The Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma is a federally recognized Tribal Government located in Miami, Oklahoma (Ottawa County). The Tribe is not located on a traditional reservation but instead reside in the multi-cultural communities under shared jurisdictions with Oklahoma governmental systems.
Food sovereignty is a priority of the Tribe. It became apparent during the onslaught of COVID19 that food became scarce in some places. It was difficult for families to get the fresh produce they needed; children were not receiving nutritious meals during the day because schools were closed, and the average person could not even buy bread due to businesses being shut down. The vision of the Peoria Tribe is to alleviate some of these problems if ever again the COVID-19 pandemic were to create food shortages.
Our reason for applying to the LFPA PLUS program is to help us kick start "Peoria Fresh" a component program of the Distribution Center that will procure and distribute domestic food to the underserved and impoverished tribal community. Funds from the LFPA Plus Program will not be used to fund the physical Distribution Center.
Peoria Fresh will empower the tribal community to make informed nutritional food choices and connect the tribal community with fresh produce and protein from area socially disadvantaged farmers/producers. This, in turn, will increase the food consumption of local food while building and expanding the economic opportunity for local and socially disadvantaged farmers and producers throughout the life cycle of the cooperative agreement.