Progress 07/01/09 to 06/30/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Activities: The Lummi Traditional Food project is a community based participatory research project. 15 Lummi families participate in a lifestyle intervention by receiving weekly boxes of community supported agriculture (CSA), attending monthly classes learning how to utilize the foods they receive, and participate in ongoing data collection and evaluation activities. We began the project by recruiting 15 Lummi families by attending community gatherings, coordinating meet and greet events for students and community members, and visiting community members door-to-door. Once we had 15 families signed up we began by conducting in-take interviews. Between April 2010 and June 2012 we served 15 families and held 27 cooking classes and workshops on traditional and local healthy foods. We also collected data evaluating the effectiveness of the project. A total of 59 people participated. Events During the life of the project we held three significant events. An Annual Harvest Celebrations honoring the traditional foods of the season. 47 people participated. A second Harvest Celebration with a total of 52 people in participation. We had a two day cook's camp for 16 family participants where they gained skills in how to fillet a salmon, meal planning, kitchen organization, canning and preserving, and how to prepare and cook traditional foods of the season. We had a one week gardening workshop where 6 families (14 people), learned how to design and create a vegetable garden. Services Each week when the families received their boxes of food (CSA), we took time to consult on recipe and menu planning. We also collected data on their efforts to sustain a healthy lifestyle. Dissemination During the life of the project we collected data from families and they collected data from one another through various activities during the monthly cooking classes. Information and results were shared at the Annual Harvest Celebrations on what was working and lessoned learned. The goal is that this project will serve as a model throughout Indian country on community based research and how to conduct it in a culturally relevant way. PARTICIPANTS: Project Director's role was to partner with 15 Lummi families to carry out grant objectives, coordinate all activities associated with project, monitor expenditures, and maintain and nurture relationships with partners. PD also partnered with families to collect and analyze data as well as evaluate effectiveness of project. Co Project Director's role was to assist and advise Northwest Indian College on issues related to data collection and analysis, assist and advise NWIC on issues related to best practices of community based participatory research, prepare manuscripts, and present findings. Program assistant's role was to assist PD in everyday functions associated with grant activities. She also provided administrative support to PD upon request throughout the life of the grant. Partner organizations included Washington State University to collaborate on research project. Growing Washington, a non-profit organization made up of 10 farms in Whatcom and Skagit County to provide community supported agriculture to surrounding communities. Grant funds supported 15 Lummi families with weekly boxes of fresh produce for a total of 18 weeks throughout the growing season in 2010 and 2011. Collaborators and Contacts: Many courses and programs related to the food interventions were led by the Project Director. Others were led by Washington State University Extension's Food Sense program, Lummi Clinic nutritionist for nutrition education on traditional foods, and the Woman, Infant, and Children's (WIC) program on healthy food behaviors for children. These collaborators and contacts were provided at no cost to the project or the college. Professional Development Project Director had the opportunity to participate in Train-the-Trainer workshops for the following: Diabetes Prevention through Traditional Plants which included a teaching curriculum on how to use traditional plants and foods to prevent the onset of diabetes. Honor the Gift of Food is a teaching curriculum aimed to educate about the history of foods, concepts of whole foods, how they are grown and processed, and how to prepare foods in traditional and modern ways. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audience only included the 15 Lummi families participating in the research project. Activities were designed to deliver indigenous based knowledge rather than science based. One of the main outcomes was to create a model for conducting indigenous and community based research in tribal communities in a culturally relevant way. This approach included everyone involved and gave them a platform for sharing their knowledge and skills with one another which gave them a sense of ownership for the research and empowered them to make healthy lifestyle changes. A large part of the lifestyle intervention included monthly cooking classes for families to gather and learn how to identify traditional foods and plants, when and where to harvest, and how to prepare healthy traditional and modern meals. A hands- on learning approach has proven to be most effective and we have responded by providing a space for families to be fully engaged in an experiential way. Throughout the lifetime of the grant we have held 27 workshops for families to engage in cooking experiences learning: traditional food principals, shopping on a fixed budget, cooking with herbs, garden basics, good quality fats, plants and foods for diabetes prevention, traditional foods throughout the seasons, and many more. Indigenous based knowledge was incorporated into each lesson which helped to remind families of who they are where they come from. It contributed to the rich conversations that families had about various food topics and family experiences around food. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Due to the fact that we use NIFA to leverage other funds and had received that funding, we did not spend down the NIFA research grant in the time allotted and was awarded a no-cost extension of time. The work was completed on 6/30/2012.

