From growing food in wildfire-prone areas to providing emergency aid in remote communities, Seeding Sovereignty has been working to improve health, safety, and sustainability for Indigenous and other underserved groups across the nation since 2016. Headquartered in New York, this women- and Indigenous-led collective supports communities facing high environmental risk, food insecurity, and limited healthcare access. Their programs include the Rapid Response Initiative & Community Care Fund, delivering PPE and medicine, and the Medicine Wheels program, focusing on mutual aid, mental health, and creative arts for Indigenous youth. Their Ancestral Acres Farm in Albuquerque grows fresh food in a community challenged by air pollution, wildfire risk, and food scarcity. As founder Janet MacGillivray says, “Our work is about reclaiming the power to care for our communities and lands – because true change begins when people have the resources and respect to heal themselves.”
Along with MacGillivray – who started the organization after her work at Standing Rock – Seeding Sovereignty is led by a team of lawyers, organizers, and cultural workers. Its national board includes leaders such as Dolores Huerta and Linda Black Elk. The nonprofit partnered with the Animal Legal Defense Fund to file an amicus curiae brief advocating for wilderness access as a Constitutional right. Their programs include the Missing and Surviving Indigenous Peoples Initiative, a reproductive justice clinic serving queer and trans BIPOC individuals, youth programs on reservations centered around art and skateboarding, and SUPERSEED, their climate justice podcast. They have also awarded Seed Grants for hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico and mobilized activists at the 2025 CERAWeek oil and gas conference in Houston, TX. Their work equips Indigenous families and grassroots leaders to confront food insecurity and environmental challenges with culturally-relevant, community-driven solutions.
Eryn Wise with Seeding Sovereignty