White House Author

For more than 15 years, Terrol Johnson has been creating innovative responses to epidemic rates of nutrition-related disease in the Tohono O'odham Nation in southern Arizona. As Co-Founder and President of Tohono O'odham Community Action (TOCA), he has led efforts to build a tribal food system that provides healthy, culturally-appropriate foods in one of the poorest communities in the United States. Terrol’s work ranges from founding two farms that grow traditional crops and programs that introduce healthy tribal foods into school lunches to revitalizing the tribe’s cultural traditions that promote healthy living, In 2009-10, Terrol walked from Bar Harbor, Maine to his home in Sells, Arizona to bring awareness of how Native American families and communities can take control of their health by embracing tribal and other healthy foods. Through his leadership, Terrol has inspired a new generation of tribal members to create a brighter future.