GWLF Public Sector Project

Guelph Wellington Local Food receives funding through the Broader Public Sector Investment Fund. 

The funding received through the Greenbelt Fund is designed to increase the amount of Ontario food served in daycares, schools, universities and colleges, hospitals and long-term care facilities. It will give children, patients and residents greater access to the nutritious food grown and produced in Ontario.

Building a Regional Local Food Economy in Partnership with Public Sector Institutions

Imagine a region in Ontario where local food is celebrated everywhere. A place where local municipalities have passed and implemented their own local food policies before extending a helping hand to hospitals, schools, child care centres and long term care facilities in their jurisdiction to do the same.

This is a place where University students purchase meals prepared with local foods, accompanied by the stories of the farmers and their products. And where High School students enjoy local food on their cafeteria menus, while learning to preserve, prepare and grow local foods at their own school and communities.

Picture a hospital visit with local food options proudly presented on the menu or childcare and Long-term Care facilities where local foods are a core segment of the seasonal menu. Imagine that each location and menu is branded with the taste • real symbol and with the stories of local farmers, their products and operations.

But that is not all, also envision that every year these partners continuously improve their commitment to serving healthy, local foods developing new and innovative best practices through their local food councils and along the way, gain province-wide recognition through the annual taste • real awards program hosted by the City of Guelph and the County of Wellington..

This is the home of taste • real by Guelph & Wellington Local Food & Food Tourism. A project to build a community of rural and urban neighbours committed to growing one of the most vibrant, local food economies and food tourism regions in Ontario. A model for communities' province-wide.

PROJECT SUMMARY

1. Increase overall awareness, interest, knowledge, skills and adoption of local food strategies among the 98 public sector organizations: 9 municipal governments, 5 hospitals, 11 high schools, 20 long-term care facilities, 52 licensed daycares, 2 university/colleges with an estimated foodservice budget of as much as $ 25 million/year (by 25% in year 1).

2. Overcome the local food distribution problem: available quantity, cost (business case), quality and convenience for public institutions.

3. Build regional capacity to sustain a supply chain wide, collaborative "local food economy" model.

4. Encourage and reward long-term local food purchases through branding, promotional and awards programs.

Specific Goals:

1. Create regional models for local food use in municipalities, health care facilities, licensed childcare facilities, universities & colleges, and secondary school cafeterias (including the exploration of the business case for satellite "lunch club" programs in neighbouring elementary schools) using a distributed leadership model. The goal will be to increase overall awareness, interest, and sales of local to as much as 25% or $ 3.25 M in year 1.

2. Examine distribution challenges including barriers and obstacles and methods for creating transparent buyer/seller market signals. Develop and piloting solutions including an on-line buyer/seller interface.

3. Recognize and reward public sector institutions, distributors and supply chain partners for establishing and increasing local food sales in public institutions through taste • real branding and a taste • real awards program.

4. Transfer knowledge and skills using networking meetings, workshops, toolkits, social media and "how to webinars" with stakeholder testimonials and stories.
Future Years (outside the project)

This project will be the first of a three year initiative that will become part of Guelph Wellington Local Food's mandate. The objective for year 2 is an average of 35% and year 3 an average of 55% of local foods across the initial sample of public sector institutions.

PROJECT PARTNERS

City of Guelph
Centre Wellington
Town of Minto
North Wellington
Puslinch Township
County of Wellington
University of Guelph
Quality Child Care Initiative

Funding announcement by the Greenbelt Foundation. View Press Release here.

Guelph Tribune article about Funding Launch, read more here.

The Wellington Advertiser about the Public Sector Forum Event held Sept 20th 2011, read more here.