Our Model
Introduction
In 2009, over 374,000 Ontarians accessed food banks each month, 40 per cent of whom were children. Every hour of every day, twenty Canadians are diagnosed with diabetes, a preventable disease that this year will cost the country over $12.2 billion dollars in medical bills. In the past decade, the number of farms and farmers in Ontario has steadily decreased as large-scale farms take over, making farming both an environmentally unsustainable and economically unviable occupation. The thread that unites these pressing issues is food. However, no institution has viewed these problems, and thus the solutions, as entwined. Until now.
Over the past 30 years, The Stop Community Food Centre has pioneered a new model for addressing a multitude of food issues – one that confronts the basic needs of low-income Ontarians while supporting local agriculture, combating diet-related illness, and building community around the notion of healthy, good food for all. Now, The Stop is collaborating with the Perth & District Food Bank in Perth, Ontario and the United Way Perth Huron in Stratford, Ontario to create two new community food centres (CFCs) in Ontario, with the aim of building community, reducing poverty and supporting local agriculture.
Our Model
Each CFC will revolve around a series of programs falling into the categories of enhanced emergency food access (equality, dignity and health); community kitchens and gardens (skills and community building); food systems education (learning and behavior change); and civic engagement (broader social change), while also being united through the seven core principles outlined in our Metcalf Paper, "In Every Community A Place for Food."
Over the next year, a locally-hired Community Project Coordinator will be working with The Stop and our local agency partners to consult with community members and develop locally-relevant programming in these four areas. By 2012, we hope to have launched two new physical spaces to house these programs, each comprised of a meeting and dining space, offices, a Public Health approved kitchen and a garden.
Our Learning Network
Throughout the course of this start-up phase, The Stop is excited to also work with other organizations interested in creating CFCs, through resource sharing and networking, with the aim of creating a larger institution of Community Food Centres across the country.
Over the course of 2011, we will be launching a Community Food Centre Learning Network, comprised of online resources, tele-conferences, podcasts, video resources and face-to-face meetings. Ultimately, we hope for this to be both a collaborative space to advance learning in Canada about CFCs, as well as a place for us to share our stories and evaluation findings through our pilot phase.
If you are interested in receiving periodic updates about our learning opportunities, please email Elizabeth Fraser, Replication Coordinator, at elizabeth [at] thestop [dot] org.
Resources
• Read more about our model
• Read about our different program areas
• Learn more about our Healthy Food Philosophy
• Read our Metcalf Paper, "In Every Community A Place for Food."
• Visit our Learning Network
More information
Elizabeth Fraser, Replication Coordinator: elizabeth [at] thestop [dot] org, 416-652-7867 ext 247.