Grinding Stone Collective Inc

Grinding Stone Collective’s First Foods Program works to build Indigenous Food Sovereignty through Education, Reciprocity, and Stewardship. Native knowledge of the land & food is the key to safeguarding native communities from the threat of food insecurity caused by climate change. GSC provides an Indigenized community-led food culture programming that breaks barriers to access experienced by Urban & Rural Natives. Our values are rooted in Indigenous Food Sovereignty, which we define as the right to govern our own food systems from extraction to distribution using ancestral & contemporary knowledge. We provide access to the tools to cultivate/prepare Indigenous foods and establish community partnerships that increase food culture acquisition. We have formed three branches of change to address the issue of indigenous food insecurity under the First Foods Program: Education - Our New Day for Old Ways series has 2+ years of class development focused on Indigenous Food Sovereignty & Culture, Justice, Land Back, and Climate Change through our podcast, socials, and classes taught by members of our inter-tribal community. Our 2023 calendar includes 72 Classes (36 Classes in NYC & 36 Classes in Colorado-focused regions) focused on monthly themes. Reciprocity - The First Foods Inter-Tribal Food Pantry & Co-op is our mutual aid initiative that brings Indigenous food producers and Native communities closer together to provide culturally accessible food products. Through partnerships, we’ve successfully delivered over 8223 pounds of food―including Bison meat, grains, oysters, potatoes, and produce―for free to indigenous communities. We’ve also developed a digital database for native produce. Stewardship - The newly forming Stewards program will create climate solutions through education, indigenous agro-biospheres, terraforming, and land back using TEK - Traditional Ecological Knowledge to combat climate change.