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[Opening music]
NANCE: StrikeForce is an investment in a community.
It is important to make this investment in these
persistent poverty counties because
the majority of the people in these areas have continued
over ten twenty, now thirty years
not to break the poverty level.
At some point, somebody has got to say that's enough.
And for us now to concentrate in using the tools
of the United States Department of Agriculture
to come back and make that investment in rural America,
so that the next time we come around
to a census we don't have those same communities.
We can do it.
[Opening song ends]
[Light guitar music begins]
VILSACK: In times of constrained resources,
it's important for us to work collaboratively.
So our creative solution to this is to basically
figure out how we leverage within government,
within USDA, with companion organizations -
whether it's a tribal council or whether it's
a corporation that's forming a co-op to help provide
locally produced food to folks in the area -
StrikeForce basically encourages
that type of collaboration.
And then assures folks that there's going to be success.
Assures them that we will work with them through the system,
that can sometimes be complicated.
NARRATOR; At the Santo Domingo Pueblo in New Mexico,
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is seeing
firsthand how USDA's StrikeForce is helping
people get results.
First with new irrigation piping
installed with USDA funding and technical assistance.
It will mean more local food for the community
grown with less water.
CORIZ: Welcome to my humble abode.
VILSACK: Wow, this is great.
NARRATOR: And later at the home of Tribal Member Harley Coriz,
built with a USDA loan.
CORIZ: Being a traditional person in the tribe,
I wasn't about to move out of, off the reservation.
So, this is a blessing for me.
NARRATOR: Harley's neighbors in this remote area
north of Albuquerque are benefitting from
the MoGro, mobile grocery, which brings fresh produce
and other items to this and other pueblos
with limited access to grocery stores.
LOVATO: Lots of people are buying fresh fruit
and produce which we like seeing because
we're impacting them to have a healthier option.
People are saving on fuel and time
and MoGro accepts the SNAP program,
and the EBT program.
NARRATOR: In Albuquerque and throughout New Mexico,
a StrikeForce partner - the La Montanita Food Co-Op
is helping local growers improve their farms.
Some growers who are approved for USDA grants
are initially short on cash to build
their hoop house or other improvements.
SEYDEL: So we give them the upfront money,
we lend it to them. They do the work,
the USDA inspects the project,
and then their grant money comes through
and they pay back the La Montanita loan fund
and then we loan it out again.
NARRATOR: Richard Moore leads a community farm that is
putting its StrikeForce improvements to good use.
MOORE: This hoop house has been extremely helpful
in many, many different ways.
One, it has expanded our growing season
and then also providing quality food
for the residents of this community.
NARRATOR: La Montanita Food Co-op is also using
StrikeForce investments to help US Veterans.
This urban garden in Albuquerque produces fresh
local food for the community and helps
the vets recover from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
DULFON: This garden has probably saved lives because it
keeps people's minds busy.
ALEXIAS: It makes me think about what I'm doing instead of,
you know, what I went through.
>>I think it's great to have a "green zone" right in
the heart of a city.
The food we produce here is amazing, it tastes delicious,
it's local and that's what you want.
NARRATOR: Locally produced food is good for the health
and economic success of communities.
The Santa Fe New Mexico Farmers Market host vendors
who have benefitted from StrikeForce Investments.
SANDOVAL: The USDA support was crucial.
I put everything in from underground piping,
drip irrigation, hoop houses
and it totally revolutionized my farm.
NARRATOR: This market also leverages funds
to help stretch SNAP program benefits.
BACA: What we do is double value promotions.
Somebody comes to the market,
they scan their EBT card for twenty dollars
and they get forty dollars in tokens to spend at the market.
Whenever we run those promotions it just spikes the EBT use.
It's an incentive to get folks here,
but even without the incentive,
they continue to come back to the market.
NARRATOR: Northern New Mexico small farmer, Don Bustos,
with a StrikeForce funded hoop house provides
local food for his community,
and he shares his knowledge with other farmers.
BUSTOS: I feel that I've been very fortunate
to access these programs.
And, we're really trying to help other communities
access the programs that I've been able to,
to start to create these regional kind of food systems
instead of a smaller kind of a food system.
So it creates a healthy community,
healthy economy all from the USDA programs.
[LAUGHTER]
NARRATOR: StrikeForce funding is also helping to
support the USDA summer feeding program,
a key source of nutrition when school meals are not available.
[CHILDREN TALKING]
That means meals and snacks for kids
on Colorado's Southern Ute reservation.
LeClaire: Yeah, USDA assistance is vital
for this to happen, actually.
With the snack portion,
sometimes the kids come from backgrounds
where they might not have the opportunity to
have snacks like this throughout the day.
And the kids need the energy that they get
from the snacks that we provide them because they
are physically active throughout the day.
NARRATOR: In South Texas, StrikeForce is helping
a farmers market to bring fresh food and education
to the local community.
CANTER: We're trying to complete the circle of life
and make these families, these underprivileged families
a little bit more sustainable.
They can bring their children here to feed them,
get them introduced to the product.
We can show them how to make the product
and bring them here and show them
how to sell the product,
thus creating a completely sustainable family unit.
It's all dependent on local economy,
local food production, local everything.
So that's what we're trying to do.
I think we're gaining some headway.
NARRATOR: In Colonias in Texas and in other historically
underserved communities throughout rural America,
StrikeForce is helping small farmers become more sustainable.
That's been a priority since the program was launched in 2010.
Mississippi ranchers, Emma and Percy Brown
are benefitting from USDA investments in StrikeForce.
They received upgraded fencing and watering systems
for their cattle.
BROWN: I recommend anybody to go by and just sit down
and talk with them for a minute
and see what they got to offer.
It helped us out a lot.
VILSACK: These programs create that opportunity,
so USDA is very committed to this.
[APPPLAUSE]
StrikeForce is going strong as it builds
partnerships that are investing in America's areas
of persistent poverty.
With business loans, farm micro loans, grants,
technical assistance and other programs
many USDA agencies are working as one to make a difference.
NANCE: In StrikeForce, the Secretary has given us
the best tool he could have -
and that is to take down the walls between the agencies.
We are no longer stove piped into trying to achieve
our individual charges.
And having that freedom to now work across what is best
of each of the programs makes StrikeForce a contribution
to rural America that I don't think
we have ever seen before,
and has the opportunity to make a difference.
[Closing music]