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2010
New solutions to fix our broken food system
Metcalf Foundation releases grant-winning reports
TORONTO, June 15, 2010 - Five new reports were released today that together present a new vision for how we think about, produce and consume food. The reports offer a range of strategies to promote local economic development and improve access to healthy and abundant locally-produced food. more >
The report collection, titled Metcalf Food Solutions, is the result of an open competition led by the Metcalf Foundation, a private family foundation that has been working behind-the-scenes for the past eight years to jumpstart a sustainable food movement in Ontario.
From more than 40 applications, top innovators and experts were identified and funded to carry out five research projects to tackle food system reform. According to the Foundation’s President Sandy Houston the province’s food system - including the growing, processing, distribution and consumption of food - runs contrary to the very essence of food. “Food is a fundamental human concern central to our health, economy and environment and yet the system we have built around it is complex, rigid and opaque.“
At the core of the problem is an outdated system designed for the export market that is no longer producing local food for local markets:
• Farmers are in a financial crisis;
• Agricultural land is fast disappearing;
• Food bank use is increasing and;
• Health is declining due to lack of access to nutritional food.
The combined solutions in the reports aim to address these issues through new, integrated approaches that span sectors and interests. One of the report authors, Sustain Ontario, was launched by the Metcalf Foundation with a mandate to facilitate multi-stakeholder engagement, bringing farmers and agri-business together with health, environmental and anti-poverty groups. Their report, Menu 2020, the collection’s anchor document, offers a high level summary of the reports, identifying ten leading ideas that have surfaced across this burgeoning sector.
“For the first time, we’re offering a new, integrated vision for farming and food that will contribute to health and economic viability along the food chain. These reports are must-reads for anyone who cares about poverty and health, the environment or economic development,“ says Dr. Lauren Baker, Director, Sustain Ontario - The Alliance for Healthy Food and Farming.
Overall, the recommendations are designed to build a healthy, ecological, equitable and financially viable food system for Ontario. This will mean protection of rural and urban land to grow food, a thriving local food and farming economy, jobs and infrastructure, and healthier Ontarians demanding locally-produced food.
Recommendations:
• Rural Entrepreneurship: Investment, regulation and marketing should support new and innovative farmers growing and processing organic and niche products that respond directly to consumer demand thereby contributing to local, sustainable economic development;
• Return of the Cannery: A stronger regional processing sector is recommended to build a local food economy, helping Ontario’s farmers and processors benefit from and meet consumers’ growing demand for local food;
• City Gardens and Farms: Urban agriculture is recommended as a strategy to grow a sizable amount of the city’s vegetables and herbs, increasing access to healthy food for all while growing green jobs and cities;
• Community Food Centres: Toronto’s The Stop presents an innovative model - a place where people come together to grow, cook, eat, learn about and advocate for good food for all - that is ripe for roll-out across the province.
To facilitate implementation of the reports’ collective recommendations, the Metcalf Foundation has committed financial support to a roundtable venture launching in the fall of 2010. Metcalf Food Tables will convene key stakeholders committed to food system reform through a series of tactical meetings designed to forge new linkages and expedite progress.
To download the reports, please click on the titles below.
Menu 2020: Ten Good Food Ideas for Ontario
New Farmers and Alternative Markets Within the Supply-Managed System
Nurturing Fruit and Vegetable Processing in Ontario
Scaling Up Urban Agriculture in Toronto: Building the Infrastructure
In Every Community a Place for Food: The Role of the Community Food Centre in Building a Local, Sustainable, and Just Food System
Printable version of the news release
MEDIA CONTACT:
Julia Howell
416-402-4274
julia@communityinvestmentpartners.ca
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Metcalf Food Solutions Reports - Press Coverage >
A struggle to eat in Toronto's Food Deserts
Toronto Star - Vanessa Lu
June 14, 2010
Setting the table to beat the 'good food gap'
Toronto Star - Ann Hui
June 15, 2010
Matt Galloway interview with Sandy Houston
CBC Radio - Metro Morning
June 16, 2010
David Peterson & Damon Scheffer interview with Lauren Baker
CIUT 89.5 FM University of Toronto Community Radio - Take 5
June 16, 2010 - interview begins 6 minutes into broadcast
CFFO: “Thumbs Up“ for Recommendation on Agriculture Planning in New Report
Blackburn Agri-Media - Commentary by John Clement of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario
June 18, 2010
Many woes, single cause: dysfunctional food system
Winnipeg Free Press - Laura Rance
June 19, 2010
Sustaining Ontario: Lauren Baker’s Good Food Ideas
Good Food Revolution - Malcolm Jolley
June 24, 2010
Food for Thought
National Post - Dana Lacey
July 10, 2010
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Cutting Through the Fog: Why is it so hard to make sense of poverty measures? 
