Sitka Tribe of Alaska LFPA Plus Executive Summary

The community of Sitka is located on Baranof Island in the region of Alaska, commonly referred to simply as "Southeast." There are no roads connecting Sitka to other communities--access to Sitka is by air or water only. Sitka's Federally Recognized Tribal government, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, has an enrollment of over 4500 tribal citizens, many of whom still live in Sitka, which has a population of over 8,000. The population of Sitka stretches along a fifteen-mile road system and has a cost of living 37.5% higher than the U.S. average. Currently, approximately 95% of the food Alaskans purchase is imported, and Alaska is at the end of the supply chain for goods and food coming from the West Coast. With the rising cost of living across the U.S., the difficulty of acquiring food in Sitka due to isolation and supply-chain interruptions, and statistics from the National Library of Medicine showing that Alaska Natives are twice as likely to experience food insecurity as their white counterparts, Sitka Tribe of Alaska is proposing a program that will ensure that our tribal households have access to healthy foods in addition to their own subsistence harvest. Through this program, Sitka Tribe of Alaska will contract with local fishermen (prioritizing local fishermen who are tribal citizens) and local processors, as needed, for the purchase and distribution of crab (king and Dungeness), shrimp, and fish (salmon and halibut).