Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:
Nothing Reported
Changes/Problems:Problems and major challenges that have taken place have been identified as the following, turnover in Food Sovereignty Director position, limited staff in office and onsite due to COVID-19 considerations and issues, also the lack of relationship between Main Street Project and Thunder Valley CDC FSI. In February of 2022 the previous director had stepped down from their role. In March of 2022 the new Food Sovereignty Director had assumed all roles and responsibilities. There was also limited staff able to take care of the demonstration farm during the early reporting period. Following up the relationship between Main Street Project and Thunder Valley CDC had its limitations as leadership had changed with Main Street Project and contact was on limited basis making any forward momentum difficult. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Opportunities for training have been significant. Opportunities for staff to receive training on proper poultry system design, development and implementation have been demonstrated through staff and community commitment to attaining and maintaining training standards. Poultry and Egghandlers Licenses have been attained by all staff and Poultry system education and implementation. Continuing education and further certifications in relative soil and gardening/ food systems training are provided for all incoming Food Sovereignty Staff. Proper techniques and methods have been put together and are constantly refined through local extension offices and program defined procedures and certifying bodies. Master Gardener, Master Food Preserver, Data collection, analysis and projections has become a constant process of refinement and a daily part of demonstration farm management in record keeping. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of Egg Production and Poultry Health and Soil Indicators have been collected through SalesForce and are disseminated through monthly reports from Food Sovereignty Initiative. Proper and limited dissemination passes through channels to leadership team and partners of Food Sovereignty Coalition in pertinent memorandums. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period it is our goal to expand and refine our current goals and see them through to completion by the end of next reporting period. We will: Increase community education by using our newly refined Food Sovereignty Curriculum and provide hands-on training at the Regenerative Demonstration Farm to 250 community members. Will train 5 local producers to replicate the regenerative poultry unit system we have developed as a model in partnership with the Main Street Project or like partners. Work through the Pine Ridge Food Sovereignty Coalition and adjoining bodies such as local, tribal and federal agencies to develop policies and structures for enhanced food system development on Pine Ridge. Will create and implement a marketing campaign to see a 30% increase in the use and purchase of fresh local healthy foods from producers across the reservation.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Under these goals community impact and participation has been significant. Within our Food Sovereignty Curriculum and utilization of our onsite demonstration farm we have increased our outreach within our hands-on events and met over half of our original goal of 200 community members within the first years of the project. With the cooperation of the Food Sovereignty Coalition the groundwork and preliminary conversations with community members and producers has begun to identify shortcomings in the local food system and solutions have begun to be developed. Policies are being drafted to present to local land committees and producer led growing associations. Marketing campaign initialization has begun through producer focused training and networking at local and regional agricultural conferences such as the Intertribal Agriculture Council Annual Conference and additional tribal Food Sovereignty events.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Article written in the Lakota Country Times on the Lakota Food Summit put on by the TVCDC Food Sovereignty Initiative.
https://www.lakotatimes.com/articles/2nd-annual-lakota-food-summit/
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Article also written by NativeNewsOnline.com on the Lakota Food Summit put on by the TVCDC Food Sovereignty Initiative.
