South Dakota, $19,803
Kodiak Area Native Association, Kodiak, Alaska
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Onamia, Minnesota
Native Village of Kivalina, Kivalina, Alaska, $18,400
Nez Perce Tribe, Lapwai, Idaho, $19,682
Nisqually Indian Tribe Health Services, Olympia, Washington, $19,595
Pueblo of San Felipe, San Felipe, New Mexico
REDCO (Rosebud Economic Development Corporation), Mission, South Dakota
Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, Hogansburg, New York
Seneca Nation of Indians, Irving, New York
Tribal Nations Research Group, Belcourt, North Dakota
Waimanalo Market Co-op, Waimanalo, Hawaii, $19,875
Walker River Paiute Tribe, Schurz, Nevada

Agua Fund

First Nations received $50,000 in 2014 from Agua Fund for a project that allows First Nations to provide financial assistance and capacity-building training to Native tribes or organization focused on ending hunger and improving nutrition and access to healthy foods, particularly in the Sioux communities of the Dakotas. Grants under that funding were made during 2015. In late 2015, Agua Fund granted an additional $100,000 to First Nations for continuation of the project, and grants were subsequently made in 2016. In October 2016, Agua Fund awarded First Nations an additional $100,000, and grants under this funding were made in 2017.

In 2017, First Nations awarded a total of $60,000 from Agua Fund to these organizations:

Diné be’ iiná, Inc., Window Rock, Arizona, $27,000

North Leupp Family Farms, Inc., Leupp, Arizona, $3,000

Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, Porcupine, South Dakota, $30,000

In 2016, First Nations awarded a total of $60,000 to these organizations:

Rosebud Economic Development Corporation (REDCO), Mission, South Dakota, $30,000

The “Food Sovereignty for the Sicangu Lakota Oyate: Reclaiming Healthy/Traditional Foods on the Rosebud Indian Reservation” project will engage tribal members in the entire cycle of growing, harvesting, selling, preserving and cooking with locally-grown vegetables and traditional Lakota foods such as wild game, buffalo, berries, roots and herbs. The community garden will be the hub, with an associated weekly farmers' market during the peak harvest season. Through partnerships, REDCO will offer experiential learning opportunities for youth and adults at both the community garden and the farmers' market. A pilot transportation program will provide rides from the more remote communities on the reservation.

Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, Porcupine, South Dakota, $30,000

The “Community Food Sovereignty: Creating a Community-Driven Agricultural Economy” project on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation aims to increase access to healthy, local produce through the implementation of local farmers’ markets, which will sell local produce at affordable prices. Additionally, hands-on education activities will continue to re-engage the community with local food sources.

In 2015, First Nations awarded a total of $30,000 to these organizations:

View the 2015 Grantees

Rosebud Economic Development Corporation (REDCO), Mission, South Dakota - $15,000

The “Keya Wakpala Food Sovereignty Project” (KWFSP) provides access to fresh, local produce and affordable, healthy staples for members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. The KWFSP encompasses two primary areas of activity: production of fresh food in a greenhouse and community garden, and the distribution and promotion of healthy food, both within the tribally-owned Turtle Creek Crossing Supermarket and at a weekly summer farmers’ market.

Enemy Swim Day School, Waubay, South Dakota - $15,000

The “Grow to Learn, Learn to Grow Project” is a sustainable growing and garden leadership project for adult learners attending center-based adult literacy classes. The purpose of the project is to teach tribal members from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate to become generational food growers, in order to enhance family health and wellness and to increase leadership skills that will have a positive impact on their communities.

First Nations Development Institute is pleased to present The Business of Indian Agriculture, a curriculum designed to help farmers and ranchers succeed in managing their businesses. It covers useful topics like how to develop a business plan, how to set up bookkeeping systems, and marketing. It also covers important topics like risk management, personal financial management, and using credit wisely. This project was made possible with support from the USDA - NIFA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Program, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the CHS Foundation.

The curriculum has five main modules:

Module 1: Business
Module 2: Accounting
Module 3: Financial Management
Module 4: Agribusiness Economics and Marketing
Module 5: Land Use and Management

For more information about the curriculum, visit the Participant Guide flipbook and the Instructor Guide flipbook. To download the PDF of the curriculum, please visit the Knowledge Center.

Colorado Plateau Food Systems Capacity Building Project

The Colorado Plateau is a large geographic area covering parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. The development of power generation on the Colorado Plateau has negatively impacted tribes and Native communities in the area. In an effort to combat these challenges, The Christensen Fund and the USDA-Rural Community Development Initiatives have each donated $50,000 ($100,000 total) to improve their local food systems and strengthen their economies:

Diné bé Iiná (The Navajo Lifeway), Window Rock, Arizona

Diné bé Iina will work to promote economic development, maintain culture, provide food and restore farming. Diné bé Iiná is a nonprofit organization of producers and weavers that aims to assist sheep, goat and fiber producers on the Navajo Nation with technical and educational information that supports economic self-sufficiency.

Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Environmental Programs Department, Towaoc, Colorado

This grant will be used to implement a community garden and provide related educational and awareness activities. The department has assisted these efforts by organizing the garden planning group and advising on development strategy and funding considerations. Overall, the department is responsible for administering public health and environmental protection programs on the Ute Mountain Ute tribal lands.

