Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), has announced grant awards through the Tribal Elder Community Food Box Program to help provide healthy, high-quality, and culturally traditional food to thousands of tribal elders and their families across the state.
“Advancing Tribal food sovereignty has always been a priority for my administration, and our successful Tribal Elder Community Food Box Program has been a cornerstone of those efforts over the years,” said Gov. Evers in a press release. “Especially as we see rising costs at the grocery store checkout and attacks on federal basic needs programs like food assistance, we know that seniors and families are struggling, and far too many communities in our state are food insecure. We’ve also seen trade wars, tariffs, and a war in Iran that are wreaking havoc on our farmers and producers as well. Thanks to our dedicated state partners, we’re getting these funds out the door to increase access to nutritious foods in Tribal communities to make sure every family has food on the table, while supporting Indigenous food producers during a tough time for everyone.”
The grants, totaling $1.5 million, will ensure Wisconsin’s tribal communities can keep nutritious food on the table while supporting the state’s tribal producers, local farmers, and processors, according to the press release. The funding will be distributed to Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin and Hunger Task Force Inc., which will work with tribal community food system leaders to distribute locally sourced food to tribal food distribution centers.
