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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Resources to Promote Health and Community Well-being

Explore a variety of resources to promote access to nutritious foods, food security, and physical activity within tribal communities. 

Financial Support: Federal Programs and Grants

Administration for Children and Families (ACF): Community Services Block Grants (CSBG)

Federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations can take advantage of ACF’s Community Services Block Grants (CSBG). The grants provide funds to alleviate the causes and conditions of poverty in communities. Grant funds can provide services and activities that address nutrition and related services to counteract conditions of malnutrition. 

ACF Administration for Native Americans (ANA): Social and Economic Development Strategies (SEDS) Grants

Federally and state recognized tribes, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and Native non-profits can apply for Social and Economic Development Strategies (SEDS) grant funding. This funding supports community-driven projects focused on growing local economies, increasing the capacity of tribal governments, strengthening families, preserving Native cultures, and increasing self-sufficiency and community well-being. 

Grantees can use SEDS funding to develop food sovereignty and food security projects specific to community needs. ANA also offers a focused funding stream to Alaska Natives through the SEDS-AK grant opportunity.

ACF: Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund (PEAF)

State and Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Programs now have access to the Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund. These resources are part of the American Rescue Plan and can be used for non-recurrent, short-term assistance, including emergency food aid.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Good Health and Wellness in Indian Country (GHWIC) 

Good Health and Wellness in Indian Country (GHWIC) is CDC’s largest investment to holistically address chronic diseases and support healthy behaviors in tribal communities. One of GHWIC’s four strategies focuses on implementing evidence- and culturally-informed changes to increase access to healthy and traditional foods in tribal communities. The GHWIC cooperative agreement (fiscal years 2019–2023) awards $19.3 million in annual funding to 27 tribes, tribal organizations, and Urban Indian Organizations (UIOs).

CDC: Tribal Practices for Wellness in Indian Country (TPWIC) 

Tribal Practices for Wellness in Indian Country (TPWIC) aims to increase consumption of healthy traditional foods and increase physical activity in tribal communities through strategies and activities that focus on:

  • Seasonal cultural and traditional practices that support health and wellness 
  • Cultural teachings and practices about traditional healthy foods to promote health, sustenance, and sustainability
  • Traditional and contemporary physical activities that strengthen well-being

The current TPWIC cooperative agreement (fiscal years 2022-2026) awards approximately $5 million in annual funding to 36 Tribes and UIOs. Through TPWIC, recipients implement activities centered on the cultural significance of foods to increase access to and the inclusion of healthy traditional foods in diets. These efforts include teachings on growing, harvesting, storing, and preparing foods that are significant to each tribe’s unique culture. TPWIC recipients further the connection to traditional foods by incorporating native language, seasonal ceremonies, and the cultural roles of these foods to support tribal community members’ engagement in cultivating and including traditional foods in diets.

CDC: Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) 

Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) is a national program administered by CDC to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities. Through REACH, recipients plan and carry out local, culturally appropriate programs to address a wide range of health issues among Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Alaska Native people. 

In February 2023, CDC announced fiscal year 2023 funds to implement REACH 2023. This 5-year program aims to improve health, prevent chronic diseases, and reduce health disparities among racial and ethnic populations with the highest risk of chronic disease. REACH programs focus on: 

  • Food service and nutrition guidelines
  • Fruit and vegetable vouchers and produce prescriptions
  • Increasing physical activity through community design
  • Continuity of care in breastfeeding support
  • Obesity prevention standards in early care and education programs
  • Support for family healthy weight programs
  • Tobacco prevention and control policies

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA): Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW)

The Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) strengthens the health workforce and connects skilled health care providers to communities in need. A robust primary care workforce builds healthy communities and is essential to a holistic approach toward improving food security and physical wellness. BHW offers several programs that can be utilized in tribal communities. 

IHS: Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) 

The Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) grant program provides $150 million annually for diabetes treatment and prevention. Recipients include approximately 302 Indian Health Service (IHS), tribal, and urban (I/T/U) Indian health grant programs in 35 states. Each of the communities served by the SDPI grant program is unique in that its diabetes treatment and prevention needs and priorities are defined locally. Based on these local needs and priorities, the SDPI grant programs are required to implement Diabetes Best Practices, which address health-related concerns such as nutrition, physical activity, and more.