https://nativenewsonline.net/sponsored-content/the-lakota-food-sovereignty-to-host-2nd-lakota-food-summit-in-rapid-city
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:
Nothing Reported
Changes/Problems:The problems that we faced this last year was COVID-19, then the Delta Virant that hit the United States and everything was closed down. It hit the Pine Ridge Reservation hard and we lost a lot of our Native people because there are 3-4 families living in one household. We had a lot of the elders here on the reservation that had passed due to this virus. The office here at Thunder Valley Community Corporation Development was shut down a lot of the time and all the staff worked virtual. Not being able to have meetings and training in person was hard and I couldn't complete the proper training that we had scheduled for the staff and community members. We did the best that we could through zoom and the training that was held in person, only a few people could attend due to the CDC guideline. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The Food Sovereignty Initiative (FSI) provides at least two trainings monthly for the community members and the FSI staff . Some of the training was through zoom because of covid and the rest of the training was in-person (limit the amount of people because of the CDC guidelines). Here are the different training that were hosted by Thunder Valley Food Sovereignty: climate change, high tunnel, gardening for success, traditional plants, fruit tree planting, marketing, regenerative agriculture, canning plums and chokecherries, making salsa, canned tomatoes, how to make wasna (dried buffalo meat). The Lakota Food Sovereignty Coalition had their First Annual Lakota Food Summit February 2020 at the Rushmore Plaza Holiday and there were a lot of presenters that shared their expertise around food sovereignty. There were eight schools with 50 students that attended the summit and presented to the public what food sovereignty meant to them. There were 11 different tribes that had attended and learned a lot from our local Native producers. This was a great opportunity for the community to come and learn and grow their own food and to be self sustainable. ? How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The Thunder Valley Food Sovereignty Director has been able to advertise through the Thunder Valley Facebook page, the local Native KILI Radio Station, Local Native Newspaper (Native Sun Newspaper and Lakota Country Times). After having a training the community members are required to fill out a survey regarding their feedback on the training then to enter the information into salesforce, which is a system that is used to report all the activities that each initiative does in their department. At the end of the month the report is printed out for the board of directors to review. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The goals that Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, Food Sovereignty Initiative plans on accomplishing is everything on the NIFA grant that is required if the virus doesn't hit hard again. The beginning of the year of 2022, the Food Sovereignty Initiative will identify what foods are available throughout the year. Also, have a draft food policy to present to the local schools to purchase local foods such as: fresh eggs, vegetables and meat into their schools lunch program throughout the Pine Ridge Reservation. The Lakota Food Sovereignty Coalition will be hosting the Second Lakota Food Summit on February 15, 16, 17, 2022 that will be held at the Rushmore Plaza Holiday Inn, Rapid City SD. This summit will have expertise sharing their information to the community members and the public about food sovereignty. This summit will bring in tribes from all over the United States to learn from each other.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Created a Bilingual Food Sovereignty Curriculum Activity Book for the youth and will continue to work with the Tribal Schools on the Pine Ridge Reservation to implement the Bilingual Food Sovereignty Activity Book into the classrooms to learn about healthy foods, gardening, implementing the traditional uses of the buffalo, and to learn their Native language. Thunder Valley Farms donated chickens to 27 household members on the Pine Ridge Reservation for the individuals to raise their own chicken farms. By the year of 2022, there will be hands-on training to the community members and 5 local producers will partner with Main Street Project and Thunder Valley Farms to develop their own poultry unit. Because of COVID-19, it has been hard being able to have training in person for the local poultry unit system. Main Street Project has not been able to travel during COVID-19 and most of the year the Thunder Valley office has been closed to the public due to the Covid outbreak on the Pine Ridge Reservation. In the last three years, the Lakota Food Sovereignty Coalition has grown from three members to twelve members. These partners: Tatanka Fund, Partnerships with Native Americans, Oyate Teca, One Spirit, Families Working Together, South Dakota State University Extension (SDSU), Badlands RC&D, Red Cloud Indian School, Natural Resource Conservation (NRCS), All Nations Gathering Center, Oglala Lakota College-Agricultural Extension, and Indigenous Generations.We have our monthly meetings in person throughout zoom meetings. In the year of 2020, before COVID-19 hit hard in the United States, the Lakota Food Sovereignty Coalition held a First Annual Lakota Food Summit. There were experts sharing their information on nutrition, gardening, traditional foods, high tunnels, bee keeping, canning, wetland and soil. This year Food Sovereignty had 4 Farmers Markets, donated 3,200 pound of fresh produce throughout the Pine Ridge Reservation and donated chickens to 27 households to help their families to start their own chicken farm. Also, donated 200lbs of zucchini to Oyate Teca, donated pumpkins to Red Shirt School and to the community members for their children during Halloween.