Grant: Operating Grant: Programmatic Grants in Food and Health - LOI

This research explores how Canadian municipal governments and local-level non-governmental organizations are addressing household food security (HFI) in their communities. Despite living in a rich country, certain groups of Canadians experience alarming levels of HFI. As the federal and provincial governments have reduced their commitments to ensure basic income security for Canadians, municipalities and local non-governmental organizations have been compelled to address HFI. They have established community-based programs such as food banks, school males, community kitchens, community gardens, farmers' markets, and food boxes. Despite a groundswell of activity we know little about the scope, impacts, uptake, and costs/benefits of these HFI interventions at the local level. To understand the effectiveness of these local level food initiatives in Canada and propose recommendations and implementation strategies for successful future HFI interventions our project will conduct the following research: 1. document the roles that have been prescribed for municipalities to address HFI 2. examine the scope of HFI interventions being implemented in municipalities 3. assess the extent to which these interventions reach the most vulnerable (e.g. social assistance recipients, Worker's Compensation and Employment Insurance recipients, lone parents, Aboriginal people off-reserve and recent immigrants) 4. investigate the impacts of municipal government leadership on HFI 5. evaluate the costs of intervening on HFI at the municipal level Our research program is being launched in partnership with the fields of public health (e.g. Public Health Agency of Canada, Ontario Public Health Association), food and nutrition (e.g. Dietitians of Canada, Loving Spoonful), urban health (e.g. Wellesley Institute), urban planning (e.g. Cumming and Company) and social policy (e.g. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives).