Through the Lakota Agriculture Project, the University of Michigan aims to expand agricultural education and practices that directly support food sovereignty and sustainability, specifically for Native American youth. This initiative will exclusively serve Tribal students in Rapid City and the surrounding rural counties and reservations. The project will integrate traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and STEM education, providing lessons and mentoring focusing solely on Native youth. The initiative has several interconnected objectives to enhance community engagement, education, and sustainability. These include obtaining input from the Native community to refine the teaching farm and positive youth development (PYD) curriculum, facilitating the integration of western scientific perspectives with TEK, addressing access to capital for Native farmers, promoting positive youth development through culturally grounded curricula, and ensuring the program’s long-term sustainability by developing a roadmap and training community members in grant writing. The project aims to foster deep community investment, increased youth knowledge and confidence in agroecology, and enhanced well-being, creating a unique connection between STEM and agriculture for the youth involved.
© Native American Agriculture Fund 2018 
About Company
The Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF) provides grants to eligible organizations for business assistance, agricultural education, technical support, and advocacy services to support Native farmers and ranchers.
The charitable trust was created by the settlement of the landmark Keepseagle v. Vilsack class-action lawsuit. NAAF is the largest philanthropic organization devoted solely to serving the Native American farming and ranching community.