Leech Lake SNAP-ED Program Receives Circle of Excellence Award

The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Cass Lake received a Circle of Excellence Award from the Minnesota Department of Human Services for their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education curriculum today.

The program offers nutrients education for low-income individuals and families living on or near the Leech Lake Reservation. The curriculum combines traditional food, language and culture, and it teaches tribal youth and family members to grow, harvest and prepare the food.

“Moving in a positive way, and that people are accepting these ideas, and these changes and really inviting back our original teachings around food, language and health,” said Claire Chase, the Leech Lake SNAP-ED Coordinator.

The Leech Lake SNAP-ED program was one of five organizations in Minnesota that won the Circle of Excellence Award. The award recognizes organization who have done exceptional work through the DHS in their local communities. Some of the criteria for the award include work that demonstrate best practices, a work that achieve results, and partners with others in the human services system.

“It’s made a difference, it’s also very culturally based in their Native American cultural approaches. And so, that’s a very unique aspect of the program that we were excited about and that our staff used to nominate the tribe for their very good work,” Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Jodi Harpstead said.

The Leech Lake SNAP-ED program curriculum is one of only two that is Native-based in the nation.