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:During this grant period the target audience was all ages. The Food Sovereignty Director worked with schools across the reservation implementing the Food Sovereignty Curriculum grades 4th through 7th grade and also the Bi-Cultural Activity Book for grades 1st through 3rd. Worked closely with the TVCDC Workforce Development workers 18-24 years of age, putting on training for them such as: gardening for success, buffalo harvest, CPR and emergency preparedness training. During the First Annual Lakota Foods Summit, there were 300 attendees from 11 different tribes and 8 different schools that had attended.The presenters all shared their expertise on Food Sovereignty to the attendees. Changes/Problems:The problems that TVCDC Food Sovereignty has faced is the pandemic, most of the training that we had in person are now zoom trainings, there are a lot of community members that don't have internet or computers at home so they can not attend. We will continue to do distance learning and have to follow the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribes Ordinance by only having 8 people at a time to attend any events that are in person. Keeping everyone safe is very important, there are a lot of lives on the Pine Ridge Reservation that were taken from the COVID-19. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? TVCDC Food Sovereignty Initiative has expanded the Lakota Food Sovereignty Coalition they are: Oglala Lakota College, Agriculture Extension, Oyate Teca Gardening Classes, United States Department of Agriculture, South Dakota State University- Agriculture Extension, Natural Resource Conservation Service, One Spirit, InterTribal Buffalo Council, Families Working Together, Tatanka Bar, Red Cloud Indian School, Partnerships With Native Americans, and Indignous Generation to create our food system on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Working together we meet once a month on zoom meetings to brainstorm together on how to improve our local food system and the community needs such as putting on trainings.The trainings that were provided to the community were: Gardening for Success High Tunnels Greenhouses Honey Farms Climate Change Fruit Tree Planting Traditional Buffalo Harvest Tradition Plants Emergency Preparedness Training CPR Training Marketing your Produce No-till gardening Food Demonstrations Salsa Making Nutrition Soils and Wetlands Food Hubs Some of these trainings were held during the First Annual Lakota Food Summit that the TVCDC Food Sovereignty Director led and organized. The first day of the summit there was a Native Chef event with 11 Native Chefs from different reservations that cooked decolonized foods. The chefs educated the attendees on eating healthier and how the Native Ancestors lived off the land many years ago. Following the chef event there were presenters that shared their expertise on food sovereignty. During the summit there were keynote speakers and 4 breakout sessions that took place for 2 days. We also had a Food Sovereignty Youth, these students were from 8 different schools and tribes that attended during the summit. The youth gave a presentation to the public on what food sovereignty meant to them. The coalition is also working on creating jobs for students and starting a Food Sovereignty Youth Council on the Pine Ridge Reservation, getting the youth more involved with gardening and learning the importance of Food Sovereignty. The youth will be our future leaders, so it's important to get them involved. TVCDC Farms gave 280 chickens to the community members that were interested in starting their own chicken farms. Each individual received 10 chickens and information was given to them that never raised chickens before. This was exciting for the community members because the chickens were still laying eggs and the Food Sovereignty staff had done a follow up to see how things were going. Some of the community members were excited because they had fresh eggs for breakfast and were very thankful. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?TVCDC's Food Sovereignty Initiative collects both qualitative and quantitative data using surveys, observations, document reviews and staff feedback. We put this information into Salesforce as a holding database for evaluation information. To collect the data we will use standardized forms built within Salesforce. These forms are filled out by stakeholders and community members that participate in the TVCDC Food Sovereignty activities. We contextualize that data by qualitative data and storytelling in our reports. The TVCDC Food Sovereignty Director plays an important part by entering all the information of the different activities that have happened each month. Results of the measurements and evaluation activities are shared within the organization, in the community and other funders through our initiative annual reports. A monthly report on our "Story of Us" organizational story collection, is provided to the communications and community engagement teams for use with the media and the community. The evaluation team continues to develop more ideas to expand our reach to the community. Also, during the First Annual Lakota Food Summit there was an evaluation form that was handed out to the attendees, this was entered into an excel sheet to see what the community interest was and what needed improvement. Most of the evaluations had a high rating from the presenter. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?TVCDC Farms will continue to work with partnership to help the regenerative farm grow and educate the community members on food sovereignty so they can become self-sustainable. The Food Sovereignty Director will continue to lead the Lakota Food Sovereignty Coalition to increase communication and collaboration between local partners that focus on food production, education, policy making, economic development and food distribution. Will provide community classes on food sovereignty, work with the youth leadership to continue working with the community members this spring on planting gardens, and collaborate with South Dakota Local Foods on creating Farmers Market materials.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Sustainable Agriculture and Community Engagement -strengthen the food system on the Pine Ridge Reservation, continuing to educate the communities on gardening, nutrition, healthy foods, being self sustainable, and continue to help educate our younger generation about food sovereignty, as well as, being economically self sustainable. The TVCDC Food Sovereignty Farms has a poultry unit system with over 380 chickens, planted in the geo-thermal greenhouse and the garden. This year the garden was wiped out from the hail, but was still able to harvest from the geo-thermal greenhouse. Food Sovereignty also held a beginners gardening training for the staff and local community members. Partnerships-TVCDC is working with the Food Sovereignty Coalition by partnering with the local nonprofits such as: Partnerships with Native Americans, Oyate Teca, One Spirit, Families Working Together, South Dakota State University Extension (SDSU), Badlands RC&D, Red Cloud Indian School, Natural Resource Conservation (NRCS), All Nations Gathering Center, Oglala Lakota College-Agricultural Extension, TaTanka Bar, Intertribal Buffalo Council (ITBC) and Indigenous Generations.We have our monthly meetings through zoom because of the pandemic, this has been hard on the community members because most of the community members do not have internet or a computer, so they are not able to join. Before the pandemic the TVCDC Food Sovereignty Director led and organized the First Annual Lakota Food Summit that was held in Rapid City, SD on February 18, 19 & 20, 2020, there were 11 different tribes and 8 different schools that had attended to share their expertise on nutrition, gardening, traditional foods, high tunnels, bee keeping, canning, wetland and soil. Education- Worked with students on the Pine Ridge Reservation implementing the Food Sovereignty Curriculum and the Bi-Cultural Activity Book into the schools. The Food Sovereignty Director had gardening training for the TVCDC staff, 18 workforce workers and the community members. This was outside and the attendees wore a mask and kept social distancing. TVCDC Food Sovereignty had a traditional buffalo harvest. There were VISTA, Workforce and Summer Associates that had attended. Only a certain amount of people could attend the buffalo harvest due to the pandemic and TVCDC had to follow the Oglala Sioux Tribes ordinance. Many community members on the reservation have expressed an interest in learning about gardening and want to become self-sustainable, this would benefit not only these individuals but their entire families. Once the pandemic is over Food Sovereignty will continue to have the training in person.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience is working with the Pine Ridge Reservation community members and their families, Thunder Valley Food Sovereignty Initiative offered training such as: gardening for success, climate change, traditional foods, canning class, fruit tree planting and teaching about nutrition. Working with the community members will help them become self sustainable and self sufficient. Food Sovereignty Initiative also works with the schools on the Pine Ridge Reservation implementing a Food Sovereignty Curriculum into 13 schools for grades 5th through 7th. We give the students a pretest before doing any work in the curriculum then after words we give them a post test to see what they have learned. The curriculum teaches the students about gardening, food safety and traditional foods. The programs that we have been collaborating with Oglala Lakota College: Agriculture, Oyate Teca: Gardening Classes, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA); South Dakota, South Dakota State University: Ag Extension, Rosebud Economic Development Corporation: Food Sovereignty, USDA: Natural Resource Conservation Service to create our food system. We are also collaborating with Regenerative Agriculture Alliance. The Regenerative Agriculture will work with Thunder Valley to provide training and technical assistance for the community members who aspire to become regenerative poultry farmers as part of an expanded Food Sovereignty Initiative. Changes/Problems:The changes and problems that TVCDC Food Sovereignty Demonstration Farms had was the chickens went into molting and quit laying eggs, so we had to give the chickens away to the community members that wanted them. In the winter time the water lines froze up to the main Thunder Valley building, so had to haul water to the chickens. The greenhouse caved in and had to rebuild it and brought in more dirt. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?TVCDC Food Sovereignty Initiative has expanded the Lakota Food Sovereignty Coalition they are: Oglala Lakota College, Agriculture Extension, Oyate Teca Gardening Classes, United States Department of Agriculture, South Dakota State University- Agriculture Extension, Natural Resource Conservation Service, One Spirit and Indignous Generation to create our food system. Working together we meet once a month at different locations and brainstorm together on how to improve our local food system and the community needs such as putting on trainings: gardening, high tunnels, greenhouses, honey farms, climate change, farmers markets, fruit tree planting, no-till gardening, and food safety. The coalition is also working on creating jobs for kids, getting the youth more involved with gardening and learning the importance of Food Sovereignty. TVCDC Lakota Food Sovereignty and