Impacts
Much of the success of the project is accredited to the guiding principles of community based participatory research that helped us to build on community strength and resources, address community concerns in a way that benefited all partners, incorporate families cultural knowledge, and nurture partnerships throughout the duration of the project. Based on these principles, the participants and researchers gained knowledge on how to conduct CBPR within the Lummi community and how to address the needs in an effective, acceptable, and culturally appropriate way. Based on what the participants learned they were able to create a model for conducting research in Indian country. By recognizing that the community members are the knowledge keepers and giving them the platform to educate each other, they gained ownership of the research and felt empowered to adopt changes in their food behaviors that resulted in incorporating it into their daily lives. Change in conditions occurred at a micro level where 15 families participated in a lifestyle intervention through the incorporation of weekly community supported agriculture (CSA), monthly cooking classes, and data and evaluation activities. Families gained knowledge based on each other's experiences and uses of food to adopt lifestyle changes, improve health, decrease obesity, and decrease the onset of disease like diabetes. Through this intervention, families gained additional knowledge of when and where to harvest, how to identify the plants, and how to prepare them as food. Not only did the gatherings and workshops increase families' knowledge about healthy traditional and local foods, it reconnected them to their place and reminded them of who they are as Indian people. They gained interest and knowledge of maintaining a partnership with the land by discovering how we are all connected to it. There have been many changes in conditions of lifestyle as a result of the project. Families have reported that they are eating vegetables on a regular basis and that their children are asking for them and prefer them over junk food. Some of the low income families had been on such a tight budget and they reported that the CSA's help to put healthy food on the table. One mother suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and was bound to a wheelchair at the beginning of the project. As she began receiving CSA's and learning how to cook using the food, she began to feel stronger and was able to get around without the aid of the wheelchair within the first year of the project. Another family member has lost 60 pounds and has been able to maintain his weight loss through the incorporation of healthy foods that he has received. Since time immemorial food has been at the very center of our culture as Lummi people and it is believed that food is medicine. The lifestyle changes that families are making are reconnecting them to this truth and this holistical approach contributes to overall family wellness.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 07/01/09 to 06/30/10

