Community centres working on food justice
07/18/2022
The theme of Community Centre Week 2022 is food justice. Everyone has the right to access nutritious, affordable and culturally appropriate food. Community Centres up and down the country use their spaces to address this issue. Many run training, grow food and host services. This year Community Centre Week (CCWeek) is celebrating the role community centres play and how food can bring communities together!
We met two community centres doing work in this area.
St Hilda’s East
St Hilda’s East Community Centre in London is based in trendy Shoreditch. It’s an area full of flourishing businesses, busy markets with tempting food stalls but also large estates with high levels of deprivation. St Hilda’s East has run a food co-op for over 16 years, providing fresh, healthy food at low prices for the whole community.
(Photo credit: Jenny Jones-St Hilda's East Community Centre)
Jemma Bicknell, Head of Programmes told us: “We source food from a family organic farm in Essex and from Spitalfields Market. Our co-op is a popular service for the whole community. It has kept going for so long because we have a good location and provide high quality customer service through brilliant volunteers. Most of our promotion is through word of mouth. Over the years, we have adapted to meet need. Our most recent funding has been from the Women's Environmental Network.
“We act as a best practice model, running pop-up co-ops across the borough in partnership with other organisations, such as children’s centres located in places where there's little access to fresh, healthy, affordable food – known as 'food deserts'. We typically run three weekly pop-up sessions giving them the opportunity to pilot a scheme, train volunteers and use the evidence of need to apply for funding to run their own.
“Recently, in response to the increasing need being caused by the cost-of-living crisis, we've been looking to launch a community fridge where people can have access to free donated food. We’re also starting two new membership schemes. The first will help us sustain our social enterprise beyond our current funding. The second will offer further reductions for those who are struggling. We also refer to our local food bank when needed and run a daytime advice service so that people can get support in accessing benefits.
“We're currently developing a 'pay it forward' scheme for people who can afford to pay a little more to support us keeping the lower price for those who need it. When we consulted with local businesses, some told us that their staff felt too guilty shopping in our co-op because the cheap, high quality food should go to those who need it. We came up with a solution which meant they could shop guilt-free; still getting a very cheap weekly shopping bill but supplementing it with a monthly membership fee. For us the more customers the better, we love being used by the whole community as it creates better social cohesion.”
The Larder
The Larder is a social enterprise cafe, arts and community hub in Preston city centre. It wants to make fresh local produce affordable to people on low incomes without farmers, producers and the environment bearing the cost. The Larder’s mission is to create food fairness for all.
In addition to the café and catering business, it runs projects, courses and services all based around food. In 2015 it set out to explore if it was possible to create a self-sustaining business with a focus on community and good local food, supporting local farmers and producers. Now seven years later, it's thriving.
(Photo credit: The Larder)
Kay Johnson MBE, director told us: “The space is unlike anything else on the high street. It has a vibe and an energy and has sustainability and community at its heart. Everything we do has a firm focus on local food and local people. We host community groups from across the city including mental health and creative groups.
“Our chef Nik delivers accredited training to people who have often been marginalised by society. He moved from a head chef role in London to come home to Preston. And now shares his culinary skills, teaching our volunteers to cook from scratch and create meals in the café.”
“We have developed a collection of projects to address need within the city. For example our Kids in the Kitchen cookery programme teaches children how to make healthy meals. We give food vouchers to families so they can shop for ingredients with dignity.
“We are constantly reviewing and evolving what we do, working with local and national partners to find new and collaborative ways of addressing food insecurity that benefit the community, economy and environment.
“The team are driven by the belief that if we can eat together, we can live together.”
Community Centre Week is a great way to celebrate and increase awareness of all the hard work done within communities by community centres.
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