Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience: Our target audience for this project was Native American, Alaskan, and Hawaiian high-school and college-aged youth. As of 8/31/2024, we have served 165 Native youth through this work; all these Native youth have attended our annual Native Youth in Food and Agriculture Leadership Summit.? Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? During this project, Native youth participants have continued to work one-on-one and in small groups with some of Indian Country's agricultural experts. This has provided them with training, professional development, and connections with future colleagues across various subject areas. The project supports training and professional development for Native youth involved in Summit activities, as well as for IFAI full-time staff and student workers, who have attended conferences to expand their professional networks and knowledge. The Summit also offered skills development through a capstone project, where each track addressed a unique problem statement in a group setting and formally presented their work to their peers and subject matter experts. Problem-based learning developed skills in a student-centered approach. Participants also got experience working on a diverse team and using all their resources and knowledge to solve a problem. The presentation component gave students public speaking and professionalism experience. These projects were facilitated closely by subject matter experts throughout the weeklong event. Some of the topics covered in specific tracks included in the Land Stewardship and Conservation Track a problem focused on resource management on a ranch through a rotational grazing problem and another year that track's groups were challenged to pitch a detailed stream restoration project. The Law and Policy and Agrobusiness and Finance tracks worked on creating and funding a tribal department of agriculture for a fictional tribe, and in 2024 the Agrobusiness and Finance Track groups created business ideas to meet needs in Indigenous agriculture and prepared pitches for them to potential funders. One of the Health and Nutrition track capstones required students to develop an action and implementation plan to improve health outcomes in a tribal community another year they created circular, yearly calendars of traditional, regional foods representing their communities. In 2024 we added the Animal Science track. Their capstone focused on designing a plan for a cattle farm that includes grazing plans, expansion plans, breeding plans, and vaccination schedules. These projects engaged participants in skills such as research, seeking input from their network, navigating jurisdictional and funding challenges, professionalism, and teamwork. Each group also prepared and presented their findings to peers and professionals, gaining feedback and practicing their presentation skills. Another training and skills development component of the Summits was the Indigenous and Local Foods Banquet along with various other food and nutrition related activities. The banquets were hosted in collaboration with community organizers and chefs Denisa Livingston and Mackee Bancroft in a commercial kitchen space. Participants helped prepare and serve an entire meal. They learned new cooking techniques and flavor profiles of healthy, cultural relevant and Indigenous-produced foods as well as safe practices for preparing and serving food. Other hands-on skills development included a jam-making and canning workshop hosted by Meagan Baldy. We visited the Fayetteville Farmer's Market during the in-person Summits as well and held discussions with the Market Director and Meagan Baldy about how to start a local market and considerations for operation. Participants were also introduced to USDA MyPlate and My Native Plate tools in an interactive setting. Field trips and hands on activities are a significant focus of each Summit. These visits offered participants opportunities to see enterprises that Tribal nations are investing in up close, ask questions and gain insights into the capital, labor, and infrastructure needed for communities to invest in these enterprises. Participants saw things like large scale greenhouses, aquaponic systems, a distillery, a coffee roasting operation, beef and bison processing plants, markets, entrepreneurial food innovation labs, agricultural drone demonstrations, wild seed harvesting and processing for restoration projects. Many of our hosts and guest facilitators offered experiences to the participants from bulk seed germination preparations and seed planting to hands on experience working livestock. The Summit was founded by Indigenous attorneys, takes place in a law school and has maintained a strong foundation of Indigenous agricultural law and policy. Each participant has learned about the farm bill and the Native Farm Bill Coalition (NFBC) and learned of the variety of connections that all Indian country development and food sovereignty have to the piece of legislation. Participants have learned about the Keepseagle vs Vilsack settlement and heard each year from representatives of the Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF, resultant settlement charitable trust). Beyond simple exposure to these concepts, participants are given tangible actions and practice experiences to empower them to engage with law and policy through involvement with NFBC and NAAF, engagement with their tribal councils and leadership, and encouraged to help shape and inform policy at all levels. