T o r o n t o

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Building Community University Partnerships that
work Social Economy Symposium
Debbie Field FoodShare Toronto

• Know where your food comes from
• Grow food in your community
• Dont truck it in or out--compost!

• Ensure everybody can afford good food
• Invest in our children and their nutrition
• Sustain our farmers and rural communities

March 3, 2006, Social Economy Centre,
University of Toronto
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The importance of the social economy, voluntary,
community sector

• Jack Quarters visionary work on the social
  economy
• The importance of building an understanding of
  the voluntary, non-profit, community sector but
  as Jack said in and of itself but also the
  partnership and the civilizing impact we have on
  the rest of the economy.

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Working with communities to improve access to
affordable healthy food -- from field to table.

20 full time staff, 400 volunteers Budget of 3.5
million dollars (35 revenue generation, 40
family foundations, 15 individual donations,
10 government grants)
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FoodShares Programs
FoodLink Hotline
Food Justice Advocacy
The Good Food Box
Urban Agriculture
Healthy Babies Eat Home Cooked Food
Community Gardens
Focus on Food
Student Nutrition
Toronto Kitchen Incubator
Field To Table Catering
FoodShares Field To Table Festival Campaign
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Getting Food directly from farmers to urban
people Looking South FoodShare was influenced by
programs from the south, particularly Brazil and
Peru.
FoodShares Good Food Box -- Brazils Sacalao
Markets
Good Food Box in Toronto
Sacalao markets in Belo Horizonte
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Over 4000 boxes are delivered each month to over
150 volunteer-run drop off sites throughout
Toronto
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Community Gardens build community and
facilitate civil society mobilization and create
safe public spaces
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Farmers Markets
Belo Horizonte
Toronto
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Student nutrition rogramsand youth training
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Field to Table Catering and the Toronto Kitchen
Incubator
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Successful mid-scaleComposting
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Community University Partnership 1 Deborah
Barndt and York University Faculty of
Environmental Studies Advantages graduate
students books tours gardens research
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• Community University Partnership 2
• Cecilia Rocha and Ryerson
• Centre for Food Security
• Advantages
• Brazil-
• Canada
• exchanges
• joint research
• money for travel
• solidarity

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Community University Partnership 3 Beth Savan
and Innis College Advantages graduate
students practical experiments conferences
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Community University Partnership 3 Harriet
Friedmann and U of Ts Munk Centre
Enviroreform Advantages book conferences resear
ch funding
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Benefits

• Mutual projects
• shared vision
• shared graduate students
• focussing on getting it down on paper
• money to get it down
• publish or perish
• funding
• solidarity

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Dilemmas

• Differential reality between community and
  University Partners
• Different kinds of resources
• Different pay rates
• CV vs Funding
• What happens to the community group when the
  university funding ends
• Lack of understanding of community reality

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How can we avoid these pitfalls?

• Who asked for the research, the partnership?
• Who is paid to participate?
• Who will benefit from the research and its
  results?
• Who will use the research when it is completed?
• Who is the research really for?

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Can we try to

• Write the community research into the budget and
  add their names to the research?
• Can the community partner support the academic
  partners in their goals inside the university?
• Can we focus on our political alliance?

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We can succeed when we stay focussed on our
common goals