“Good Food Grants” From Community Food Centres Canada Invest in a Burgeoning Good Food Movement

GNH Community Programmer Isabel Ashton, and GNH Food Advocate Andrew Christie at the Pop-up Produce Stand at Gordon Neighbourhood House.

Vancouver, BC, September 11, 2015—Gordon Neighbourhood House is pleased to announce it has been awarded one of five $50,000 grants from Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC) as part of its Good Food Organizations program. The grant will enable Gordon Neighbourhood House to build on our innovative community food programs

This grant stream, entitled Good Food Grants, is available to members of CFCC’s Good Food Organizations program which supports Canadian food security organizations by increasing their capacity to offer healthy and dignified food programs in their communities. The 2015 Good Food Grants, totalling $250,000, marks Community Food Centres Canada’s foray into grant-making activities.

“We are at an exciting time in the growth of our community food initiatives in the West End. There is a huge appetite in the community for the development of initiatives that go beyond traditional emergency responses to hunger, but that challenge the systems that hold hunger in place. This support will allow us to develop a suite of capacity building food programs in our community” says Paul M. Taylor, executive director of Gordon Neighbourhood House.

Grantees have been selected from among the 75 Good Food Organizations (GFOs) who have aligned themselves with CFCC based on shared principles, and who are working with low-income communities to grow, cook, share and advocate for good food.

“Over the past three years, we have developed eight new Community Food Centre partnerships across the country, from Calgary to Dartmouth, and we’ve learned what it takes to succeed,” says Kathryn Scharf, Chief Operating Officer of CFCC. Scharf says that grassroots organizations can have significant impacts with relatively modest investments, “but we must acknowledge that, as our safety net frays, the strands cannot be knit back together by organizations that are chronically understaffed and inconsistently resourced. We would love to see a full-fledged Community Food Centre in every town and city, and while we can’t do that today, we are working with organizations with similar values to test how sharing ideas and resources can accelerate their work and build a shared case for its value.

Gordon Neighbourhood House is joined by four other grantees selected from across Canada including Nelson Food Cupboard Society in Nelson, BC; YWCA Peterborough Haliburton, in Peterborough; Parkdale Food Centre in Ottawa, and NDG Food Depot in Montreal.

Media inquiries: Paul M. Taylor, Executive Director, Gordon Neighbourhood House 604 683 2554 ext. 202 or paul@gordonhouse.org

Media inquiries: Christina Palassio, Director of Communications, Community Food Centres Canada 416 531 8826 ext. 229 or christina@cfccanada.ca

Gordon Neighbourhood House has served as a community hub in Vancouver’s West End since 1942. We have a history of working alongside our neighbours to facilitate connection, engagement, and collaboration while seizing opportunities for community development. Our mission is to make the West End a better neighbourhood in which to live and grow and to ensure that our community is a vibrant and active community, where everyone is empowered to play an active role in civil society.

The Good Food Organizations program is an initiative of Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC). CFCC provides resources and a proven approach to partner organizations across Canada to create Community Food Centres that bring people together to grow, cook, share, and advocate for good food. CFCC also works with the broader food movement to build greater capacity for impact and to empower communities to work toward a healthy and fair food system. For more information, visit www.cfccanada.ca or follow @aplaceforfood.