In the spring of 2014, the Community Foundation of Ottawa launched its first New Leaf Community Challenge to help Ottawa’s charitable sector tackle the city’s most pressing needs. A key initiative driving the Foundation’s new vision for being an active catalyst for change by building a community-wide reputation for innovation, the Challenge is designed to support the delivery of unique projects that make a meaningful and sustainable difference in the lives of Ottawa residents.
Held at the season-opening Good Food Market at the Nanny Goat Hill Community Garden, the inaugural launch was an exciting celebration of spring during which the Foundation announced that it would provide a $125,000 grant to fund the strongest, most innovative project that would work to measurably improve access to healthy, affordable food for the 75,000 Ottawa residents struggling to meet this basic need. Local charities and non-profit partnering organizations were then invited to submit comprehensive Expressions of Interest to enter the Challenge by September 15, 2014.
In total, the Foundation received six diverse and innovative proposals, out of which a short list of three was selected by a group of community experts and Foundation partners. Those top three projects were then presented to a jury of local leaders and subject-matter experts at a live community event that took place at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum on Oct. 1, 2014.
Hosted by CBC News Ottawa anchor Adrian Harewood, the day-long event was a great success, attracting a full house of Foundation donors, grantees and community stakeholders. Along with announcing the final grant recipient, it also featured the release of Ottawa Public Health’s annual Nutritious Food Basket, highlighting the urgent nature of the issue for a vast number of Ottawa residents.
Developed by Ottawa’s Poverty and Hunger Working Group, MarketMobile was awarded the first New Leaf Community Challenge $125,000 grant to tackle food security in the capital. Building on the success of Ottawa’s Good Food Markets (local pop-up markets that sell food at cost in low-income areas), MarketMobile takes that concept even further by bringing fresh, affordable food directly into Ottawa neighbourhoods experiencing high levels of food insecurity.
“All the projects presented at the Foundation’s first community challenge were highly creative, compelling and – most importantly – designed to making a measurable, sustainable difference in our city,” said Marco Pagani, President & CEO of the Community Foundation of Ottawa. “While I know it was a difficult decision for the jury to make, we have every confidence they made the best possible choice to allow us to begin making systemic change in the area of food security in the Ottawa region.”
Following a successful pilot project in 2014, the MarketMobile team used the New Leaf Community Challenge grant to hire a full-time coordinator, double its territorial reach and begin year-round operation with a designated vehicle and trailer in 2015. For ongoing news and updates, visit www.marketmobile.ca.
Marco Pagani, MarketMobile Team, Adrian Harewood