COPE: Food as Medicine on Navajo Nation

PEL is proud to support COPE's community-driven nutrition programs on Navajo Nation.

Food as Medicine

Plants-Earth-Life (PEL) is proud to provide catalytic support to Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment (COPE) in their Navajo Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program (FVRx) on Navajo Nation. PEL’s contribution is intentionally modest but strategic: helping shine a spotlight on proven, high-impact programs like the Navajo FVRx Program so they can gain visibility, attract greater funding, and be replicated in other parts of the country and globally. 

About the Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program (FVRx)

The COPE Navajo FVRx program is an innovative initiative that partners with healthcare facilities and programs as well as local retailers to promote healthy eating to improve health outcomes. Families identified by clinic providers and community health workers receive monthly prescriptions for vouchers to buy fruits and vegetables at participating retailers across Navajo Nation. These retailers, including trading posts, Farmers’ Markets, and local grocery stores, often also carry healthy Navajo traditional foods such as blue corn, sumac berries, and juniper ash. 

To date, COPE has enrolled over 1,900 individuals (benefiting more than 7,600 family members) who can redeem vouchers worth up to $224 per month. More than 30 local retailers, from trading posts, to independently-owned convenience stores to grocery stores, have participated in the program, making healthy produce and traditional foods more accessible to families. 

Program Objectives

  1. Improve Health and Well Being – Increase access to healthy foods, increased consumption of healthy, locally-grown, and traditional produce. 

  2. Support Retailers and Stimulate the Local Economy – Provide training, equipment upgrades (shelving, refrigeration), and marketing tools to strengthen small businesses and promote local sales of healthy foods on Navajo Nation. 

  3. Honor Traditions – Ensure healthy foods reflect Navajo culture and values and provide culturally relevant nutrition education and outreach to families. 

  4. Promote Resilience – Strengthen local food systems and health systems by partnering to support growers and the local production of food and building clinic-community linkages. 

  5. Catalyze Policy and System Change – Through a guided community evaluation, generates a rigorous evidence-based outcome that gives rise to policy and system 

Part of the COPE’s FVRx that further’s its impact:

Healthy Navajo Stores Initiative. This program helps small stores across Navajo Nation—trading posts, convenience stores, and groceries—stock and promote more fruits, vegetables, and traditional Diné foods. By improving availability and visibility of healthy options, these stores become key partners in reclaiming a healthier Navajo Nation.

Vegetables on display

Growers Initiative. This effort connects local Navajo growers with markets while promoting traditional and sustainable practices. By strengthening local food production, it supports cultural traditions, revitalizes food systems, and expands community access to healthy foods.

Impact

The FVRx program has improved nutrition, supported local farmers, and strengthened small retailers. Families gain affordable access to fruits and vegetables, while stores receive training, equipment upgrades, and new infrastructure to handle fresh produce. Importantly, the program connects food access with healthcare, helping reduce chronic disease and demonstrating the powerful idea of using food as medicine.

How PEL Will Support COPE

At Plants Earth Life (PEL), we believe food is the single strongest lever to optimize human health and environmental sustainability. By supporting COPE’s work on Navajo Nation, PEL will:

  1. Fund Expansion – Provide financial support to scale the FVRx and HNSI programs to reach more families and stores.
  2. Support Nutrition Education – Back culturally grounded cooking demos, family activities, and “food as medicine” programs.
  3. Strengthen Local Food Systems – Help connect Navajo farmers and producers with grocery programs, promoting local procurement and resilience.
  4. Share Lessons Globally – Highlight COPE’s success as a model that can inform planetary health diet interventions in other low- and middle-income countries.

Why COPE Matters to PEL’s Mission

  • COPE Navajo FVRx is a living example of what PEL believes: food is the single strongest lever for health and environmental sustainability.
  • It demonstrates how whole-food, plant-forward diets can be taken from concept to practice in communities with food access challenges.
  • ·It shows the power of integrating clinical care + community nutrition + supply chains in a culturally grounded way.
  • Success on Navajo Nation helps PEL build a replicable, evidence-driven model that can be adapted to LMIC settings, aligned with PEL’s focus on low- and middle-income countries

Acknowledgment

Support for Navajo FVRx is provided by Arizona First Things First, the Rx Foundation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). PEL is proud to join these partners in supporting this catalytic model.

Testimonials from FVRx Program

  • “These vouchers have completely changed the way I shop. The vouchers had changed my lifestyle without me having to overthink a purchase or to slowly tiptoe around adapting to something new. I learned by doing.”
  • “What most benefited us was introducing and tasting vegetables/fruits that we weren’t familiar with. Exploring and understanding cultural foods such as steam corn and blue corn. It allows us to keep our traditions.”
  • “It is nice to have the vouchers – it helps me eat more fruits and vegetables. Even my kids eat more fruits and vegetables because they see their dad eating it.”
COPE Growers Garden
COPE - Small Store