The Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks (VNFNs) take a right to food approach in addressing community food security and justice issues, that nutritious food should be accessed freely and with dignity. VNFNs recognize that food security is a core social determinant of health (SDOH) and is impacted by a variety of factors including income inequality, gender, race, culture, physical wellbeing and illness, community connection, food literacy and skill, food access, access to services and more….In addressing these many facets of health and well-being, the VNFNs take a place-based and multi-program approach to our work via a community development model that builds on the assets, skills, and resources within our neighbourhoods to address various food security issues.
Buen Provecho Cooking Program, Grandview Woodland Food Connection. Photo by Ian Marcuse
Through a community-based approach and supported by backbone host community centers and nieghbourhood houses, VNFNs are effective in responding to the unique cultures, needs and desires within respective neighbourhoods. Individual VNFNs have had significant success in fostering community food practice and community capacity building via a diversity of community food programs that allow for multiple engagement opportunities, e.g. school gardening, community food markets, community kitchens, meal programs, food skills workshops, food celebrations, urban agriculture, emergency food provision, etc.
Evaluation has shown that these programs have had a strong positive impact for community member’s health and well-being but also improved access to food helping to offset food inflation and food insecurity; access to programs that build food education, literacy and skills; increased social connection as well as local food systems resilience to a worsening climate crisis, health and diet related challenges. More broadly, VNFNs have cultivated a stronger food culture beyond emergency food provision that deepens community members relationship to food along with an understanding of food justice practice via an equity lens in all VNFN work.
Beyond the VNFN neighbourhood community development work, the VNFNs work as a city-wide network of networks, sharing our practices, problem solving, and uplifting each other’s neighbourhood work through effective communication strategies, collaboration on joint projects, and leveraging our collective voice to advocate for food equity, justice, and ecologically & culturally sustainable food systems. We assert that the effectiveness of each individual network is strengthened through the wider network and in turn, the VNFN as a whole is strengthened through individual neighbourhood work. The VNFNs partner/collaborate with well over 150 other community based organizations, social service agencies, businesses, and government institutions and leveraging significant co- support and resources to enhance VNFN food programming.
Riley Park Community Garden. Photo by Isabella Falsetti
The success of this place-based, deeply networked and collaborative community food model has been demonstrated through our collective impact reporting. The VNFN model is ideally structured to address community food security and justice needs that are appropriate and responsive and which strive to build strong community relations, partnerships, and social capital necessary for community well being and resilience.