Progress 09/01/17 to 02/28/18
Outputs
Target Audience:Our planning project will target the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska's Indian reservation in Thurston County in northeastern Nebraska. The county is entirely rural (no community in the county has a population more than 1200 people), and also one of the poorest counties in the state and/or nation. Thurston County's 2969 residents are 55.9 percent Native American, compared to a statewide population that is just 1.3% Native American. (Within the community of Winnebago the percentage of Native Americans approaches ninety percent.) The four year average poverty rate for the county is 26.9% which is more than double Nebraska's statewide rate of 12.8% over that same term. Median household income of $41,400 is just 80% of the statewide median income of $51,672. Although the County's unemployment rate of 7.2% is only slightly higher than national rates, it remains more than two and a half times the statewide unemployment rate for the State of Nebraska (2.7%) Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project supported community members' travel and training. Members of our planning team visited other tribal communities that have projects we were interested in replicationg or adapting for our reservation. This included travel to Oneida, MN (community farm model project) and to Las Vegas, NV (controlled environment vertical farming project). Project staff also attended a national food/hunger workshop in Boston, MA in December, 2017 and shared information from that professional development event with all members of our Winnebago Food Security Planning Task Force. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We held two community forums to share findings/recommendations from the planning process. Also we publicized updates and stories via the HCCDC electronic newsletter, the IndianNews website, and through the Winnebago Indian News (WIN) print newspaper. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Our project is completed, but we are taking definitive steps to implement key initiatives prioritized during the planning process including conduction a home gardening initiative, constructing a Farmers Market pavilion, expanding planting of the tribe's traditional corn varietal, and developing more cooking/nutiriton classes through the Tribe's Health Department.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
GOAL 1: Strengthen working relationships between sectors of the Winnebago food system Progress towards Goal 1: This goal has been fully attained. Our planning task force of more than 25 people engaged local government (tribal council), business sector (HoChunk Farms, HoChunk, Inc.); non-profits (HCCDC, HoChunk Community Development CDFI); faith community, tribal college, Tribal Health Department, charitable foundations, and others in a sustained planning process. Through this engagement, mutually beneficial collaborations have been formed to conduct the food and nutrition, economic development, and related projects that emerged as shared priorities in the planning process. There is definitely a sense of common cause and a willingness for partners to share their resources and expertise to address food security in our community. GOAL 2: Develop Consensus Strategies to increase food security for tribal members Progress toward Goal 2: This goal has been attained as a result of our shared planning. We identified and reviewed in detail a number of models and concepts for initiatives that might advance food security in our community including the list of Projects/Concepts summarized in the Winnebago Food Security Task Force "Next Steps" section that closes this report. The task force recognizes that food security is complex and multi-faceted and that meaningful progress on a number of levels (local food production, community education, economic development, cultural awareness, and outreach to high need populations) will need to occur in tandem. So there is no single consensus project identified, but rather a number of integrated initiatives that will need to proceed in parallel. That's the consensus approach which will be undertaken and which will be supported by the enhanced collaborative relationships of the community partners. GOAL 3: Obtain commitments and resources to position the community to move from planning to implementation Progress toward Goal 3: This goal has been partially attained and work is still being done to maximize opportunities for securing resources. We have secured funding to conduct a raised bed gardening initiative serving 75 local households in summer 2018; we have commitments for technical assistance from the MAV Foundation to pursue expanding food production and marketing of locally grown food products; we have established a revolving loan fund to assist food related entrepreneurs; we have submitted proposals for federal and foundation funding to support Farmers Market project work, small business incubator, and construction of a year-round growing facility.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/16 to 02/28/18
Outputs
Target Audience:Our planning project will target the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska's Indian reservation in Thurston County in northeastern Nebraska. The county is entirely rural (no community in the county has a population more than 1200 people), and also one of the poorest counties in the state and/or nation. Thurston County's 2969 residents are 55.9 percent Native American, compared to a statewide population that is just 1.3% Native American. (Within the community of Winnebago the percentage of Native Americans approaches ninety percent.) The four year average poverty rate for the county is 26.9% which is more than double Nebraska's statewide rate of 12.8% over that same term. Median household income of $41,400 is just 80% of the statewide median income of $51,672. Although the County's unemployment rate of 7.2% is only slightly higher than national rates, it remains more than two and a half times the statewide unemployment rate for the State of Nebraska (2.7%) [1] US Census, 2014 estimate [2] City-Data, 2015 [3] 2013 US Census [4] Ibid [5] US Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2015 Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Our planning project grant (and cost-share provided by partners) funded community members' travel and training. Members of our planning team visited other tribal communities that have food projects we were interested in replicating or adaption on our reservation. This included travel to Oneida, MN (community farm model project) and to Las Vegas, NV (tribal vertical farming model). Project staff also attended a nation food/hunger workshop series in Boston, MA in December 2017 and shared information from that professional development event with all members of the Winnebago Food Security Planning Task Force. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We held two well-attended community forums to share findings/recommendations from the planning process. Also we publicized updates and stories via the HCCDC electronic newsletter, the IndianNewz website, and through the Winnebago Indian News (WIN) print newspaper. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