White Mountain Apache Tribe Ndee Bikiyaa (People’s Farm), Whiteriver, Arizona

The People’s Farm is focused on achieving certification for their organic farming efforts with a mission to revitalize farming and agricultural practices by involving youth, elders and communities.

About The Christensen Fund

The Christensen Fund is a private foundation founded in 1957 and based in San Francisco, California. Since 2003, its focus has been bio-cultural diversity. Under a complex, holistic approach, the Fund seeks to support the resilience of living diversity at landscape and community level around the world in partnerships with indigenous peoples and others. Its grant-making programs are currently focused around five unusual geographic priority regions and selected global bio-cultural initiatives. More information can be found at www.christensenfund.org.

About the USDA-RCDI Grant

The purpose of the USDA-RCDI Grant is to develop the capacity and ability of private, nonprofit community-based housing and community development organizations, and low-income rural communities to improve housing, community facilities, community and economic development projects in rural areas.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider, and employer.

Cooperative Education Training on the Navajo Nation

In 2012, the CHS Foundation awarded a $35,000 Cooperative Education grant to increase opportunities for farmers and ranchers on the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation is the largest reservation in the U.S. This grant will allow First Nations to educate farmers and ranchers on potential opportunities through cooperatives and assess potential models that could be used to assist farmers and ranchers develop farm production cooperatives and marketing and supply cooperatives. These cooperatives are intended to help farmers and ranchers increase their access to agricultural resources marketing and supplies, and also help expose them to the latest technology.

About CHS Foundation

The CHS Foundation is the major giving entity of CHS Inc., the nation's leading farmer-owned cooperative. As a part of the CHS stewardship focus, the CHS Foundation is committed to investing in the future of rural America, agriculture and cooperative business through education and leadership development. For more information visit: http://www.chsfoundation.org.

Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance

In November 2012, Taos County Economic Development Corporation partnered with First Nations to develop the Alliance. The overall goal of NAFSA is to develop a movement that gives voice to issues of Native sovereignty, food-system control and policy development, and serves as a strong network for collaboration among various organizations engaged in Native food-system control.

NAFSA’s Call to Action

Restoring Native food systems is an immediate and fundamental need for the continued survival, and physical and spiritual wellbeing of Native peoples and our Mother Earth – now and into the future. The costs of doing nothing – and the potential benefits of action – are massive.

We commit to take collective and individual action to address food sovereignty, and to build the necessary understanding and awareness among our Peoples, Nations, leaders and policymakers, as well as our youth and coming generations, to make it a continuing reality.

NAFSA is dedicated to restoring the Indigenous food systems that support Indigenous self-determination, wellness, cultures, values, communities, economies, languages, families, and rebuild relationships with the land, water, plants and animals that sustain us.

NAFSA brings people, communities (rural, remote and urban), organizations and Tribal governments together to share, promote and support best practices and policies that enhance dynamic Native food systems that promote holistic wellness, sustainable economic development, education, reestablished trade routes, stewardship of land and water resources, peer-to-peer mentoring, and multigenerational empowerment.

NAFSA works to put the farmers, wildcrafters, fishers, hunters, ranchers and eaters at the center of decision-making on policies, strategies and natural resource management.

NAFSA’s Emerging Goals

Provide Networking Opportunities
Produce Educational Materials
Advocacy
Facilitate Change
Facilitate the Connection of Diabetes Education with Food Systems Analysis
Provide Support for Food System Assessment and Planning
Act as Funding Educator/Conduit/Re-granting/Fiscal Sponsorship
Provide Culinary History and Training/ Cooking/ Preserving

NAFSA Founding Council & Coordinators

The NAFSA Founding Council members are:

Clayton Brascoupe, Traditional Native American Farmers Association
Les Brown, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
Josie Chase, Oglala Lakota College
Dan Cornelius, Intertribal Agriculture Council
Dana Eldridge, Diné Policy Institute, Diné College
Julie Garreau, Cheyenne River Youth Project
Terrol Dew Johnson, Tohono O'odham Community Action
Winona LaDuke, White Earth Land Recovery Project
Jon Matthews, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
Jeff Metoxen, Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin
Dave Monture, Intertribal Agriculture Council
Loretta Barrett Oden, Native American celebrity chef
Tristan Reader, Tohono O'odham Community Action
A-dae Romero, Cochiti Youth Experience
Elvera Sargent, Akwesasne Freedom School
Rita Williams, Mvskoke Food Sovereignty Initiative

NAFSA Coordinators are:

Terrie Bad Hand, Taos County Economic Development Corporation
Pati Martinson, Taos County Economic Development Corporation

Become a NAFSA member or join our email list to get updates concerning NAFSA.

First Nations Knowledge Webinar Series

First Nations Knowledge is a series of educational webinars created and hosted by First Nations Development Institute. The series aims to educate Native Americans who are involved in food-systems work and agriculture, plus those who lead or work for Native nonprofit organizations. Through the webinars, we hope to build knowledge and skills and, thus, Native American business and organizational capacity.

The webinars are free and last approximately 90 minutes each. We encourage you to sign up for First Nations’ e-mail list here in order to be advised of any changes or future webinars.

For the scheudle of upcoming webinars visit www.firstnations.org/fnk

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