Rhode Island Foundation to Partner with PPLT on Indigenous Food Sovereignty Program

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The Rhode Island Foundation has awarded the Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust a one-year Responsive Grant to support the Indigenous Food Sovereignty work in Southern Rhode Island. Program activities include building backyard gardens for Indigenous families and training the families in caring for the gardens using traditional practices. The initiative is headed by Musquant Nompashim Netas, leader of the Ninigret Nehantic Nahaganset Clan and Chief Sequan Pijaki, Chairman of the Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe.

The Rhode Island Foundation is the state’s largest funder of RI nonprofit organizations. It was organized at the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Co. in June 1916 by a small group of prominent Rhode Islanders and was modeled after the first community foundation established in Cleveland. The Foundation’s Responsive Grant program supports initiatives that address urgent community needs. The grants are awarded to organizations across the nonprofit sector – regardless of the subject-matter or area of need that they focus on.

“Once again, we are grateful for our partnership with the Rhode Island Foundation,” said Chief Sequan Pijaki. “Their consistent support has really helped us grow our land, farm, and food programs throughout the state.”

 

Point32Health to partner with Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust on Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative

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Point32Health Foundation has awarded the Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust a two-year grant to support the Indigenous Food Sovereignty work in Southern Rhode Island and Connecticut. Program activities include building backyard gardens for Indigenous families and then training the families in caring for the gardens using traditional practices. The initiative is the brainchild of Musquant Nompashim Netas, leader of the Ninigret Nehantic Nahaganset Clan and Chief Sequan Pijaki, Chairman of the Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe.

Point32Health Foundation works with communities to support, advocate and advance healthier lives for everyone, building upon a tradition of service and giving at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan.

“We are grateful for this new partnership with Point32Health and look forward to building a more equitable food system together,” says Chief Sequan Pijaki.

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Nichols to Offer Financial Literacy for Farmers Through Partnership with Indigenous Nonprofit

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Nichols College in Dudley has entered a partnership with Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust, an Indigenous-led nonprofit, to offer a farming financial literacy course for farmers across New England.

Funding for the partnership is part of a $524,040 National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant to PPLT, received in 2022. The grant aims to build business acumen and financial literacy skills among farmers, as well as educate about soil health, according to a Monday press release from Nichols College.

The course will be taught by a Nichols accounting and finance professor, Karin Curran, who was involved with securing the grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to the press release.

The course will run for seven weeks from January to February and will be free to all beginning farmers or Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) farmers. It will cover creating a balance sheet, building equity, and understanding the industry and will be taught on the Nichols campus, with a remote option and Spanish translation available.

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PPLT Named 2023 New England Food Vision Prize Winner

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Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust (RI), in collaboration with Open Farms Retreat, Cumberland School District, Roch’s Fresh Foods, and Northeast Organic Farmers Association/MA, was named a recipient of the 2023 New England Food Vision Prize by the Henry P. Kendall Foundation. The award consists of a two-year grant to create a direct farm-to-school pathway in Cumberland, Rhode Island. Funding will support new farm infrastructure and required certifications, beginning-farmer technical assistance and training, and school and community engagement efforts.

Launched by the Henry P. Kendall Foundation in 2018, the New England Food Vision Prize Program aims to increase the amount of local and regional food prepared and served on New England college and university campuses and within K-12 public school districts, helping to strengthen the region’s food system. The Prize program, offered annually, awards grants up to $200,000 to winning teams. Prizes are awarded to projects that build resilience, relationships, and capacity within New England’s academic institutional food supply chain, resulting in increased preparation, sourcing, serving, or use and consumption of local and regional food at K-12 schools and higher education institutions.

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Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust to partner with NRCS to help New England farmers and communities

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $70 million in partnerships that will improve outreach to underserved producers and communities to expand access to conservation assistance and career opportunities. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has announced the selection of 139 projects that encourage participation in NRCS programs, especially in underserved communities and among urban and small-scale producers. Projects will extend outreach to producers who are beginning, limited resource, socially disadvantaged, and veterans, and will highlight opportunities for students to pursue careers in agriculture, natural resources and related sciences.

The Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust program will focus on underserved producers and communities in New England. Objectives include conducting outreach and needs assessments, facilitating partnerships between NRCS and producers, helping producers improve operations through conservation and climate smart practices, and educating high school students about conservation and career opportunities.

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Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust to partner with BankNewport for Indigenous Food Sovereignty program

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BankNewport has awarded a grant to the Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust to support the Indigenous Roots Forever Food Sovereignty Program. The program is led by Chief Sequan Pijaki, Chairman of the Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe and Musquant Nompashim Netas, leader of the Ninigret Nehantic Nehaganset Clan.