GOAL 1: Strengthen working relationships between sectors of the Winnebago food system Progress towards Goal 1: This goal has been fully attained. Our planning task force of more than 25 people engaged local government (tribal council), business sector (HoChunk Farms, HoChunk, Inc.); non-profits (HCCDC, HoChunk Community Development CDFI); faith community, tribal college, Tribal Health Department, charitable foundations, and others in a sustained planning process. Through this engagement, mutually beneficial collaborations have been formed to conduct the food and nutrition, economic development, and related projects that emerged as shared priorities in the planning process. There is definitely a sense of common cause and a willingness for partners to share their resources and expertise to address food security in our community. GOAL 2: Develop Consensus Strategies to increase food security for tribal members Progress toward Goal 2: This goal has been attained as a result of our shared planning. We identified and reviewed in detail a number of models and concepts for initiatives that might advance food security in our community including the list of Projects/Concepts summarized in the Winnebago Food Security Task Force "Next Steps" section that closes this report. The task force recognizes that food security is complex and multi-faceted and that meaningful progress on a number of levels (local food production, community education, economic development, cultural awareness, and outreach to high need populations) will need to occur in tandem. So there is no single consensus project identified, but rather a number of integrated initiatives that will need to proceed in parallel. That's the consensus approach which will be undertaken and which will be supported by the enhanced collaborative relationships of the community partners. GOAL 3: Obtain commitments and resources to position the community to move from planning to implementation Progress toward Goal 3: This goal has been partially attained and work is still being done to maximize opportunities for securing resources. We have secured funding to conduct a raised bed gardening initiative serving 75 local households in summer 2018; we have commitments for technical assistance from the MAV Foundation to pursue expanding food production and marketing of locally grown food products; we have established a revolving loan fund to assist food related entrepreneurs; we have submitted proposals for federal and foundation funding to support Farmers Market project work, small business incubator, and construction of a year-round growing facility.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Our planning project will target the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska's Indian reservation in Thurston County in northeastern Nebraska. The county is entirely rural (no community in the county has a population more than 1200 people), and also one of the poorest counties in the state and/or nation. Thurston County's 2969 residentsare 55.9 percent Native American, compared to a statewide population that is just 1.3% Native American. (Within the community of Winnebago the percentage of Native Americans approaches ninety percent.) The four year average poverty rate for the county is 26.9% which is more than double Nebraska's statewide rate of 12.8% over that same term. Median household income of $41,400 is just 80% of the statewide median income of $51,672. Although the County's unemployment rate of 7.2% is only slightly higher than national rates, it remains more than two and a half times the statewide unemployment rate for the State of Nebraska (2.7%). Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project supported community members travel and training with other tribal communities that have projects that were considered for replication on our reservation (community farm initiative in Oneida, MN and a controlled environment project with a tribe in Las Vegas, NV). Also project staff attended professional development at a national food and hunger seminar in Boston, MA and shared information from that training with our Winnebago Food Security Task Force. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We held two community forums to discuss the food planning initiative. Also, there were updated and stories printed in the HCCDC electronic newsletter, the IndianNews website, and through the tribal newspaper. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We have completed work on the planning project and will move priority initiatives torward implementation.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
GOAL 1: Strengthen working relationships between sectors of the Winnebago food system Progress towards Goal 1: This goal has been fully attained. Our planning task force of more than 25 people engaged local government (tribal council), business sector (HoChunk Farms, HoChunk, Inc.); non-profits (HCCDC, HoChunk Community Development CDFI); faith community, tribal college, Tribal Health Department, charitable foundations, and others in a sustained planning process. Through this engagement, mutually beneficial collaborations have been formed to conduct the food and nutrition, economic development, and related projects that emerged as shared priorities in the planning process. There is definitely a sense of common cause and a willingness for partners to share their resources and expertise to address food security in our community. GOAL 2: Develop Consensus Strategies to increase food security for tribal members Progress toward Goal 2: This goal has been attained as a result of our shared planning. We identified and reviewed in detail a number of models and concepts for initiatives that might advance food security in our community including the list of Projects/Concepts summarized in the Winnebago Food Security Task Force "Next Steps" section that closes this report. The task force recognizes that food security is complex and multi-faceted and that meaningful progress on a number of levels (local food production, community education, economic development, cultural awareness, and outreach to high need populations) will need to occur in tandem. So there is no single consensus project identified, but rather a number of integrated initiatives that will need to proceed in parallel. That's the consensus approach which will be undertaken and which will be supported by the enhanced collaborative relationships of the community partners. GOAL 3: Obtain commitments and resources to position the community to move from planning to implementation Progress toward Goal 3: This goal has been partially attained and work is still being done to maximize opportunities for securing resources. We have secured funding to conduct a raised bed gardening initiative serving 75 local households in summer 2018; we have commitments for technical assistance from the MAV Foundation to pursue expanding food production and marketing of locally grown food products; we have established a revolving loan fund to assist food related entrepreneurs; we have submitted proposals for federal and foundation funding to support Farmers Market project work, small business incubator, and construction of a year-round growing facility.
Publications
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