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We advertise the Summit in online and print media, with details of this work included in our annual report as well. The report is available online at www.indigenousfoodandag.com. We also have print copies of this report available at all events where we have a tabling presence, including but not limited to the Intertribal Agriculture Council annual conference each December, IAC regional events and youth conferences, State FFA conventions, the Reservation Economic Summit, the Native Nutrition Conference, the Tribal Self-Governance conference, MANNRS, and more.? What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This project aimed to bridge the educational gap between high school and college for Native American, Alaskan, and Hawaiian students. The project addressed two main challenges: the perception of disrespect towards minority students' knowledge traditions (Funds of Knowledge Theory) and the devaluation of cultural values, namely familial and social capital, by universities (Cultural Wealth Theory). To tackle these issues, the project engaged 124 students in a pre-college workshop called the Native Youth Food and Agriculture Leadership Summit. This Summit, held annually for a week in July over the four project years, was an extension of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative's efforts. At the time of this award, the Summit had been running for seven years and involved over 500 Native youth interested in food and agriculture. The goal was to provide Native youth with educational framework to succeed academically and thrive with a clear sense of purpose. The Summit focused on five key areas: Agricultural Business and Finance; Land Stewardship and Conservation; Agricultural Law and Policy; Nutrition and Health; and Animal Science (added in 2024).We have held successful Summits during July of each project year. Please see below for highlights of each Summit. July 2021 Native Youth in Food & Agriculture Leadership Summit (virtual - 22 attendees) -This Summit was held online due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and inability to host in-person events. -IFAI sent food boxes to attendees to participate in a virtual cooking demonstration with Cherokee Chef Nico Abert. Students heard from individuals at our partner organization, Intertribal Agriculture Council ("IAC"), about the American Indian Foods program. -An Indigenous Agriculture Leadership Panel introduced attendees to Kari Jo Lawrence, the CEO of the Intertribal Agriculture Council and Toni Stanger-McLaughlin Federal Liaison for the Native American Agriculture Fund ("NAAF"). -Participants had an introduction to the USDA Tribal Youth Resources Guide presented by USDA Office of Tribal Relations ("USDA OTR") Outreach Specialist, Jeffrey Harris. July 2022 Native Youth in Food & Agriculture Leadership Summit (in person - 27 attendees) -This Summit was held in-person and included the Policy Leadership Program attendees (9 youth aged 16-18) who joined the Summit for two days. -Summit attendees visited several Osage Nation's food sovereignty initiatives, including Harvest Land, and toured Butcher House Meats, their tribally owned meat processing plant. -Participants met our founders, Janie Simms-Hipp, USDA General Counsel, and Stacy Leeds, Dean of the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State. -Careers in Agriculture were discussed in an interactive session facilitated by Celya Glowacki with The National FFA Organization. -Zach Ducheneaux, USDA Farm Service Agency Administrator, spoke about access to credit and policy changes within FSA. -The Policy Leadership Program included a specific focus on Title V (credit) of the Farm Bill making practical connections to law and policy for producers including a mock-congress experience to illustrate law making processes. July 2023 Native Youth in Food & Agriculture Leadership Summit (in person - 42 attendees) -This cohort of attendees included a young producer interested in expanding and an aquaponic farmer in business for four years. Many attendees were actively farming, ranching, and involved in agriculture production while in school. -Attendees got to visit the Center for Arkansas Food and Farms (CAFF), the Cherokee Nation Heirloom Garden, the 1839 Cherokee Meat Company, and the Euchee Butterfly Farm and Tribal Alliance for Pollinators. Guest speakers included Indigenous role models in the USDA including Krista Langley, Forest Service Subregional Workforce Development Specialist speaking about her work with the USFS including Indigenous knowledge. -Roylene Comes at Night, NRCS State Conservationist in Washington State shared how Indigenous knowledge can inform natural resource management and how partnerships between Tribal nations and federal agencies can lead to large scale change. -Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering Marty Matlock spoke to participants about belonging in higher education and life path. July 2024 Native Youth in Food & Agriculture Leadership Summit (in person - 33 attendees) -IFAI added an animal science track to the Summit, based on feedback from prior attendees. This course was designed by two IFAI staff with University of Arkansas faculty, an Indigenous meat scientist, and a licensed veterinarian/law student.This track was offered with the four other focus areas. -Attendees visited the Quapaw Nation farm and farmer's market guided by Quapaw's Food Sovereignty Director, Michelle Bowden. -Attendees traveled to Pitcher, Oklahoma to