Tribal Food Producer Information Session—June
June 11, 2025 12:30PM - 1:30PM
Registration Deadline: June 10, 2025 - 11:59PM
Join the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition and Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center for a meeting on Wednesday, June 11, 2025 to connect and learn.
June 11, 2025, 12:30 PM EST | 11:30 AM CST
The Tribal Food Producer Information Session will provide a virtual space to come together for learning about tracking sales and expenses along with upcoming funding opportunities.
These quarterly sessions will be facilitated by Jen Falck (Oneida Nation), owner of Kahulahele Farmstead and Partnership Program Coordinator, Menominee Tribe’s Department of Agriculture and Food Systems. Jen will be joined by Jamie Rahrig and Bekah Galang of Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems.
On June 11, the session will focus on using a customized spreadsheet that will help producers track expenses and sales.
Tribal food producers will learn about resources available to them through the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition and Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center. One resource includes the first phase of the Business Builder subaward program for food and/or farm businesses in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. Over $10 million dollars will be distributed across the region to assistance providers and through the subaward program over the next three years.
Meeting hosts:
- Jen Falck (Oneida Nation) works for the Menominee Tribe’s Department of Agriculture & Food Systems. She has professional experience in environmental health, food safety, tribal administration, and tribal legislation. Her current projects include the Wisconsin Tribal Elder Food Box Program, developing a Menominee Food Code, and helping to rebuild Menominee foodways. Jen is married and has a twenty-one year old daughter in college, a few dogs, and a menagerie of farm animals. Jen and her husband manage Kahulahele Farmstead, an eight acre farmstead which focuses on food sovereignty, restorative agriculture, conscious animal husbandry, building community, and resilience through bartering.
- Jamie Rahrig, Director of Food and Farm Business Assistance, Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems, MSU Product Center
- Bekah Galang, Partnership Specialist for Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems
Join us Wednesday, June 11, 2025, 12:30 PM EST | 11:30 AM CST on Zoom, to learn and connect. This session will be recorded and shared at glm-rfbc.msu.edu and on Youtube.
Register by Tuesday, June 10, 2025, 11:59 PM
https://bit.ly/TribalInfoSessionJune
For more information, email glm-rfbc@msu.edu or visit glm-rfbc.msu.edu.
About the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition
The Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition works to heal communities by strengthening Indigenous food networks. Their Tribal Elder Food Box Program provides nutrition, culturally meaningful foods for Tribal members over 55 years old. In 2022, the program reached all 11 tribes in Wisconsin, delivering over 24,400 food boxes.
About the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center
The Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center is dedicated to offering coordination, assistance, and capacity building opportunities for small to mid-sized farmers, producers, and other food business owners in support of a more resilient and competitive food system. Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems (MI) coordinates the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center that is comprised of network coordinators – Chicago Food Policy Action Council (IL), Northwest Indiana Food Council (IN), Food Finance Institute of the University of Wisconsin System (WI), and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and Food Systems – who seek to take a transformational, rather than transactional, approach. Learn more at glm-rfbc.msu.edu
Support for the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center comes from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service Regional Food Business Centers Program. The 12 USDA Regional Food Business Centers support all 50 U.S. States and Territories, and are inclusive of all types of agricultural products produced locally or regionally.