Chicago Frontlines Fund makes its first Reclaim Fund Grant to the Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum
Indigenous food and medicine garden outside of the teaching kitchen building
CFF is proud to award our first Reclaim Fund grant to the Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum. After participating in a tour of the Museum and their beautiful garden, it was obvious to the CFF team that the Museum’s Indigenous Gardens and Foodways Initiative was a strong match for our new Reclaim Fund portfolio.
The Museum is building a shared teaching kitchen as part of the Initiative. The kitchen will offer “hands-on programs centered on Indigenous food traditions. Designed as a community space, it will support Indigenous chefs and food entrepreneurs in sharing regional foods, recipes, and traditional knowledge. This kitchen offers a place to sustain foodways while welcoming the public to learn through classes and meals rooted in Indigenous lifeways.”
This support will make a huge difference as we complete the remaining work needed to bring the kitchen to life.
Funding from Reclaim Fund will allow the Museum to complete the capital improvements required to open the kitchen safely,and in compliance with accessibility and public-use standards. “This support will make a huge difference as we complete the remaining work needed to bring the kitchen to life. We are also very honored that this is the first grant awarded through the new Reclaim Fund.” - Kim Vigue, Executive Director, Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum
The Museum’s Indigenous Gardens and Foodways Initiative was perfectly positioned to receive funding through the Reclaim Fund. The Chicagoland region is home to Native people representing over 150 Indigenous Nations from across America, with one of the highest populations of Native communities in the country. Many Native people in Chicago have returned to the city after their families were forcefully removed from reservations during the 1950s through relocation programs aimed at assimilating Native people into cities for work.
Urban Native communities face many challenges, including access to fresh, affordable traditional foods. Part of the reason, Sean Sherman, chef at Owamni in Minneapolis, explains is that the displacement of Native people from their lands also led to the loss of Indigenous foodways and ancestral knowledge. Furthermore, high poverty rates amongst Native communities makes opening up businesses all the more challenging for community members.
That’s where the Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum steps in.
The Museum's shared kitchen will allow Native chefs access to commercial kitchen space for their business endeavors. They will also provide cooking classes and communal meals rooted in Indigenous lifeways.
We are honored to be able to support Indigenous dreams and food sovereignty through the Reclaim Fund.
Blueberries harvested at the Indigenous Garden
A harvest of corn, squash, and yellow cone flowers from the garden
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