tour the Tar Creek Superfund Site to learn about the mining disaster impacting the Quapaw Nation, including remediation efforts involving Indigenous knowledge and agriculture. Quapaw Nation Environmental Scientist, Summer King, led the tour and discussed the impact on safety and food sovereignty. -The final stop was OGahPah Coffee Company where participants viewed a coffee roaster, and heard about the process of developing a coffee company from the ground up, to now investing in relationships with coffee producers world-wide. The group discussed vertical integration from the perspective of a Tribal Nation and the economic impact of trends and consumer preference on producers. -In addition to the field trip to the Quapaw Nation, participants heard from Lawrence Shorty USDA OTR Director of Tribal Colleges and Universities, registered dietician and entrepreneur Denee Bex, Whitney Sawney, NAAF Director of Communications and Policy and Janie Simms-Hipp, Native American Agriculture Financial Services CEO.? 2. We have further refined curricula for each of the subject matter areas in the Summit, incorporating Indigenous cultural values and ways of knowing to increase students' sense of intrinsic belonging while at the Summit. Content was developed and delivered by regionally and professionally diverse Indigenous subject matter experts from within our organization and from partners like IAC's Youth, Environmental Resources, American Indian Foods and Regenerative Economies programs and the Oklahoma Tribal Engagement Partners. 3. We launched an additional component in the 2022 Summit focused on agricultural policy and agricultural credit issues for Native producers. The students from all tracks had an additional opportunity to learn about agricultural credit, and the credit system in general, and participated in a mock Student Congress where they worked as legislators to resolve access to credit issues that Native producers currently experience. This addition to the programming was valuable in ensuring that Native youth participating in agriculture have visibility to challenges and solutions in credit access for Native-owned agriculture operations, and reduced barriers to the sense of intrinsic belonging in institutions that have not historically been equally accessible to Indigenous people. Participants worked together as mock-legislators to draft their own revisions to Title V of the farm bill including specific measures to increase young farmers and ranchers' access to capital. 4. We introduce participants to Indigenous role models from across Indigenous Agriculture. During each event tracks were led by Native American and Alaska Native subject matter experts from across the United States. Plenary speakers even from within federal agencies and outside organizations were Indigenous leaders in their respective fields. Through this prioritization of Indigenous role models as guest speakers and facilitators participants gained a greater sense of belonging in professional careers in agriculture.
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Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience for this project remains Native American, Alaskan, and Hawaiian high-school and college-aged youth. As of 8/31/2023, we have served 132 Native youth through this work; all of these Native youth have attended our annual Native Youth in Food and Agriculture Leadership Summit. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As we reported last time, Native youth participants during this project period have continued to be able to work one-on-one and in small groups with some of Indian Country's agricultural experts, giving them opportunities not only for training and professional development but also connections with future colleagues across subject matter areas. The project continues to support training and professional development opportunities for the Native youth participating in the Summit activities, but also for IFAI full-time staff and student workers who have been able to attend conferences and expand their own professional connections and knowledge through this work. The Summit also provided opportunities for skills development though a capstone project. Each track had a unique problem statement to address in a group setting. The Land Stewardship and Conservation Track learned about resource management on a ranch through a rotational grazing problem; the Law and Policy and Agrobusiness and Finance tracks tackled creating and funding a tribal department of agriculture for a fictional (but realistic) tribe; and the Health and Nutrition track challenged their participants to develop an action and implementation plan to improve health outcomes in a tribal community. Each project engaged the participants in skills development like research, navigating jurisdictional and funding challenges, and working on a team. Each group also prepared a presentation and presented it to their peers and professionals, providing opportunities for feedback and practice on their presentation skills. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We advertise the Summit in online and print media, with details of this work included in our annual report as well. The report is available online at www.indigenousfoodandag.com. We also have print copies of this report available at all events where we have a tabling presence, including but not limited to the Intertribal Agriculture Council annual conference each December, IAC regional events and youth conferences, State FFA conventions, the Reservation Economic Summit, the Native Nutrition Conference, the Tribal Self-Governance conference, MANNRS, and more. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the coming reporting period we will focus on delivering the 2024 Summit in July 2024. This will include: analyzing feedback via evaluation forms from students who attended the 2023 event and adjusting programming based on that feedback, identifying track leads for the 4 subject matter area tracks, developing an agenda in partnership with IAC and National FFA; identifying additional Tribal sites for field trip opportunities and experiential learning; setting dates and releasing applications, and hosting the 2024 Summit. We will also continue our on-campus efforts to enhance a sense of belonging amongst Native students on our campus by participating in campus DEI activities, supporting Indigenous students through events and other offerings, and continuing to support Indigenous faculty and staff.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1. We have successfully held Summits during July of each project year, with the first 2 events held online due to the coronavirus pandemic and corresponding inability to host in-person events. Summit attendance targets have been understandably lowered due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic during those two project years, but we have nevertheless had approximately 132 Native youth attend the program as of 8/31/2023. The Summit has continued to provide training and academic guidance to Native youth in four focus areas: 1) Agricultural Business and Finance; 2) Land Stewardship and Conservation; 3) Agricultural Law and Policy; and 4) Nutrition and Health. 2. We have further refined curricula for each of the four subject matter areas in the Summit, incorporating Indigenous cultural values and ways of knowing into curricula to increase students' sense of intrinsic belonging while at the Summit, which (when in-person) is held on our University campus. 3. We launched an additional component in the 2022 Summit focused on agricultural policy and agricultural credit issues for Native producers. The students from all tracks had an additional opportunity to learn about agricultural credit, and the credit system in general, and participated in a mock Student Congress where they worked as legislators to resolve access to credit issues that Native producers currently experience. This addition to the programming was not only valuable in ensuring that Native youth participating in agriculture have visibility to both challenges and solutions in credit access for Native-owned agriculture operations, but also continued to instill that sense of intrinsic belonging in institutions that have not historically been welcoming to Indigenous people or Indigenous ways of knowing and belonging.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience for this project remains Native American, Alaskan, and Hawaiian high-school and college-aged youth. As of 8/31/2022, we have served 92 Native youth through this work; all of these Native youth have attended our annual Native Youth in Food and Agriculture Leadership Summit. Changes/Problems:As we noted in our previous report, wehave had some significant challenges in terms of staff transition for this project, which has had 3 PI's over the last two years as many of our staff and team have transitioned away to new opportunities within USDA. IFAI's executive leadership team is wholly different from that contemplated at the beginning of this project, but our team remains committed to this work and has had some positive staff changes as well, including the hiring of a full-time youth coordinator, who will be working on her second all in-person Summit in the coming project year. We will also have one shift in approach from the previous project year. Based on student feedback and evaluations from our 2022 Summit experience, we are shifting away from the dedicated social network via Mighty Networks for the Summit. Attendees overwhelmingly expressed in program evaluation feedbackthat although they loved having access to Summit learning materials, having a separate social network was not something they were interested in. They greatly prefer to engage with one another via familiar social media networks that are popular with them and their peers-- Facebook, Instagram, and others. We will adjust our approach in the coming project year in accordance with this feedback and community practice and are looking at alternative ways of sharing Summit learning materials outside of the Mighty Networks structure. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As we reported last time, Native youth participants during this project periodhave continued to be able to work one-on-one and in small groups with some of Indian Country's agricultural experts, giving them opportunities not only for training and professional development but also connections with future colleagues across subject matter areas. The project continues to support not only training and professional development opportunities for the Native youth participating in the Summit activities,but also for IFAI full-time staff and student workers who have been able to attend conferences and expand their own professional connections and knowledge through this work. During this project period our staff's opportunitiesincluded: attending DEI "Table Talk" series at the University of Arkansas and speaking on Indigeneity in the land grant system; attending "Addressing Bias in STEM" talk/workshop; attending Culturally Significant Plants convening; attending tribal college symposium on Amplifying the Voices of Native American Youth; attending culturally significant plant workshops including rivercane restoration. