The goal of FEED is to build the tribe’s first grocery store north of the Ute Mountain Casino and powwow grounds on U.S. The nearest grocery stores are 15 miles away in Cortez. The 2,100-member tribe is in a “food desert” without convenient access to healthy food choices, fresh fruits and vegetables, and meats, said Tribal Chairman Manuel Heart. The grant award supports the Tribe’s Food Entrepreneurs Economic Development project and is funded by the American Rescue Plan’s Indigenous Communities Program. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe has been awarded a $2.9 million grant from the Economic Development Administration to build the first phase of a new grocery store in Towaoc. Federal funding is part of the American Rescue Plan new grocery will remedy Towaoc food desert