Trees for Tribes supports Native American communities' efforts toward food sovereignty & food justice by planting fruit tree orchards that provide abundant harvests of nutritious fruit. Tribal members also build their skills, (re)learning important techniques on how to care for their orchards & preserve the harvests. Through this program, FTPF has planted dozens of orchards filled with hundreds of fruit trees & provided arboricultural training for tribal communities all across Turtle Island.
Hunger is a growing problem for Native American families. 23% of American Indian households experience food insecurity. The very youngest tribal members are most greatly affected by hunger & poverty, with 43% of children under the age of 5 living in poverty. With poverty and food insecurity also come obesity and related challenges, including heart disease and diabetes. This project will most benefit tribal communities of all ages, supporting healthy lifelong choices and access to fresh foods.
Encouraging consumption of fresh foods by making it easier to access those foods is one key to improving food security and health for very low-income Native Americans. Trees for Tribes addresses these issues by providing fruit tree orchards to Native American communities. Volunteerism is encouraged by offering household mini-orchards to each family that helps plant the community orchards. FTPF also provides workshops on tree care so that participants can care for their new trees.
More than 1,000 Native American families will have ready access to fresh organic produce as they harvest the fruit from their orchards. They will also be reintroduced the skills of self-reliance long embedded in Indigenous food systems as they integrate the orchards into tribal agricultural systems. Young people will begin to learn about how fresh foods are the most healthful choices and have easy access to fruit during their school day.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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