CRYP has announced that Executive Director is currently serving as president of the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance. Her term of service with NAFSA began in October 2019 and will run through December 2020.
Garreau has seen CRYP through its exhilarating development from a tiny, one-room youth center in 1988 to a large 21st century campus that includes “The Main” youth center for 4- to 12-year-olds, the Cokata Wiconi teen center for 13- to 18-year-olds, the Waniyetu Wowapi Lakota Youth Arts & Culture Institute, the Winyan Toka Win Garden, and several social enterprises — the Keya Cafe & Coffee Shop, Turtle Island Food & Coffee Truck, Keya Gift Shop, and Leading Lady Farmers Market.
A 2016-18 Bush Fellow and 2012 Bush Foundation Native Nations Rebuilder Fellow, Garreau has received the Spirit of Dakota Award, the Presidential Points of Light Award, and the prestigious Tim Wapato Public Advocate of the Year Award, among many others. Throughout the years, she has spearheaded a wide variety of innovative Native food sovereignty initiatives for children, teens, and the Cheyenne River community, and she became a founding member of NAFSA in October 2013.
“I’m honored to be working with NAFSA, because it’s such a natural extension of the work we’ve been doing here at CRYP for decades,” Garreau said. “Together, we’re committed to Native food sovereignty, sustainable agriculture, and policies that affect our control of our own food systems. We believe in leading by example, demonstrating to others how they can lift up their own communities, and perhaps most of all, providing inspiration. I love what NAFSA is doing, and I’m so proud to be part of it.”
NAFSA’s Leadership Council is comprised of grassroots activists that have been working on Native food sovereignty for many years. The Leadership Council met for two decades to create and develop NAFSA from seed to fruition. In 2012, the First Nations Development Institute—with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation—provided funding to the Taos County Economic Development Corporation to lead the formation of NAFSA as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. In 2013, NAFSA incorporated with the state of New Mexico and with the Navajo Nation.
This Native-driven organization is dedicated to supporting Native communities nationally with advocacy, education, and networking as they revitalize their indigenous food systems. NAFSA’s core programs are the Indigenous SeedKeepers Network, Food and Culinary Mentorship Program and Storytelling/Communications.
For more information about NAFSA, visit nativefoodalliance.org. To stay up to date on the latest news and events, follow NAFSA on Facebook and Instagram @nativefoodalliance. To contact NAFSA, send email to info@nativefoodalliance.org.
To stay up to date on the latest CRYP news and events, follow the youth project on Facebook (/LakotaYouth), Twitter (@LakotaYouth) and Instagram (@lakotayouth and @waniyetuwowapi).
The Cheyenne River Youth Project, founded in 1988, is a grassroots, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing the youth of the Cheyenne River reservation with access to a vibrant and secure future through a wide variety of culturally sensitive and enduring programs, projects and facilities that ensure strong, self-sufficient families and communities.