Buy local planning meeting set at Fort Belknap

Havre Daily News staff

Organizers of a push to buy local at Fort Belknap Indian Reservation are holding a meeting Wednesday in Lodge Pole to find the best ways to promote buying and selling locally.

The meeting will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Nosey Center in Lodge Pole, with a lunch served at noon.

The meeting is part of a larger push to rev up the local economy at Fort Belknap, including an agenda item to schedule the next people’s market, a farmers’ or makers’ market that premiered in Fort Belknap last Friday.

Fort Belknap Community Economic Development also is working on a food sovereignty project, receiving grants to study and open a store, the Red Paint Creek Trading Post and Pantry grocery cooperative, expected to open by the end of this month.

Wednesday’s meeting also ties into a project by the Montana Cooperative Development Center, with the Golden Triangle food hub also on the agenda.

The center has been studying about setting up a cooperative food hub including farmers, processors, distributors, grocers, hospitals, schools and restaurants. Montana Cooperative Development Center Executive Director Jan Brown will lead the discussion at Wednesday’s meeting.

Also on the agenda are identification of business assistance needs; a discussion led by Liz Ching of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development; a discussion of strategies to “rev up the buy local campaign”; discussing training, webinars and workshops; and discussing registration on the Fort Belknap Business Directory at http://fortbelknapvendors.weebly.com.