Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:Diabetes is very prevalent on the Oneida Reservation. The Oneida Community Health Center (OCHC) (our tribally operated health center) services most Tribal members on the reservation. Over 13,333 individuals were served in 2023, and 2,158 were diabetics with another 506 pre-diabetics. The diabetes prevalence rate is 16%. (Skenandore, OCHC) Aside from, this, our communities suffer disproportionately higher rates of many other lifestyle related illnesses, including but not limited to obesity, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, etc., all of which can be directly attributed to our disconnection from our food pathways. With this, its imperative that we target our youth in engaging them early in the value and urgency to empower them in their own health and wellness journeys via our indigenous food pathways. Ages 8-18 to target our school system and work collaboratively with curriculum is our goal. Due to the nature of this training program, Augmented Reality (AR), we are excitedly about the opportunity to engaged our youth everywhere in a new and innovative way while exposing them to safe and healthy food networks.. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We anticipate have the augmented reality food safety training program complete. We also hope to have the 10 YouTube training videos for food producers and food handlers completed as well. During that period, we will put together a communication plan to determine the best way to inform the Oneida community about these training opportunities. In addition, we will include a section in that plan to inform area's outside of the Oneida Reservation and even outside the State of Wisconsin about these educational opportunities.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This project would be a first of its kind - using technology to reach, train, interact in a comprehensive way for a community of individuals rather than a subset of the community. The Oneida Nation representatives met with our collaborating partner, Balance Studios to discuss our vision of developing and implementing a food safety training, education, extension, outreach and technical assistance tools that address the needs of owners of small, mid-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, small processors, veteran farmers or ranchers, or small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers. It was determined that the best way to do this would be to utilize a web-based app that would allow us to use an interactive augmented reality (AR) tool to maximize the interest of our youth to learn more about food safety and consuming healthier food options. In addition, we would like to create 10 units of YouTube training videos that could be used to provide technical assistance to our farmers, processors and other folks participating in our food safety and food systems. Using technology, through a web app that can be accessed by desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone to create access points from anywhere in the world broadens capacity in an unprecedented way. The Oneida Nation representatives gave a tour of the Oneida food systems to our collaborating partner, Balance Studios. This was done to give the people who will be creating our educational web app (AR) a better understanding of the Oneida food systems and Oneida culture. We also began creating information for the 10 YouTube to train food producers and food handlers and the information they will receive for the online video training in the following modules: 1. basic food handling, 2. the importance of food handling, keeping a clean area and clean hands, 3. farm food handling and preparation, butchering, collecting, and harvesting foods, 4. crop selection, growing and harvesting, 5. food preservation and safety, forms of food preservation (drying, cooking, freeze drying, juicing, and canning), 6. handling fresh meats, storing, preserving, and packaging for sale and/or consumption, 7. handling fresh fruits and vegetables, storing, preserving, and packaging for sale and/or consumption, 8. value-added food safety, value added preparation, processing, storage and packaging to sale and/or consumption, and 9. food sales, shipping, and storing. Oneida created a list of culturally relevant food items and crop types to our Balance Studio collaborators. While Balance Studios created a Key Content Plan for the web-based AR app. Please see attachment A for examples of these items. We will use outreach programs to meet those specific needs. Foraging and food gathering and processing in this specific community retains cultural knowledge. Food safety should not be age or vocationally specific. In this community food safety and training should be available for all ages, all abilities, and presented for a more diverse set of food gathering, growing, harvesting, and processing tasks. To proceed on this goal the Oneida representatives created a list of Oneida Words for to be used along with English words for both the characters and the various activities the youth will be doing within the augmented reality app. Oneida also provided Balance Studios with a calendar of seasonal indigenous foods to be used. At the same time Balance Studios created a recipe list of the 31 indigenous recipes that Oneida provided them. Please see Attachment B for these items. We will serve producers and procesors of all age and family groups. While education in this regard is traditionally distributed orally, there are checks and balances that can be built into a culturally relevant, yet standardized approach to ensure efficacy of training. Augmented reality, for example, can help with technique and safety training. Balance Studios provided Oneida with an updated version of the Production Plan for this project. They also began developing the site setting for the interactive programs that they are developing for the augmented reality app. We worked hard with the artists in designing characters in this game that are relevant to our youth so that they may see themselves in this game. This was a critical part of this project, paying close attention to and being intentional in the character design so that our users can relate to, be proud of, and feel empowered in the myriad of beauty that exists in our people. We collectively designed 16 characters that we will use in this application. Some of them are: Grandma, Strawberry Guy, Baker, Chicken/Egg Girl, Dairy Farmer, Mushroom Farmer, Wild Rice Lady, Honey Dude, Apple Orchard Girl, Food Pantry Lady, Pasture Girl and a Cannery Guy. Please see Attachment C for these items. We will develop and use an augmented reality Web Application "A Comprehensive Approach to Indigenous Foodways goes far beyond traditional vocational food safety training to address a community food safety and training in a comprehensive to address needs in community farming, gardening, foraging, harvesting, preservation, etc. The training would be inclusive for all ages and all abilities. We are currently still working on the developing of this app. The program will emphasizethe use of culturally appropriate educational materials and a combination of classroom, hands on training, peer to peer learning and internet based educational opportunities, to assist the members of our tribe and other socially disadvantaged individuals as they pursue individual, community and cooperative development. We are currently still working on the developing of this app
Publications
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