Location: Cork
The Food Focus Community Food Initiative plans to promote healthy eating through a variety of co-ordinated, strategic activities that offer people a way to engage in a positive approach to food. It aims to create one community, one message about healthy eating and ensure the ability to achieve a healthy diet through building a variety of sustainable, engaging food activities. Food Focus will be a set of community based structures dedicated to addressing the risk and instances of food poverty in the Knocknaheeny area.
Food Focus will give people the choice to decide whether they would like to grow their own food, sign up to the food charter, learn about budgeting and planning, volunteer at a food event, purchase wholesale or direct, or indeed become part of the mechanisms that directs all this work and brings it together. To ensure that as many people as possible in the community have the opportunity to grow their own food, innovative growing ideas will be encouraged throughout the home, community, shared gardens and allotment settings.
The Local Food Resource Audit will create a food resource map of Knocknaheeny taking into account the key elements that build a positive food experience and sign post resources for action areas, for example, the proximity and volume of shops, green spaces, kitchens and local skills.
A set of community-based structures will be dedicated to addressing the risk and instances of food poverty and intends to act as a model for similar work across other RAPID/Health Area Zone areas on the North side of Cork. The Community Food Charter will be developed by local people and other stakeholders supported by the Community Dietician and will reflect the kind of food experiences they want for themselves, their families, within projects and public outlets.
Objectives of the project include:
- To address the risk and instances of food poverty in the area
- To act as a learning model for similar areas
- To develop and publish a Local Healthy Eating Charter, which will define and reflect desired food experiences in the area, in consultation with the local community and stakeholders
- To produce a Local Food Resource Audit, which will create a map of the local area taking into account the key elements that build a positive food experience, in consultation with UCC and the local community
- To encourage and facilitate the growing of produce in local homes by, for example, planting apple trees and supplying hanging baskets
- Provide training and equipment around community food garden allotments
- Promoting and celebrating healthy eating by holding annual healthy food events
- Local Food Access Group will be developed with local women to strengthen their existing food skills to impact on households and families
- To establish a lending /subsided system for the borrowing or purchase of cooking equipment
- To explore the possibility of a small group of community people to establish a local food supply service
A number of small ad-hoc initiatives were already taking place in the Knocknaheeny / Hollyhill area and a lot of ground work had been carried out to identify gaps, highlight ways of making connections and identify work that should take place to ensure a positive food and healthy eating experience is an achievable and long term goal for people living in the area.
To coincide with World Food Day on 16th October, the Annual Healthy Food Week is a visible effort in the heart of Knocknaheeny acting as an annual central focus for the CFI, celebrating local food cultures, promoting local skills, and highlighting particular needs and possible responses.
About the partners
Food Focus is a collective project consisting of
- The NICHE (Northside Community Health Initiative) Community Health Project (lead)
- Health Service Executive (HSE) South Health Action Zone
- Knocknaheeny Community Café
- RAPID (Revitalising Areas by Planning, Investment and Development),
- HSE South Health Promotion Unit
- Cork City Partnership
- Le Chéile School Completion Programme
- Geography Department University College Cork, and
- The local community.
The Local Access Group is a community development and enterprise scheme with four main areas of work:
- Local Food Access Group will be developed with local women to strengthen their existing food skills to impact on households and families.
- Establishment of a lending /subsided system for the borrowing or purchase of equipment, e.g. woks, smoothie makers and ingredients such as herbs and spices.
- Development of a small co-op style service.
- Exploration of the possibility of a small group of community people to establish a local food supply service.
NICHE was established in 1998 to improve both community and individual health and well-being, with a particular emphasis on the use of a community development approach. This involves recognising and building on the strengths that exist within communities as well as acknowledging the barriers (social, physical, psychological, cultural), which may prevent individuals and communities from availing of health-enhancing options.
Find out more about the funded community food initiatives
East Belfast Healthy Eating Education Programme (Belfast)| Food for Life (Derry) | Footprints Women’s Centre Building a Transition Community (Belfast) | KASI Community Garden (Killarney) | Limerick Seed to Plate Project (Limerick) | The Food Garden Project (Dundalk)