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USDA announces grants for Indian Reservations

Deputy U.S. Agriculture Secretary Krysta Harden was in Green Bay on Tuesday to announce $700,000 in grants to support nutrition education for Native Americans. The grants will go to 15 programs in 11 states through the USDA’s Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR).

FDPIR operates as an alternative to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for low-income American Indian and non-Indian households that reside in certain designated areas.

Speaking to the Food Sovereignty Summit, Deputy Secretary Harden said, “This year’s awardees have developed creative, self-initiated projects designed to assist participants with incorporating healthy foods and physical activity as daily lifestyle habits.”

In Wisconsin, the Menominee Tribe will use its grant to continue a community garden program and collaborate with the University of Wisconsin-Extension in Menominee County to provide healthy cooking classes, recipes, and nutrition education handouts to FDPIR-eligible participants.

The Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians will conduct weekly nutrition education and food demonstration sessions at the FDPIR program site, the Wellness Center, and the organization’s youth center. This project will also provide nutrition education while making home deliveries of USDA Foods to homebound participants of FDPIR.

Those getting the grants include:

• Sherwood Valley Food Program in California
• Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Food Distribution Program in Minnesota
• Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota
• Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in Mississippi
• Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes Food Distribution Program in Montana
• Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Indian Reservation in New Mexico
• Seneca Nation of Indians in New York
• Spirit Lake Tribe in North Dakota
• Cheyenne and Arapaho Food Distribution Program in Oklahoma
• Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
• Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in Oregon
• Lummi Indian Tribe of the Lummi Indian Reservation in Washington
• Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians in Wisconsin
• Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin
• Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa for the Midwest Region Nutrition Advisory Committee in Wisconsin