Welcome to the website of the world’s FIRST youth-run food policy council. The Toronto Youth Food Policy Council (TYFPC) seeks to mobilize and engage youth to make change by building a just food system. The TYFPC provides youth with a space to network, share opportunities and learn from one another AND strives to become Toronto’s leading Youth voice in sustainable municipal food policy change. The TYFPC also has two permanent Youth seats on the Toronto Food Policy Council (http://tfpc.to/) and is committed to overseeing the inclusion of the Youth voice!
The TYFPC is YOUR organization. As such, we recognize that Youth by nature are busy folks. Therefore, we have developed the “Three C’s of Council Membership” – which allow Toronto’s diverse Youth Community to become involved according to their availability, interests and passions. You(th) can join the TYFPC as a ….
Council Member
The council members are the most active members of the TYFPC. Their role is to promote the TYFPC in all relevant situations, to be present at 75% of all meetings, to participate in at least one committee, to communicate regularly with the TYFPC by email and other means, to make monthly contributions to the TYFPC blog and/or Facebook page, and to sign a membership agreement promising to do all of the above.
Community Member
The role of the community member is simply to participate in community meetings as desired. This role is ideal for those who are very busy and have very little time to offer, for those who are new to the food scene and not quite ready to commit to anything regular, and those who are not from the Toronto area and are therefore unable to make it downtown for every meeting.
Committee Member
The role of the committee member is less defined than council members, but basically involves participating in as many community meetings as desired, being active on a committee, and beyond that, whatever the individual wishes. This role requires some commitment, and is ideal for those who are fairly busy and can never be sure how much extra time they will have to offer the TYFPC.
Want to Learn More?
For those wanting a more in depth and complete analysis on food policy councils and the birth of the Toronto Youth Food Policy Council, please take a look at Tracy Phillippi’s thesis entitled “The Toronto Youth Food Policy Council: a Case Study on the Evolving Implementation of an Effective Youth Voice in Food Policy Development”, which was submitted to the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University in September 2010. Tracy was the founder of the TYFPC and chair from 2009 to 2011. The thesis is 245 pages in length. TYFPC-Thesis
