Cultivating Food Systems Connections for Collective Impact Symposium
March 7, 2014 - Creekside Community Centre, Vancouver
Initiated by a grant from the Real Estate Foundation of BC, a shared event hosted by community philanthropic organizations and the BC Food Systems Network was delivered March 7th, 2014. The event included a broad range of participants from grassroots food organizations, community groups, farmers, policy makers, food distributors, foundations, food businesses, regional health authorities, the BC Ministry of Health, indigenous food systems representatives, and academics.
The Symposium Leadership Team included the BC Food Systems Network, Community Foundations of Canada, the Real Estate Foundation of BC, Tides Canada, the Vancouver Foundation and the Victoria Foundation.
The goals for the one-day Symposium were to:
- Provide opportunities for experiential and peer learning, while exploring how food organizations and food funders can work together towards shared goals and sense of direction;
- Identify such critical factors as interest, readiness, barriers, opportunities, priorities and resources related to working together;
- Use network strategies and systems thinking to increase engagement and impact; and
- Demonstrate leadership and innovation by building on existing efforts and assets, and using “networks of networks” to build capacity and increase impact at multiple levels
PowerPoint slides from the day
The Symposium Leadership Team is in on-going conversations about follow-up and next steps from the Cultivating Food Systems Connections for Collective Impact Symposium.
In the meantime, many of the conversations from the Symposium will be carried forward at the BC Food Systems Network Annual Gathering, which will be taking place from June 26th through June 29th in Sorrento, in the traditional territory of the Secwepemc Nation. For more details and to register go here.
We look forward to continuing to work with you on leveraging food systems change in British Columbia!