Outputs
The primary goal of the Lummi Traditional Foods Project research project is to develop a measurement tool to use with Lummi Nation families to assess their food frequencies in a culturally relevant and responsive way. The grant proposal stated that we would partner with the Lummi Employment and Training Program and its Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Due to changes in their policies for partner agreements, we were unable to satisfy all needed documents in time for us to begin the project activities in a timely manner so we decided to partner with Growing Washington. Growing Washington is a not-for-profit agency who works with several farms to provide community supported agriculture. We are near the end of our first year time line and have successfully completed the objectives for the first year. Applications were submitted to both Northwest Indian College and Washington State University's Institutional Review Boards. They were accepted and approved. We have developed a quantitative food frequency questionnaire that has been used to specify the diets of Lummi people. We began recruitment of 15 Lummi participating families in Feb, 2010 and began the intervention activities in April, 2010. All families participated in individual in-take interviews to determine their current relationship with food. There have been 6 gatherings (classes) to date. The classes offer hands on cooking instruction, valuable information for how to cook on a fixed budget, sacred knowledge sharing, harvesting practices and traditional food systems. We are now in the process of evaluating the first year of the project by including the Community Planning Group, family participants, Lummi elders and the research team to assess the outcomes. The outcome evaluation is utilizing culturally appropriate research methods, including in-depth interviews and participant observation with Lummi families. PRODUCTS: In the beginning of the grant period a group of 10 people was formed to act as the Community Planning Group (CPG) for the project to oversee project related activities and advise the research team of how to proceed in a culturally relevant way. Due to unforeseen obstacles, the Lummi Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program could not partner with us on the project so between January, 2010 and February, 2010, we held a Meet and Greet gathering for the community and attended many other Lummi community events in effort to recruit 15 Lummi families to participate in the research study. In April, 2010, we began providing classes for the participants to learn how to cook and eat healthy, grow and harvest their own food, harvest traditional foods from the wild, and how to shop healthy on a fixed budget. There have been a total of 6 classes with a total of 20-24 participants at each one. During this time, we also conducted individual interviews with the 15 families to gather base line data. This was done through the use of food frequency questionnaires on diet and nutrition to be used in the study to determine weather or not the program is effective and useful. Beginning in June, 2010, the 15 family participants began receiving their weekly shares of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). The project and research is community based and participatory so we wanted everyone involved to be fully engaged in all aspects of the process and wanted them to fully experience the effectiveness of the incorporation of fresh local produce into their daily diets. For this reason, we have included the members of the CPG to participate in the CSA portion of the project. Another way that the families can keep in touch and share their experience is through an internet based blog site set up and maintained by the research team. OUTCOMES: Family participants are very excited about the project and have remained fully engaged in all the project activities. There are 15 families participating with a total of 56 people in the program. Having their complete participation through out the project is monumental given that fact that it is often a challenge to keep participants fully involved and engaged in projects that spread out over a vast amount of time. As a result of their participation, the families are learning how to incorporate more healthy, local and traditional foods into their daily diets. When the project began, intake interviews were conducted. It was discovered that 13 of the 15 families do not eat vegetables on a regular basis. By participating in the monthly classes they are learning about how to gain access to local healthy foods, how to shop on a budget, how to harvest and preserve foods, nutritional value of foods and how to encourage young children to eat healthier. The families are now receiving their weekly community supported agriculture (CSA) boxes and learning how to incorporate the foods into their recipes to make them healthier. The response to the learning is positive. Many families are beginning to make lifestyle changes and their relationship with food is improving. They are eating more vegetables, drinking healthier beverages, looking at labels on foods, providing healthier snacks and exercising more. Families have also expressed that their knowledge of traditional foods is increasing and they are integrating more local, fresh foods into their diets. The research team has been able to measure the effectiveness of the project by creating an internet based blogging site to be accessed by those who have computers at home. This is an effective way to post personal progress, share recipes, blog ideas and make suggestions for project activities. The site also provides regular updates and information about the project so the participants stay informed about project related data. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: Throughout the project the research team has met regularly with the community planning group and the intervention families to provide updates on the project and opportunities for input. Presentations have been made on the research process and the group has been given opportunities to analyze the data and discuss issues encountered in the research process. Information about project outcomes have also been shared via the internet based blogging site. Participants have shared ideas, suggestions and recipes with one another and have had access to project updates. Future dissemination plans include the publication of outcomes from the Traditional Foods Project. FUTURE INITIATIVES: The second year of the project will include conducting follow up baseline interviews with intervention families. Creating a standardized Lummi food frequency questionnaire with a community sample. Continue to meet regularly with community planning group to contextualize data from follow up baseline and make any needed modifications. Conduct second year lifestyle intervention with families. Evaluation of the project and present final results at a national conference.

Impacts
The expected impacts will be the results of the research and intervention within the study community: (1)multi-systemic change in the nutrition of the Lummi people (2)multigenerational knowledge sharing (3)infrastructure development across tribal, local, and state agencies (4)scientific advancement in the food and nutrition fields related to Native North Americans.

Publications

• Public Service Announcemen on traditional foods, 2009