As a way to incorporate healthy lifestyle routines and food choices, the U.S. Department of the Interior is launching an initiative to support health and nutrition efforts across Indian Country through the Indigenous Food Hub.

Brian Newland, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, said the goal was to “provide healthier food to indigenous communities and reduce the damage done to indigenous esophagus by past harmful policies, including colonization, migration and assimilation.” It is to help repair the

The Bureau of India (BIA) and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), both operating under DOI, will create indigenous food hubs for BIE-run schools and BIA-run detention centres.

“Indigenous food is not just about nutrition,” Newland said. “Food is an important part of indigenous cultures, traditions, histories and communities.”

These hubs will assist BIA and BIE in sourcing indigenous foods, enhancing culture-based healthy nutrition education, and facilitating training for healthy and culturally appropriate food preparation. It is an initiative for

There are 55 BIE-run schools and 26 BIA-run correctional programs nationwide.

Home Secretary Deb Haaland said at a press conference, “Food is the essential foundation of Indigenous communities, representing the connection between the planet and customs passed down through generations.” They face high rates of food insecurity and often lack access to affordable, healthy food.”

According to Move for Hunger, a national nonprofit dedicated to reducing food waste and fighting hunger, 1 in 4 Indigenous people are food insecure, compared to 9 Americans overall. 1 in 1 person and 1 in 12 white/non-Hispanic individuals.

Apache County in Arizona consists primarily of the lands of the Navajo, Zuni, and White Mountain Apache tribes. According to Move for Hunger, the food insecurity rate is 22%, the highest among Native American-majority counties in the United States.

Of the 28 Native American-majority counties, 18 are considered severely food insecure.

“The solutions to these challenges lie within ourselves within our own knowledge,” said Wizipan Garriott, DOI’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. arizona mirror“We have a challenge. We have a solution.”

As part of BIE and BIA’s Indigenous Food Hub initiative, they will hire a nutritionist for the first time to help develop and implement culturally appropriate nutrition and training standards that draw from Indigenous knowledge. BIE and BIA will also make efforts to identify and connect native vendors and producers, and community-based systems such as tribal food sovereignty and health programs.

This initiative utilizes indigenous knowledge to provide a holistic approach to support the indigenous food sovereignty movement that incorporates the social determinants of culture, health, food, nutrition, land management, and regenerative agriculture. to develop

“Tribes have their own solutions to their challenges,” says Garriott. “It is our job to enable the development of solutions to the challenges faced by tribes and indigenous peoples.”

The program includes a pilot hub of four BIE schools and four BIA detention centers to source food from native producers and vendors, provide cook training and develop educational materials.

“For thousands of years, indigenous people have had good food,” Garriott added. “We were physically fit and healthy. A lot of that was due to our lifestyle and healthy eating habits.”

Garriott said some of the biggest challenges facing indigenous peoples today relate to their overall health.

Garriott said the department has developed a timeline for launching the food hub and a selection process has been designed. The Home Office wants to ensure that the infrastructure surrounding the Indigenous food hub can be supported.

The Ministry of Interior announced a new initiative. White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health The end of September.It’s part of the Biden administration National Hunger, Nutrition and Health Strategyaims to end hunger and increase healthy eating and physical activity.

“The Biden-Harris administration will continue to promote access and affordability of food across Indian nations, relying on Indigenous knowledge to ensure that Indigenous communities receive culturally appropriate, healthy nutrition education. We are working to improve the ,” Harland said.

Erin Parker, executive director of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative, said it was exciting to see traditional food and tribal food sovereignty included in the White House national strategy.

“It’s great to see the federal government taking a little lead,” Parker said.

IFAI is non-profit organization It “places tribal sovereignty on food sovereignty and focuses on promoting tribal-led solutions to revitalize and advance traditional food systems and diverse economic development across Indian Country.”

Parker said the federal government’s creation of opportunities for better connections between indigenous communities and traditionally or culturally appropriate foods is the baseline of trust responsibility they owe to tribal states. .

“The long-term impact on Indigenous health of better connections with these foods cannot be understated,” said Parker, noting that the principles behind Indigenous nutritional science date back thousands of years. known from

“It’s called traditional food because it’s part of tradition,” she said.

More federal agencies involved in Indigenous food sovereignty are a result of increased representation of Indigenous peoples at the federal level, Parker said.

“It’s not just about the health of the Indigenous people who have access to these foods, it’s about the health of the community,” Parker said. It’s a precious part.”

For nearly a decade, Parker has fought to increase support for Indigenous food and policies related to food sovereignty. It took years of advocacy and leadership from the tribal community to get to this point.

“It’s great to see all of this work coalescing into better access to food, hopefully culturally appropriate,” Parker said.

The BIA and BIE were not the only federal agencies to establish committees in support of food sovereignty as part of the administration’s national strategy. USDA seeks to support tribal food sovereignty by improving staff recruitment and training to ensure they have knowledge that will benefit Indigenous communities.

USDA is also working to expand food distribution programs in tribal countries, partnering with tribes to enhance food packages, expand the number of indigenous and traditional foods in Provides school feeding program operators with resources to integrate healthy foods into school feeding programs. school lunch.

The Administration for Children and Families is committed to updating resource guides for indigenous communities and increasing knowledge and access to health and welfare service resources for food security, food sovereignty, and physical activity in tribal countries. increase.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has also approved appropriate grants for India’s community development block grants to help expand access to food through the development of food banks and pantries, healthy eating habits, and physical activity. We plan to promote its use. People with limited access to affordable and nutritious food.