the Lakota Food Sovereignty Coalition will hold its "First Annual Lakota Food Summit," The different presenters will share their knowledge by giving a presentation on their expertise regarding food sovereignty. TVCDC Food Sovereignty also partners with the Regenerative Agriculture Alliance. The Regenerative Agriculture Alliance works with Thunder Valley to provide training and technical assistance for the community members who aspire to become regenerative poultry farmers as part of an expanded Food Sovereignty Farms How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?TVCDC's Food Sovereignty Initiative collects both qualitative and quantitative data using surveys, observations, document reviews and staff feedback. We put this information into Salesforce as a holding database for evaluation information. To collect the data we will use standardized forms built within Salesforce. These forms are filled out by stakeholders and community members that participate in the TVCDC Food Sovereignty activities. We contextualize that data by qualitative data and storytelling in our reports. The TVCDC Food Sovereignty Director plays an important part by entering all the information of the different activities that have happened each month. Results of the measurements and evaluation activities are shared within the organization, in the community and other funders through our initiative annual reports. A monthly report on our "Story of Us" organizational story collection, is provided to the communications and community engagement teams for use with the media and the community. The evaluation team continues to develop more ideas to expand our reach to the community. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The TVCDC Food Sovereignty Demonstration Farms will continue to expand the Regenerative Demonstration Farm and work with the youth educating the students about food sovereignty by implementing the Food Sovereignty Curriculum into the grades 4th through 7th throughout the reservation. TVCDC Food Sovereignty will be creating a Food Sovereignty Bi-Cultural Activity Book for grades 1st through 3rd grade. This activity book will be in Lakota and English and will have gardening, learn about parts of the buffalo that the Native ancestors utilized the meat and every part of the buffalo, missing words and count the garden tools and vegetables. TVCDC will continue to plant community gardens, at daycares, and have training for the community members such as: gardening for success, high tunnels, canning classes, traditional foods, marketing, and nutrition. The Thunder Valley Demonstration Farms will continue to work with the Regenerative Agriculture Alliance creating a farmers manual to help educate our local community members that are interested in starting their own chicken farm, whether they raised chickens for broilers or for egg layers.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Sustainable Agriculture and Community Engagement -strengthen the food system on the Pine Ridge Reservation, continuing to educate the communities on gardening, nutrition, healthy foods, being self sustainable, and continue to help educate our younger generation about food sovereignty, as well as, being economically self sustainable. The Regenerative Agriculture Alliance worked with TVCDC Food Sovereignty and provided training and technical assistance for community members who aspire to become regenerative poultry farmers as part of an expanded Food Sovereignty Initiative expanded by Educational Demonstration Farms. Also, completed the Food Policy manual for the community members. In the last year TVCDC staff implemented the Food Sovereignty Curriculum into 13 schools across the Pine Ridge Reservation. Also created a Food Sovereignty Bi-Curltural Activity Book for 2nd -4th graders, teaching the younger generation about healthy foods. This activity book has already been implemented into 3 schools and will be working with 10 more schools throughout the reservation. Partnerships-TVCDC is working with the Food Sovereignty Coalition by partnering with the local nonprofits such as: Partnerships with Native Americans, Oyate Teca, One Spirit, Families Working Together, South Dakota State University Extension (SDSU), Badlands RC&D, Red Cloud Indian School, Natural Resource Conservation (NRCS), All Nations Gathering Center, Oglala Lakota College-Agricultural Extension, and Indigenous Generations.We have our monthly meetings in person throughout the reservation. This is to ensure that the community will be involved and to hear their needs regarding how the coalition can help the local communities. For example, we offer training on how to improve our native peoples health and quality of life by eating healthier. TVCDC Food Sovereignty is also currently working on the First Annual Lakota Food Summit to be held in Rapid City, SD in February 2020, we will be bringing in presenters throughout the Great Plains Tribes to share their expertise on nutrition, gardening, traditional foods, high tunnels, bee keeping, canning, wetland and soil. Education-Worked with 13 schools on the reservation implementing the Food Sovereignty Curriculum into the classrooms, as well as, planting gardens at the daycares and schools. We are continuing to work with the community to help teach about gardening, canning, and how to become self-sustainable. Many community members on the reservation have expressed an interest in learning about gardening and want to become self-sustainable, this would benefit not only these individuals but their entire families. Marketing-Create a marketing plan to increase awareness of healthy foods creating brochures and flyers about nutrition and healthy foods working with the Lakota Food Sovereignty Coalition, the youth and the elders to market healthy foods.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Author Dianne Amiotte-Seidel
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