USDA: Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program (CFPCGP)

The USDA Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program awards grants to eligible nonprofits, tribal organizations, and nutrition program service providers. Recipients promote self-sufficiency and increase food and nutrition security in low-income communities by developing comprehensive, community-based solutions. The program seeks to increase access to fresher food supplies; increase the self-reliance of communities in providing for their own food needs; and promote comprehensive responses to local food issues.

Federal Initiatives and Projects

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS): Food and Mood Project 

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Regions 7 and 8, partnered with the Mountain Plains USDA FNS office, facilitate a collaborative of state, tribal and community behavioral health, education, nutrition, food insecurity, school garden, and related experts working in the Regions to support school-aged children and youth. The goal of the project is to promote emotional wellness and reduce the impact of mental health and substance use conditions. The program achieves this goal by identifying and implementing strategies that address behavioral health and food insecurity, cultural food diversity, and promote school gardens. The initiative is known as the Food and Mood Project.

The project incorporates 5 Pillars of Food and Mood:

  1. Equitable Access to Resources: An increase in the amount of flexible funding to enable equitable access to nutritious, culturally appropriate foods and emotional wellness-related services
  2. Multi-disciplinary community engagement: A change in the perspective of mental health that engages with social determinants of health, creating employment opportunities and more effective support systems
  3. Holistic and culturally informed curriculum: The implementation of culturally appropriate Food and Mood learning opportunities that promote food and emotional wellness (e.g., learning in school gardens)
  4. Meaningful education and curriculum: The creation of a Food and Mood toolkit that is widely distributed to increase knowledge of the link between food and emotional wellness
  5. An inclusive, normalizing public dialogue: A decrease in stigma behind food and emotional wellness through public education, national campaigns, and public dialogue

1 of the 3 subcommittees of the Food and Mood Project focuses on Culturally Diverse Foods/Food Sovereignty. This subcommittee is working to identify, develop, and promote resources and strategies that leverage access to and promote menus that reflect culturally diverse food and food sovereignty. This work aims to protect and support emotional wellness and to help mitigate historical trauma and the short and long-term behavioral health impacts of lack of access to local, sustainable, and culturally appropriate food.

Office of Community Services (OCS): Freedom from Hunger Initiative

Recently, OCS published the Freedom From Hunger Initiative that describes how tribes and Community Action Agencies are leveraging Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funds to address food insecurity. 

The Lummi Nation is a sovereign nation within the United States, and the third largest tribe in Washington state, serving over 5,000 members. There are nearly 13,000 acres of tidelands on the Lummi Reservation, and for thousands of years, the Lummi have been independent and self-sufficient. The Lummi Nation’s mission is to sustain their way of life. As such, the Lummi Nation continues to invest in tribal economic development and training its members to use the most modern technologies while staying attentive to tribal values. The Lummi Reservation is situated west of Bellingham and south of Ferndale, Washington and operates a food bank and a commodity food department for its members. Learn more about the project through this case study.

Training and Technical Assistance

ANA: Training and Technical Assistance

ANA has 4 regional training and technical assistance (TA) centers offering, at no cost, project and planning development training, pre-application training, and post award training to eligible tribes and native organizations. The centers also review applications that are 75 percent complete and offer guidance to help improve the proposal. Trainings are provided in-person and virtually throughout ANA’s 4 regional service areas. To help increase the chance for success, technical assistance remains available throughout the life of the grant.

Tribal communities seeking to implement the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) can get help from the CSBG Tribal Resource Center. For more information, call (301) 244-3557 or email tribalta@luxcg.com.

Intertribal Technical Assistance Network (ITAN)

USDA has a cooperative agreement with the Intertribal Agriculture Council that established the Intertribal Technical Assistance Network (ITAN). The Network increases access and use of USDA programs and services by Indian producers and tribes.

ITAN supports USDA in delivering programs and services through technical assistance and outreach to farmers and ranchers. ITAN focuses on providing local and traditional foods to AI/AN tribal members and improving access both domestically and around the world for tribally produced foods.

The Network supports farmers and ranchers across the United States, potentially benefitting over 55 million acres of reservation lands and the communities located on those lands. Learn more about the Network.