Community Food Centres Canada celebrates historic growth of good food organizations engaged in national movement

TORONTO, March 16, 2023 /CNW/ - Amid rising inflation, economic uncertainty, and the highest food insecurity rates in decades, Community Food Centres Canada has welcomed nearly 90 new members into its Good Food Organization (GFO) program. Together, this growing network – now 400 organizations strong – is striving for excellence in offering healthy and dignified food programs and pushing for action on food insecurity and poverty.

"As a Good Food Organization, we get to be part of a collective that shares knowledge on priorities that are very important to our community," said Laura Hammond, Executive Director of Birchmount Community Action Council, a new member of the GFO program. "We truly feel that by becoming a GFO, our organization will be better equipped to identify the advocacy and strategic planning we need to undertake in order to better support our food programming and poverty reduction efforts."

Good Food Organizations offer dedicated food programming in their communities. They align on a set of shared principles that speak to their commitment to developing programs that support dignity and health for people living on low incomes. These Good Food Principles are:

1. Take action from the individual to the systemic level
2. Invest in the power of good food
3. Create an environment of respect and community leadership
4. Meet people where they're at
5. Aim high for our organization and our community

Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC) supports Good Food Organizations with tools and resources for building capacity in many areas of their work. Within the larger program and among their peers, GFOs can share and develop their expertise and passions around best practices, programming, and advocacy.

Kathryn Scharf, Chief Program Officer at Community Food Centres Canada, explains: "We are always so inspired to learn about the creative approaches our partner organizations take to building health and belonging through good food – from after school programs where kids learn to garden and cook, to community meals that bring people together over delicious food."

Additionally, as food insecurity rates continue to rise and grassroots organizations are stretched beyond their capacity to meet the growing needs in their communities, GFOs find support in each other. And they are now part of a movement advocating for progressive and equitable income policies so all Canadians can access good food. Scharf explains: "One reason the GFO program is so powerful is that it offers an opportunity to push for policy change together. We all want to see policies that support people to have the income they need so they can provide for themselves and their families."

We are grateful to the generous supporters of our Good Food Organizations program: Agropur, The Arrell Family Foundation, BMO, Harbinger Foundation, Haynes-Connell Foundation, The Irma & Vincenzo Pulla Charitable Foundation, MacFeeters Fund at Toronto Foundation, Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security, McLean Smits Family Foundation, Medavie, Moffat Family Fund at Winnipeg Foundation, Riverside, and The Sprott Foundation. Thanks to their support and action, hundreds of organizations are leading their communities in offering healthy and dignified food programs.

Quick facts about Good Food Organizations:

• 89 organizations joined the GFO program this year, bringing the total to 387
• 13 provinces and territories are represented, along with some members in the USA and Australia
• GFOs are mostly small, grassroots organizations: The majority have fewer than five full-time employees and fewer than 20 volunteers a month, on average.
• Find out more: https://cfccanada.ca/en/What-We-Do/Good-Food-Organizations

About Community Food Centres Canada

At the heart of Community Food Centres Canada's work is the belief that food is a basic right. We bring people together around good food to help communities thrive. With more than 400 partners across the country, we build inclusive, culturally responsive Community Food Centres, share knowledge, create health-focused programs, and advocate for equitable policy change. Learn more at: cfccanada.ca.

SOURCE Community Food Centres Canada

Media contact: Kennedy Sherwood, Community Food Centres Canada, [email protected]