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Indigenous Peoples Network receives Grow Grant from the Grassroots Fund

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The Grassroots Fund has awarded the Indigenous Peoples Network a 2023 Grow Grant. The funding will be used to support the Indigenous Roots Forever Food Sovereignty Program, led by Musquant Nompashim Netas, leader of the Ninigret Nehantick Nahaganset Clan.

The New England Grassroots Environment Fund, Inc, (Grassroots Fund) was founded in 1996 as a funder’s collaborative, with a mission to energize and nurture long-term civic engagement in local initiatives that create and maintain healthy, just, safe and environmentally sustainable communities throughout the six New England states. With an emphasis on those who have often been marginalized, Grassroots Fund empowers individuals, groups and organizations working across a broad range of environmental and social justice issues.

“The Grassroots Fund has been a steady supporter of the Indigenous People in this region,” says Chief Sequan Pijaki, Chairman of the Pocasset Pokanoket Tribe and co-founder of the Indigenous Peoples Network. “We are grateful for their partnership.”

Indigenous Peoples Network selected for Grassroots Fund Cohort

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The Grassroots Fund has selected the Indigenous Peoples Network (IPN) to be part of the 2023-2024 Food System Resilience Cohort. Initiatives will focus on the intersection of equity, food justice, and community development and will support a movement of food system leaders across the region through networking, shared learning, and coalition building.

The New England Grassroots Environment Fund, Inc, (Grassroots Fund) was founded in 1996 as a funder’s collaborative, with a mission to energize and nurture long-term civic engagement in local initiatives that create and maintain healthy, just, safe and environmentally sustainable communities throughout the six New England states. With an emphasis on those who have often been marginalized, Grassroots Fund empowers individuals, groups and organizations working across a broad range of environmental and social justice issues.

“The Grassroots Fund has been a steady supporter of the Indigenous People in this region,” says Chief Sequan Pijaki, Chairman of the Pocasset Pokanoket Tribe and co-founder of IPN. “We are grateful for this opportunity and look forward to building a more equitable food system together.”

Musquant Nompashim Netas, leader of the Ninigret Nehantick Nahaganset Clan and IPN’s Indigenous Roots Forever Food Access Program, understands that this work goes beyond food security. “Food brings people together. Food strengthens communities. It’s a different kind of medicine.”

Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust Receives Food and Farm Communications Fund Core Grant for Second Consecutive Year

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The Food and Farm Communications Fund has awarded a Core Grant to the Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust (PPLT) to support strategic communications development. One of twenty organizations chosen throughout the country, the grant allows PPLT to increase content creation and social media presence in support of its Indigenous food access program and land repatriation projects in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Esperanza Pallana, Executive Director of the fund said, “We are proud to continue our support of PPLT in 2023. They represent a critical narrative of a movement across the nation to reclaim ancestral land for regenerative agriculture and traditional land-based spiritual practices.”

Since 2012, the Food and Farm Communications Fund has awarded $5 million to grass-roots food and agricultural organizations that emphasize environmentally sustainable, and indigenous practices for use in the battle against climate change. Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust is proud to be among them.

“We are grateful for our partnership with the Food and Farm Communications Fund,” said Chief George Spring Buffalo, Executive Director of the Land Trust. “They have really helped us build our communications capacity. PPLT was formed with the intent of capturing back remnants of the Pocasset Purchase and we now steward historical lands in Tiverton. Our trust also provides an opportunity to unite different tribal communities, clans and Indigenous people back to our traditional ways of growing food and providing access to healthy medicine.”

Indigenous Peoples Network Receives Island Foundation Environmental Grant

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“The Island Foundation was among the first non-profit foundations to support the Indigenous Peoples Network five years ago and we want to thank them for believing in us,” says Chief George Spring Buffalo about the 2023 award for $25,000.

The funds will support repatriation efforts of ancestral lands in Tiverton, RI and facilitate the expansion of the Indigenous Roots Forever food access program in Washington County, RI. The produce will assist with the family budgets, and will be considered “healthy medicine,” according to Chief George. The goal, says the Chief, “is to introduce tribal members and other disadvantaged folks back to healthy eating and to introduce the next generation to the concept of land.”

The Island Foundation awards Environmental Grants to a variety of initiatives in Southern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine, including those that support working landscapes (sustainable agriculture and community-based fisheries); help local conservation organizations build capacity; and promote environmental justice.