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Goal 1 - Assess the economic, ecological and cultural sustainability of tribal community food systems. <BR> Objective 1 - Assess the assets and challenges in tribal communities for local, culturally based food systems using a participatory approach with a team in each community to develop a baseline for enhancing tribal community food systems. <P>Goal 2 - Increase access to information and services offered by MSU Extension and other service providers to tribal communities. <BR> Objective 2 - Provide relationship-building opportunities to strengthen relationships among MSU Extension personnel and tribal community members leading to an increase in culturally relevant, appropriate and sustained services provided to tribal communities. <P>Goal 3 - Increase horticultural skills and capacities, including extending the growing season, within tribal members and staff. <BR> Objective 3a - Provide educational programming for youth and youth program adult leaders to increase their horticultural knowledge and skills to increase the numbers of gardeners and gardens in tribal communities. <BR> Objective 3b - Provide educational programming on season extension technologies to increase the knowledge, skills and capacities of community members and staff to extend the growing season.<P> Goal 4 - Improve the nutrition and health of American Indians living in the project service area, and strengthen the connections between health, cultural identity and traditional diet. <BR> Objective 4 - Strengthen the relationships between the tribes and MSU Extension resource people leading to collaborative skill-building workshops for tribal community members in the use of fresh, local food.
Non-Technical Summary: <BR>Situation: Native American communities suffer disproportionately from diet related illnesses. Nationally Native Americans have diagnosed rates of diabetes more than twice that of the U.S. white population (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005) and heart disease remains the leading cause of death among Native Americans. In a survey of three Michigan tribes (Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan (ITC), 2009) 22.1% of adults surveyed reported having diabetes, 31.1% were overweight and 44.9% were obese. These health risks are strongly influenced by diet, so efforts to improve diet have potential to greatly improve the health and wellbeing of community members. In a survey of decision makers in eight Michigan tribes, the top three unhealthy eating behaviors cited were too many high-sugar beverages, overeating and too much fast food and junk food snacks (Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, 2008). In the ITC 2009 survey only 23.6% or adults reported eating 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetable daily. But simply encouraging people to eat better may not be enough. Better food choices may not be readily available in tribal communities. Every county in Michigan has at least one area that has limited access to a grocery store, which affects 59% of all Michigan residents (Collier and Rabaut, 2011). In those areas with limited access to grocery stores food is often purchased in convenience stores. Improving access to more healthful foods has potential to enhance the health and well-being of the population. But to bring about meaningful change to tribal food systems the efforts must be undertaken from a holistic and systemic approach that respects the knowledge and traditions of those communities and honors the historical context of the current food systems. Native peoples had little choice or control in these changes. In recent years there has been growing discussion of restoring tribal food sovereignty (Bell-Sheeter, 2004, Honor the earth 2010), rebuilding tribal food systems and economies in ways that honor traditional knowledge, restore the connection between food, culture and the land, provide community members with healthful food choices and restore control to tribal communities over what food is produced and sold in their communities. A recent issue of Tribal College Journal (2011, 22 (3)) is largely dedicated to discussion of the role tribal colleges can play in restoring tribal food sovereignty. Outcomes: 1. Increased access to healthy foods 2. Improved healthy food choices 3. Enhanced culturally appropriate food production and consumption 4. Increasing community economic impact from food production and marketing 5. Poisitive youth development <P> Approach: <BR> A participatory process for food system assessment will use a sondeo, rapid rural appraisal method to gather information (Wilsey and Beaulieu, 2010; Hildebrand, 1981; Michael Butler, 1995). Organization and interpretation of the data will guided by the Community Capitals Framework (Emery and Flora 2006). Information gathered will be used to identify assets available within the community and the most strategic points to make change the food system. It will also be used to identify indicators to monitor and establish a baseline from which to build future programming and monitor progress. Before implementing the interviews the food assessment process will be submitted the MSU Internal Review Board (IRB) for approval and it will be approved following the appropriate channels in each tribal community. The data gathered will be the property of the tribal communities. Participating MSU personnel will be granted permission for limited use of the data for publication after approval by tribal authorities. The establishment of relationships and trust is very important in working with tribal communities, so one objective will focus on relationship building. We will provide immersion experiences in which individuals from MSU Extension and tribal communities can work together and share personal stories to create an atmosphere in which friendship and trust can emerge. Our intent is to make resources from MSU Extension more accessible to tribal communities. We will use a train-the-trainer approach in horticultural education, focusing on adult and youth leaders of the youth programs. The rationale for the train-the-trainer approach is that by focusing on community leaders we will increase the educational capacity of the community and leverage the efforts of the Tribal Extension Educator. We will employ an experiential learning model of education, experience and application for horticulture education. We will develop a modified Master Gardener-style course for youth program leaders that will use a balance of Mich FRTEP 2011 Project Narrative. In two of the communities we will use the Youth Farm Stand Program curriculum (YFSP; C. S. Mott Group, 2009) and in two of the programs we will work horticulture into existing youth programs.