Purchase and distribute local food targeting purchases from socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers

The program, as proposed by the tribe, will procure local, unprocessed food as defined by the local food purchase assistance plus request for application, including but not limited to fish, vegetables, meat, grains and flours, beans and legumes, and other allowable items produced in the state of alaska that may be identified during the project. Priority in the procurement will be given to socially disadvantaged small businesses and organizations. A fraction of the assistance will be reserved to guarantee purchases of small and micro producers in galena as a way to promote local production, economic development and food sovereignty and security. Quarterly performance reports will be submitted to capture the number of producers, socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, D istribution sites, and underserved locations as well as funds expended for each category. Annual reports will provide percentages of new marketing opportunities and purchases distributed beyond current food distribution networks. Our goal is to purchase an average of 2 pounds of animal protein (fish, meat) and 2 pounds of vegetal products (produce, grain, etc.) per beneficiary per week during the length of the program. We estimate the program will benefit about 200 beneficiaries in galena. As part of the process, the tribe collaborate with state nonprofits to identify local providers that meet the agreement requirements (locally produced, minimally processed, from minorities, socially disadvantaged, etc.) and to facilitate the logistics of transportation to our community. We plan to develop a staging, storage, and distribution system involving the local school district, the tribe, and the local privately owned stores to successfully distribute the purchased goods. As part of the collaboration with nonprofit organizations in alaska, we plan to both share our experiences with other tribes and benefit for existing learned lessons collected by this organization, in all the areas of the program, including program management, purchase, procurement, transportation and distribution. Our tribe is already working with organizations like agalaska, alaska village initiative, and the rural extension of the university of fairbanks alaska, and we will rely on their expertise during the extension of the program. We plan to procure food in at least three different categories: produce, meat, and fish. Alaska is an extremely seasonal location, and the availability of locally produced food is challenging. For the produce category, the mat-SU valley area close to anchorage is home to many small farmers and growers that will be the main target when doing procurement. For fish, there are several processing plants in villages and tribal areas that qualify for the prog RAM requirements. We plan to do procurement in at least two of these organizations. For meat, we will look for producers of reindeer and muskox in addition to the traditional beef, pork, etc. Muskox and reindeer producers are usually tribally run, and logistics PE rmitting, a priority for our program. As mentioned above, we are working with state organizations that will help US identify already established small producers from all over the state that meet USDA requirements. As a very rough estimate and for reference purposes, we initially propose to purchase 4 pounds of meat, fish and vegetables per week, per intended beneficiary in the community. This is 40,000 LBS. Of food yearly, and based on funding availability, IT allows US to serve almost 200 community members. Finally, as part of our objective #4, we intend to target at least three local gardeners in galena and propose to them to increase their domestic crop by guaranteeing the purchase of their production at fair market prices. This is going to be a small fraction of the purchases, but hopefully IT will provide an incentive to increase local agricultural activity.