Resources Archives - Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks

BOLD ACTIONS FOR A FOOD CRISIS

AUTHOR: Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks // CATEGORY: Advocacy, Cedar Cottage Food Network, Community Gardening and Urban Farming, Dignified Food Access, Downtown Eastside Kitchen Tables, Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House, Food Hub, Food Justice, Gordon Neighbourhood House, Grandview Woodland Food Connection, Hastings Sunrise Community Food Network, Indigenous Food Sovereignty, Little Mountain Riley Park Neighbourhood House, Marpole Oakridge Neighbourhood Food Network, Mobile Markets, Mount Pleasant Food Network, Neighbourhood Food Networks, News, Poverty Reduction, Renfrew Collingwood Food Justice, Reports, Resources, South Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Network, Strathcona Community Centre, Village Vancouver, West End Neighbourhood Food Network, Westside Food Collaborative // June 18, 2021
Filling unmet community food needs during COVID-19

Staff and volunteers from Grandview-Woodland Food Connection prepare nutritious food hampers for delivery to members of their community.

Read our full report & stories

Fostering food-secure neighbourhoods

Over 25 years, Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks have learned to support people in growing and accessing nutritious and culturally familiar foods close to home, in neighbourhoods throughout the city. We promote access to food with dignity, and without barriers.

Many of our actions and principles reflect the global Right to Food standards, as outlined by the United Nations (tinyurl.com/UNRightToFood).

Our model is unique! We are a citywide network of networks, working together collectively through problem-solving, sharing information and resources, and advocating to increase our collective impact to build healthy food for all neighbourhoods.

Our work shows how investing in a just community food security model builds strong relationships, and quality access to food on an everyday basis. We’ve also demonstrated resilience and adaptability when crises arise.

Our model is responsive to the unique needs and cultures of each neighbourhood. Investing in community food security promotes individual and collective health, and eases strain on social and health care systems due to poverty and inequity.

Building resilience for Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks (before and beyond COVID) means:
- Advocating for food justice, poverty reduction, and Indigenous land sovereignty
- Urban food growing, including community, school and permaculture gardens
- Gardening workshops, seed-saving and distribution
- Community meals
- Good Food Boxes
- Cooking and nutrition workshops
- Community food markets and food distribution
- Community food celebrations and festivals
- Food recovery
Addressing food insecurity

During COVID-19, people in our city faced a food crisis that lasted long after the shelves were restocked. Many people became food insecure by losing employment and income, as well as access to affordable, nutritious food near home.

Our food systems were inequitable before 2020, and COVID worsened these problems. The 2016 Census shows 20% of Vancouverites live below the poverty line, which is closely linked to food insecurity. Numbers are much higher for our Indigenous and Black neighbours, as well as newcomers to Canada—who remain disproportionately affected by poverty, food insecurity and COVID-19.

These were just some impacts of the food crisis:
- Long grocery lineups creating barriers for people with limited mobility
- Limited grocery delivery services
- Inability for people to afford healthy food
- Closure of many citywide food services, meaning longer travel times and health risks to reach a central food bank location
Our work creates a strong body of evidence that community food security builds everyday resiliency and crisis-preparedness in our neighbourhoods.

Our existing relationships allowed 15 Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Network staff (many of them working part-time) to immediately grasp the need for filling the gaps with emergency food assistance.

Providing emergency food access during COVID was a mandate shift for us, but here are some ways we’ve boosted food security during the pandemic:
- Food hamper and meal deliveries
- Pop-up produce markets
- Online gardening guides & workshops
- Seed packet mailouts
- Outdoor community meals at a distance
Stories of impact from our neighbours

Investing in resilient food systems

Billboards, advertising, politicians, and news media have told the public that food banks are the answer to food insecurity. We recognize the role that food banks play in helping people put food on the table, but we know through our work that building thriving, food secure communities requires a long-term capacity-building approach.

We need better legislation, more funding, and more support to help communities grow toward their vision of a just, equitable, and food secure future.

With an annual budget of about $1.76 million (just 0.11% of the the City of Vancouver’s $1.597 billion operating budget), there could be a full-time Food Coordinator in all 22 Vancouver neighbourhoods (CUPE 15, Programmer 2). Our current operating budget from the City of Vancouver is $200,000 per year, through the Sustainable Food Systems Grant.

We seek the funding to continue our pre-COVID work citywide, creating a future where every neighbourhood has a community food security network, and every household is food secure.

Read more about our Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks’ bold actions in response to the food crisis

Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood Food Network
Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House Right to Food Network
Gordon Neighbourhood House
Grandview-Woodland Food Connection
Hastings-Sunrise Community Food Network
Little Mountain-Riley Park Neighbourhood Food Network
Renfrew Collingwood Food Justice
South Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Network
Strathcona Community Centre Food Security Program
Westside Food Collaborative

Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks: Advocating for Food Justice

Story by Jenny van Enckevort, with contributions by Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks.

Help us build capacity and resiliency over charity!

We invite you to give to community food networks, to support our community food security model.

Donate to Support
Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks
December 22

FOOD COSTS RISING IN BC: LACK OF INCOME REMAINS CAUSE OF FOOD INSECURITY

AUTHOR: Erica Isomura // CATEGORY: Dignified Food Access, Downtown Eastside Kitchen Tables, Food Justice, Grandview Woodland Food Connection, Poverty Reduction, Reports, Resources // December 22, 2018

Average monthly cost to feed a family of four in Vancouver is $1,098

With the rising cost of food, housing and overall living, the issue of addressing hunger requires a multi-dimensional approach. It does not exist on its own.

The latest Food Costing in BC report highlights the increasing cost of food. Produced by the BC Centre for Disease Control and Provincial Health Services Authority, this report breaks down the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet.

The cost to feed an average family of four in B.C. each month has risen by $151 over the past six years. (Image from BC Centre for Disease Control)

The data in this report represents the “average monthly cost of a nutritionally adequate, balanced diet in BC based on the National Nutritious Food Basket and provides insight into the effects of household food insecurity on individuals and families.”

“….the root cause of household food insecurity isn’t the price of food – it’s lack of income.”
BC Centre for Disease Control, Food Cost in BC 2017 report

Not surprisingly, food costs have been increasing by over 4% on average since 2015. The average monthly cost for a family of four in Vancouver is estimated at $1,098.
Continue reading more
November 26

HOLIDAY MEALS AND LESSONS FROM THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE

AUTHOR: Erica Isomura // CATEGORY: Dignified Food Access, Downtown Eastside Kitchen Tables, News, Resources // November 26, 2018
No Comments

Last year, chefs in the Downtown Eastside reported many challenges associated with their annual holiday meals. We heard stories of food waste and efforts to put on dignified experiences being hampered by the many ‘parachute’ groups that drop into the community and serve meals–often fast food–on the street.

DTES Kitchen Tables’
Holiday Meal List

Neighbourhood Food Network member DTES Kitchen Tables Project sees the distribution of the holiday meal list as an opportunity not only to inform community members on where to find holiday meals but also for people serving meals to make more informed decision on when and where to do so.

Here, we share the updated meal list for the 2018/19 holiday season in the Downtown Eastside. Please share with anyone you know who might be organizing a “one-time” meal or distributing food in the Downtown Eastside in the coming months.

DTES Holiday Meal List 2018 Download

We are also sharing Vancouver Coastal Health’s DTES Food Standards to help guide those who wish to create a more nutritious and dignified holiday meal experience.

Note: Updated on December 5, 2018.
Thank you to those who sent in feedback and corrections for the Holiday Meal List. Dounia Saeme of DTES Kitchen Tables has updated this list to reflect changes and additions.