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We advertise the Summit in online and print media, with details of this work included in our annual report as well. The reportis available online at www.indigenousfoodandag.com, and will have a larger profile in our 10th anniversary report to be released in the next project period. We alsohave print copies of this report available at all events where we have a tabling presence, including but not limited to: the Intertribal Agriculture Council annual conference each December, IAC regional events and youth conferences, State FFA conventions, the Reservation Economic Summit, the Native Nutrition Conference, the Tribal Self-Governance conference, MANNRS, and more. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the coming reporting period we will focus on delivering the 2023 Summit in July 2023. This will include: analyzing feedback via evaluation forms from students who attended the 2022 event and adjusting programming based on that feedback, identifying track leads for the 4 subject matter area tracks, developing an agenda in partnership with IAC and National FFA; identifying additional Tribal sites for field trip opportunities and experiential learning;setting dates and releasing applications, and hosting the 2023 Summit. Our goal for the 2023 Summit is to resume our pre-pandemic numbers of attendees, with 50 total students attending. We will also continue our on-campus efforts to enhance a sense of belonging amonst Native students on our campus by participating in campus DEI activities, supporting Indigenous students through events and other offerings, and continuing to support Indigenous faculty and staff.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1. We have successfully held Summits during July of each project year, with the first 2 events held online due to the coronavirus pandemic and corresponding inability to host in-person events.Summit attendance targets have been understandably lowered due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic during those two project years, but we have nevertheless had approximately 92 Native youth attend the program as of 8/31/2022.The Summit has continued to provide training and academic guidance to Native youth in four focus areas: 1) Agricultural Business and Finance; 2) Land Stewardship and Conservation; 3) Agricultural Law and Policy; and 4) Nutrition and Health. 2. We have further refinined curricula for each of the four subject matter areas in the Summit, incorporating Indigenous cultural values and ways of knowing into curricula to increase students' sense of intrinsic belonging while at the Summit, which (when in-person) is held on our University campus. 3. We launched an additional component in the 2022 Summit focused on agricultural policy and agricultural credit issues for Native producers. The students from all tracks had an additional opportunity to learn about agricultural credit, and the credit system in general, andparticipated in a mock Student Congress where they worked as legislators to resolve access to credit issues that Native producers currently experience. This addition to the programming was not only valuable in ensuring that Native youth participating in agriculture have visibility to both challenges and solutions in credit access for Native-owned agriculture operations, but also continued to instill that sense of intrinsic belonging in institutions that have not historically been welcoming to Indigenous people or Indigenous ways of knowing and belonging.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:Despite the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, we have continued to serve Native American, Alaskan, and Hawaiian high-school and college-aged youth through this project, including the hosting of two virtual summer Summit events and one in-person event for our target audience. Though we have operated with reduced capacity and numbers due to COVID-19, we have served 65 Native youth through this work to date as attendees at the Summits.These events have furthered significant progress towards our identified goals and outcomes for this project, particularly the ability to empower Native students to overcome knowledge biases and building curriculum that focuses on cultural wealth. Changes/Problems:We experienced two major problems and changes in carrying out this project. First, the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020 completely interrupted our ability to deliver this project as planned in all years. In-person events like our Summit were impossible to host safetly in 2020 and 2021, and although we shifted immediately to a virtual event, the kinds of connections and sense of belonging that we are able to foster during normal times simply does not translate in the best way to Zoom environments. Our target audience was also thrown into a global crisis that impacted their communities disproportionately: both rates of COVID-19 deaths and food insecurity were higher per capitain Indian Country than any other places in the United States. Our virtual events were understandably very small, and we felt it was moreimportant to hold space in a challenging time than to press on curriculum development or intensive education and training. Despite these and many other COVID-related challenges, we have continued to engage with our