Imagine and try out alternatives to food banks
Residents suggested alternative solutions to food insecurity – solutions that recognize and honour the value of each community member. Residents don’t want to be seen as “charity cases”, as lacking. This is a lie. The truth is that each person has something to offer.
Create a local marketplace
Create a local marketplace where women in the community can come together to sell things they make, like clothing or offer services.
Give people opportunities to produce their own food
Set up a system where people in a local area can grow their own food, whether that's in their backyard, on their balconies, or inside their apartments.
Education and Training
Some residents reflected that while education and training are essential for getting ahead in the labour market, opportunities for upgrading or obtaining credentials that will be recognized in Canada are often not accessible. Residents discussed the need for more supports for children and youth to provide opportunities for a better future.
Jobs
Residents discussed the importance of providing for their families and making a meaningful contribution to their community.
Adequate and Affordable Housing
The main concern for residents, without question, was identified to be inadequate and unaffordable housing. Rent is exorbitantly high, and adequate-sized housing is hard to find in Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park. Residents shared creative ideas to tackle this problem.
Rent Control
Rent control, including limits on how much rent can be raised, should be managed by local communities to reflect their specific situations.
Affordable Housing
Residents mused that the prices to rent or buy a home are so criminal that one must be a criminal to afford them. They shared ideas to address the lack of affordable housing, such as an increase to minimum wage and income support programs, the development of more subsidized and rent-geared-to-income housing, and a land-lease option for building new homes.
Learn from Other Countries
Residents observed that other countries have been doing something about the cost of housing. Why not in Canada?
Community Housing
Community housing is so important, but it has its own problems. Residents who live in community housing have ideas for its improvement.
Build relationships to work together toward a shared goal
Residents talked with enthusiasm about ways to bring people in the community together, to make life better for everyone, for the community as a whole.
Food Swaps
Community members are excited about creating ways to unite people in their area by establishing events like food swaps.
Build Capacity in the Community
Participants shared visions for working together to build capacity in the community, to increase accessibility to affordable food, especially fresh produce.
Alternatives to Food Banks
Many residents and some workers recognized that food charity is not a durable solution for food insecurity. Residents shared their concerns about community food banks, as well as their ideas for working with community organizations to consider alternative approaches to addressing food insecurity.
Establish processes to facilitate collaboration between groups
Collab: Agencies and Grassroot services
Workers recognize the need to collaborate rather than compete. They talked about the importance of communication, getting to know each other, and learning together.
Collab: Food Insecurity Programs and Other Social Supports
Just as the roots of food insecurity are complex and multifaceted, efforts to address the problem must involve the coordination of the full range of services, including income support, employment, housing, education, health care, settlement services, and so on.
Collab: Agencies, Grassroots and Corporate
Partnerships with restaurants and large chain grocery stores were suggested to source free food and to also reduce food waste, which was a concern expressed by both workers and residents.
Collab: Agencies, Grassroots and Restaurants
Some workers discussed ideas for more successful collaboration with the food and restaurant industries.
Address Power Imbalances
Grassroots workers identified the uneven power and capacity that arises when some members of a collaborative effort are paid staff, and some are unpaid volunteers.
Develop a community education and listening forum series
Although it may seem small, we heard that residents appreciated the opportunity to share their concerns and ideas with each other. People feel a need to be seen and heard. People also have a need to be connected with one another, to build relationships.
Listening Forum
Give people the chance to speak about their challenges and ideas.
Advocacy Through Education
Workers spoke about the idea of advocacy through education, to encourage a shared understanding of and concern for food insecurity, especially for those who have never been food insecure. But they recognized the power of public perception and dominant ways of thinking.
Community Education and Exchange
Some residents expressed interest in finding ways to bring the community together to learn from one another, and to exchange goods and services.
Develop individual and collective advocacy skills
Learn to Advocate
Participants discussed the need to learn how to effectively advocate for changes to policies, funding, and services.
Redirect Funding Away From Food Banks
Both workers and residents called for funding to be redirected, away from food banks that address only immediate needs, to policy advocacy work and big-picture change.
Collective and Systemic Solutions
Participants discussed ideas for developing strategies for individual and collective advocacy to push for approaches that are geared toward collective and systemic solutions rather than individual and temporary interventions.
Change Policy
Participants discussed ideas for developing strategies for individual and collective advocacy to effect change in policy.
Community-Led Solutions for Community Needs
Participants discussed ideas for developing strategies for individual and collective advocacy to encourage community-led solutions for community needs.