Our meeting on February 25, 2014 involved check-ins from our last meeting (Read about that meeting here!), as well as more brainstorming and homework tasks.
First, we went over the results of the survey that we designed to assess which food issues were important to our community. We asked: What food issues are important for you to hear the Mayoral and City Council candidates discuss before the election in October? As of our meeting on February 25, 67 people had responded to the survey. Four issues came out as most important:
- Food access
- Funding to community food organizations
- Urban gardening
- Institutional food
Based on the fact that institutional food (particularly food in schools) is already getting a lot of attention, we have decided that, for now, we will focus on the other three issues as we move our project forward.
We think that the three issues have interesting intersections for youth, particularly around income and job opportunities. And we will keep exploring what these issues really mean to youth in our upcoming meetings.
Homework for next meeting includes discussing:
- Role of school trustees and if we should be thinking about including them in this project
- What is the municipal government jurisdiction in relation to our three main food issues
- Identifying other youth organizations that may want to partner with us
- Update about what the TFPC is organizing and how we can collaborate
Our next meeting will be on Thursday, March 20th at 6pm. Location is Kaylen’s apartment, near St Clair and Avenue Road. (Find more details on our Facebook event.) If you would like to join us or would like more information please contact Kaylen, Advocacy Committee Co-lead, at kfredrickson@tyfpc.ca.