The Cihuapactli Collective supports the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual self-determination of Indigenous peoples from womb to tomb. Food has always been at the core of the Cihuapactli Collective’s work across cultural revitalization and education, food justice and land restoration, birth equity and reproductive justice, and mental health and integrative wellness.
The collective has grown since receiving its first Funds to Feed grant in 2020, evolving to meet community needs. When COVID-19 hit, the collective reacted quickly to ensure Phoenix’s Indigenous families had nutrient-dense, ancestral foods. It partnered with Sana Sana Foods to provide Indigenous care packages with high-quality staples like beans, blue corn, coffee, and herbal teas from Indigenous farmers and producers.
These staples can be challenging – and expensive – to find in Phoenix. Blue corn, for example, is both a comfort and ceremonial food important to Indigenous communities, but families have difficulty finding blue corn that isn’t genetically modified. The Cihuapactli Collective was able to locate a blue corn farmer, purchase non-GMO blue corn wholesale, and include it in its care packages.
Although the Cihuapactli Collective’s care packages can be more expensive to provide than other food boxes, these packages support Indigenous farmers and families in Phoenix and strengthen Indigenous food pathways. Each care package contains 8-10 plant-based and dry foods produced by Ramona Farms, Quetzalco-op, and other Indigenous producers. Maria Del Carmen Parra Cano, the collective’s Executive Director, co-founder, and a chef, creates recipes to accompany the care packages, reconnecting families to the land.
Maria shares that Funds to Feed grants were critical in supporting its growth since 2020 – helping the collective to establish an office space and today employ 11 people. The collective is now a fiscal sponsor for other organizations, providing critical administrative support and capacity to promising groups. And throughout the grant process, the Cihuapactli Collective provided important community input about the realities facing families during the pandemic. Maria says, “As recipients, we were able to voice our experiences as things were happening during monthly meetings.”
Although federal funding to address food insecurity has decreased since 2020, Maria emphasizes that the need has not: “The need is ever more important.” Still, the collective has exciting plans to continue its work at the intersection of food justice, land restoration, wellness, and cultural revitalization.
Through the Campo Santo project, the collective is partnering with the community to create a food forest and wellness center on the land surrounding the Campo Santo Mexicano Cemetery. Eventually, the 3-acre food forest will grow Indigenous foods and the wellness center will offer traditional medicines. The center will include a restaurant, a small business incubator for local chefs, and a teaching kitchen. In February, the collective gathered with the families of those buried in the cemetery. Together, they hope to create a fence and signage that acknowledges and honors the stories of those buried there.