Food & Land Sovereignty
Restoring balance, growing futures
About Our Work
Understanding that land is health, our Food & Land Sovereignty initiatives bridge ecological, cultural, and public health systems.
Projects such as the Health and Wellness Tool and the Across the Medicine Lines Project connect communities across generations to restore Indigenous foodways, strengthen sovereignty, and promote sustainable land stewardship.
Knowledge Foundations:
Building on Dr. Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan’s foundational framework linking food sovereignty and health, IHEI advances this work through community-led practice, evaluation, and training. Our programming centers Indigenous connectedness, intergenerational knowledge transmission, and relational responsibility as living determinants of health. By applying these principles in real-world food–land initiatives, IHEI supports Indigenous communities in strengthening sovereignty and wellbeing on their own terms.
Building Collective Power Through Food & Land
This work heals the land and the people while propelling us toward life-affirming, generative futures.
In partnership with NW Food Sovereignty/Land Back stewards and Across the Medicine Lines, IHEI builds collective power by weaving shared visions, cultivating the foundations for community-based food–land wellness systems. Here, IHEI addresses health justice at the intersection of food-land-climate-and futures.
From the beginning, IHEI has been deeply engaged with Indigenous food sovereignty. In 2020, our COVID-19 response efforts brought together traditional harvesters, healers, and seed keepers to provide culturally appropriate food and medicine to Indigenous families experiencing food insecurity. From that collective community formed the Northwest Indigenous Food Sovereignty Alliance (NIFSA), a coalition of over 100 Native farmers, gatherers, fisherfolk, and cultural leaders representing more than 20 Indigenous-led organizations across Oregon. As a core member, IHEI supports NIFSA by providing technical expertise in data collection, evaluation, and advocacy to strengthen community-driven food systems and ensure long-term Indigenous self-determination.
Our Projects
Food Sovereignty Health & Wellness Impact Assessment Tool: IHEI is developing the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Health and Wellness Impact Assessment Tool to document health impacts related to food sovereignty actions and land back advocacy. In partnership with the Northwest Indigenous Food Sovereignty Alliance (NIFSA),
Food Sovereignty Project with Future Generations Collaborative: IHEI collaborates with the Northwest Indigenous Food Sovereignty Alliance (NIFSA) by providing evaluation and technical assistance in support of Indigenous-led food sovereignty initiatives. This work strengthens community-driven efforts through values-aligned data practices, documentation, and learning that honor reciprocity with land, water, and all living relatives. Together, the collaboration supports knowledge sharing, collective capacity, and long-term Indigenous self-determination across food and land systems.