New Leaf Community Challenge – 2020

Congratulations to Just Food and the Parkdale Food Centre, co-recipients of the NLCC 2020 $125,000 grant. These organizations, along with several others, each presented their proposed initiative (described below) at a collaborative workshop involving over 40 sector players in November 2020. Based on input at the workshop, their initiatives were selected to receive a seed grant for further development, and to present at the NLCC virtual event on March 1, 2021. In addition to the core NLCC grant, further funding for one or both of these initiatives may be awarded by the Ottawa Community Foundation’s NLCC partner, the RBC Foundation.

Food insecurity, already a significant issue in Ottawa, has been exacerbated by the global pandemic. The two NLCC grant recipients have each addressed challenges and opportunities in these unprecedented times to develop cross-sectoral and collaborative action towards food security solutions.

The Good Food Ottawa website supports easy navigation to a broad range of food-related services and resources in Ottawa. With the NLCC grant it will also become a communications and collaboration hub for food sector actors, in addition to ensuring that key public-facing information is available in multiple languages. The proposed initiative leverages technology to support engagement, learning and coordination among a diversity of actors in food security solutions, and contributes to the evolution of a comprehensive food strategy for Ottawa. The enhanced platform will serve as an interactive, simple-to-access online resource and action portal, with features such as event calendars, interactive maps of food system players, job and volunteer opportunities, opportunities to share information on assets, best practices, emerging needs, etc., and IT support for members.

Initiated by Parkdale Food Centre, the Ottawa Community Food Partnership (OCFP) connects community members, social services agencies, and local food businesses to engage in programs and approaches that address food insecurity through a food justice and food sovereignty lens. Cooking for a Cause Ottawa is a flagship initiative of the OCFP, borne of the dual need to support very vulnerable residents with healthy, fresh meals and to mitigate the financial and employment impacts of the pandemic on restaurants. This highly successful partnership between social service agencies and the private sector has resulted in the delivery of over 150,000 meals, and contributed to the viable operation throughout the pandemic of twenty food businesses. Opportunities to maintain and evolve this successful model post-pandemic will require renewed partnership approaches. NLCC funding will support this work, along with the ongoing organizational evolution of the OCFP as the home for CfaCO and other innovative approaches to building more equitable, efficient, and progressive approaches to food security in Ottawa.