2011 Community Projects

North
Brochet School Traditional Food Garden
This project would start a traditional food garden to teach Aboriginal food production techniques at Brochet School.  It will also involve working with Elders from the community to play a mentorship role training youth in gardening skills as well as other traditional food gathering techniques.

George Knott School Gardening Program
This proposal will establish a garden at George Knott School to impart food production skills to students and community members.  The garden will be established in raised rectangular beds and work will be conducted by a garden coordinator.  A portion of fruits and vegetables harvested will be distributed to students and another portion set aside for free distribution to needy community members.

Food Sovereignty Proposal
The key objective of this project is to produce a cookbook containing traditional and healthy recipes and food handling procedures First Nations’ ancestors used and that provide the best, most current information for eating well and healthy living. This is a proposal of the Interlake Reserves Tribal Council.

St Theresa Point School Food Garden
This project will establish a school food garden with the objective of supporting the school lunch program and teaching life skills to youth to alleviate food insecurity.  The project will empower youth through Aboriginal gardening techniques to create sustainable livelihood opportunities for them in their later life.  The garden’s produce will be used for the school lunch program and distributed to community members.

Rural
Food Justice Community Roundtable
The intent of the Food Justice Community Roundtable is to ask Elders, nutritionists, community members, health staff, and Aboriginal leadership.   This roundtable discussion will lead participants to develop initiatives for action in their community.

Bridging Communities Through Participatory Video:  Eco-Communities in Manitoba
This project will involve filming a video at Northern Sun farm and Prairies Edge that will document the activities that will take place on these farms, giving farm members an opportunity to participate in the editing of the video.  This will be followed by holding participatory workshops featuring the video in northern Manitoba to discuss the video content about sustainable and affordable food solutions.

Homegrown Leaders for Sustainable Food Systems and Rural Communities
This program will identify and recruit a group of five youth in different communities to participate in a weekly leadership program throughout the summer.  This program will provides hands-on learning activities and field tours and provide opportunities for youth to learn about local and alternative food systems and have opportunities to practice and apply their skills.

Promoting Traditional and Healthy Foods
This Dauphin-based project will assist a community garden, take youth and seniors out berry picking, have seniors demonstrate to youth how to preserve berries and make jam, and provide free canning and freezing workshops to the public to encourage gardening and teach them proper preserving techniques.

Turtle Mountain Metis Community Garden
This project will take place at the Turtle Mountain Metis Local site near Lake Metigoshe.  The Local owns ten acres of land along with a community centre.  The project would establish a garden that could be used as a teaching tool for our youth and results will be shared with others in the community to support good, nutritious diets.

Urban
Community Gardens and Land Tenure:  Promoting Awareness and Researching Models for Sustainability
This project will include research into land trusts as a model for the long term viability of community gardens, public awareness and educational workshops, and training workshops and an inner city gardening tour. This is a project of the Urban Greenspaces Coalition.

Manitoba Guide to Backyard Fruit
The goal of this project is to research, develop, evaluate, and distribute a reference guide for using, sharing, and enjoying Manitoba backyard fruit.  It will include information about: identifying backyard fruit, recipes for backyard fruit, preserving and harvesting backyard fruit, sharing options, and additional resources. This is a project of Fruit Share.

Measuring Change:  Community Development Food Security Programs
This project would provide funding to evaluate the Good Food Club and the Soup Bee to further understanding of these programs and make recommendations about how they can be improved.  This will provide necessary documentation to government and funders on the benefits of investing in such programs. This is a project of the West Broadway Development Corporation.

North Point Douglas Community Oven Project
This project would build a community oven in a public space in North Point Douglas for ongoing use of community members and groups, and provide educational and social programming to support the project. This is a program of the North Point Douglas Women’s Centre.

Winnipeg Free Press Article – Women’s Centre Cooking up Great Idea