target audience as much as circumstances allowed, and recently in July of this year we were finally able to host our first in-person event in two years. Though also somewhat smaller, as folks are understandably still hesitant to travel, we had a fully engaged cohort of Native youth in attendance who are already contacting us about applications for next year's event and ways to stay involved in agriculture. We also had some significant challenges in terms of staff transition for this project, which has had 3 PI's over the last two years as many of our staff and team have transitioned away to new opportunities within USDA. IFAI's executive leadership team is wholly different from that contemplated at the beginning of this project, but our team remains committed to this work and has had some positive staff changes as well, including the hiring of a full-time youth coordinator. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Native youth participants have been able to work one-on-one and in small groups with some of Indian Country's agricultural experts, giving them opportunities not only for training and professional development but also connections with future colleagues across subject matter areas. The Summit itself is a week-long deep dive and training on specific subject matter areas of the students' interest, as well as leadership training provided in conjunction with partners at National FFA. The project has supported not only training and professional opportunities for the Native youth participating in the Summit activities, but also with IFAI full-time staff and student workers who have been able to attend conferences and expand their professional connections and knowledge through this work, including attendance at the Culturally Significant Plant and Climate Change Research Symposium sponsored by Chickasaw Nation, multiple National FFA events, and the Native Youth Climate Adaptation Leadership Conference.Planning for these events has had an unexpected positive impact in that it has facilitated some strong positive conversations between our staff at IFAI and the University's Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Conversations have been very preliminary but we are hopeful that this work will enable our team to work with the broader campus community to make our campus a more safe, inclusive, and welcoming space for Indigenous students, faculty, and staff, and potentially provide a pathway with strong scholarship support for Indigenous students graduating from our Summit and Policy programs to study at the University as undergraduates or graduate students focusing on ag-related studies. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have done dedicated advertising for each Summit event throughout the life of this project, and once we were able to safely resume travel we have tabled at multiple agricultural and intertribalevents and conferences to drive interest in the program. Through this work, particularly our travels to multiple National FFA gatherings, we were able to increase the pool of applicants for the Summit program and also offer an internship to one Native student through a new partnership with Akiptan. As we move towards closing out this project we will be inlcuding more results in our annual report, which will be disseminated on our website, indigenousfoodandag.com, as well as through social media channels, listservs, and available in print at the annual Intertribal Agriculture Council conference in December 2022. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The post-Summit work that we have to do now that we have been able to have a strong in-person cohort again is to ramp up our efforts to create a strategy that engages Native youth attendees long-term (five years) after the event. This work is underway with the creation of a private social network through Mighty Networks platform which provides students with a designated safe digital space to connect with one another and havementorship opportunities and continuing education opportunities from our staff as well. The work going forward is to continue building that plaftorm out with additional toolkits, trainings, and virtually hosted get-togethers, and have our staff set up regular touchpoints with each youth attendee, working with them individually to achieve their goals.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1.We have successfully held three Summits, two virtual and one in person. Summit attendance targets have been understandably lowered due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic but we have nevertheless had approximately 65 Native youth attend the program over the three Summits.The Summit has continued to providetraining and academic guidance to Native youthin four focus areas: 1) Agricultural Business and Finance; 2) Land Stewardship and Conservation; 3) Agricultural Law and Policy; and 4) Nutrition and Health. 2. We have further refinined curricula for each of the four subject matter areas in the Summit, incorporating Indigenous cultural values and ways of knowing into curricula to increase students' sense of intrinsic belonging while at the Summit, which (when in-person) is held on our University campus. 3. We have launched a private social network in the last year of the project through Mighty Networks. This platform is only available to Summit attendees and has allowed to increase our ability to engage students, and to facilitate peer to peer learning and connection long-term.
Publications
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