Introduction
Our group is working with the Good Food for All (GFFA) initiative, a non-profit organization working in conjugation with the Downtown Eastside Boxing Club (EBC), with the goal of showing vulnerable East Vancouver youth the myriad of food-related jobs and careers available in their community. The youth are vulnerable, as their families may be struggling economically. The children may not be receiving the care they require as a result of the lack of parental figures or parents working multiple jobs in order to provide a steady income.
Initially, GFFA provided the EBC’s youth participants ages 13-19 with healthy snacks. However, upon realizing many children were sneaking food home, Executive Director Elizabeth Fisher, created an open pantry for children to take home snacks whenever needed.
GFFA wanted to take their contribution to Eastside Vancouver’s youth community one step further, by deciding to provide them with the resources needed to obtain food-related jobs such as resume workshops, Food SAFE Certificates, and so forth. The program partnership between the EBC and GFFA aims to increase food security, by showing students the different types of food related jobs and careers available, as well as offering access to resources that will help them receive proper training in order to secure employment and embark on a future career pathway within the food industry. Moreover, GFFA strives to “increase access, interest, and knowledge of healthy and nutritious foods to improve healthy-food security, [and] empower individuals to make healthier food choices” in their community, schools, and homes (Good Food for All, 2016).
Significance
EBC and GFFA face a limitation in their program: can the current age demographic of youth completing the program conquer food insecurity independently? Within the context of this report, food insecurity will be defined as the inability of obtain healthy and nutritious food at all times (FAO, 2002).
Key findings of food insecurity state that higher rates of food insecurity could be due to low income and employment, resulting in poor health and diet related diseases (Miewald & Ostry, 2014). Additionally, if at-risk youth need to buy food, they tend to purchase inexpensive food items that are highly processed with no nutritional value (Dachner & Tarasuk, 2002).
The project’s significance is to provide the EBC youth access to resources required to pursue jobs in the food industry reducing predictable food insecurity. Foreseeable food insecurity is a reality for at-risk youth because work is difficult to find when one lacks food related skills that employers are seeking (Dachner & Tarasuk, 2002). This project is unique because by educating youth on food industry employment opportunities, they can acquire an income and reduce their financial food constraints; decreasing financial constraints addresses “availability” at a household level (one of four pillars combating food insecurity) (Misselhorn et al., 2012). Acquiring an income also addresses marginal (worrying and limit food selection), moderate (compromise of quality and/or quantity) and severe (miss meals and/or reduce food intake) food insecurity (Tarasuk et al., 2016).
Furthermore, initiating an asset-based community development strategy provides a unique approach to recognize the youth’s curiosity in their community’s food industry, thereby inspiring positive attitudes towards the workforce (Mathie & Cunningham, 2003). Our team’s project will contribute to this conversation and support the work of our community partner by delivering the knowledge of resources available to transitioning the youth to the food industry for the foreseeable future, which could positively address food insecurity.