The Foundation has released a new paper by Metcalf Innovation Fellow, John Stapleton and Richard Shillington of Informetrica Limited called Cutting Through the Fog: Why is it so hard to make sense of poverty measures? more >
The paper is about the challenges facing citizens when presented with statistics on poverty, and emphasizes the need to question the implications and assumptions underlying various poverty measures. The authors look at how we measure poverty levels, the working poor, child benefits, unemployment and Employment Insurance. They provide some basic information about what measures are used and illustrate how different approaches to the data can colour social realities. As Stapleton and Shillington write, “... if we don’t make sense of poverty measures, we will limit our ability as a society to make good decisions about poverty and related issues.“ We hope this short paper will stimulate thoughtful debate about poverty and its measurement among Canadians.
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Related materials >
Below are the working papers by Richard Shillington, Michelle Lasota and Laura Shantz, which provided the basis for this paper.
Working Paper 1: The Meaning of Poverty
Working Paper 2: Existing Measures
Working Paper 3: Data, Language and Policy
Working Paper 4: Comparing Poverty Measures
Working Paper 4: Chart
Working Paper 5: Measurement of Poverty Within Family Groups
Working Paper 6: Academia to Application
Working Paper 7: Treatment of In-kind Benefits
Working Paper 8: Shelter and Poverty Measurement
Working Paper 9: Resources
Working Paper 10: Connecting Poverty Measurement to Policy
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2009
Why don't we want the poor to own anything? Our relentless social policy journey toward destitution for the 900,000 poorest people in Ontario
Metcalf Innovation Fellow John Stapleton launched a new report on October 21, 2009. more >
Overly strict welfare eligibility rules are forcing Ontario’s newly unemployed to divest themselves of all their assets, crippling their chances for an economic recovery.
Why Don’t We Want the Poor to Own Anything? by John Stapleton, Metcalf Foundation Fellow and a leading social policy expert, reveals weaknesses in Ontario’s asset limits for those seeking social assistance, disability support, subsidized housing and legal aid.
Current asset rules force those seeking social assistance to liquidate assets, such as savings and RRSPs, in order to qualify for support -- stripping them of their own personal safety cushion in future years.
“Ontario’s asset testing rules are harsher than they have ever been and that is throwing many of the province’s recession-unemployed into deeper poverty, preventing them from bouncing back quickly and making them more vulnerable in future,“ says Stapleton.
Stapleton makes four clear recommendations to the provincial government to clean up the worst of its asset rules:
• Raise asset limits to $5,000 for single people and $10,000 for families and people with disabilities;
• Follow Alberta’s lead and exempt another $5,000 per adult in Tax Free Savings Accounts and RRSPs and, ultimately, adopt Quebec’s blanket exemption in registered savings of $60,000;
• Follow Newfoundland’s lead and exempt all assets for the first six months;
• Stop asset testing for subsidized housing applicants.
These changes would be a significant step forward in acting on a promised “social assistance review,“ a key commitment of the Ontario government’s Poverty reduction Strategy which has yet to materialize.
“Ontario’s government committed to exploring asset-based approaches in its 2008 budget,“ Stapleton says. “Given this year’s recession, the important thing is to provide temporary support to Ontarians who lose their jobs and then, when the economy turns around, help them get back into the labour market.“
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Download Presentation Slides
Download Launch Invitation
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Related materials >
The welfare asset trap
Toronto Star - Editorial
October 21, 2009
Welfare report blasts asset limits
Toronto Star - Noor Javed
October 21, 2009
EI data don't count those who run out
The Globe and Mail - Tavia Grant
October 26, 2009
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Being the Change We Want: A Conversation about Vocational Renewal for Nonprofit Leaders.
For the last several years, the Metcalf Foundation has been exploring how best to support nonprofit leaders in their work. more >
Our various initiatives are grounded in the belief that non-profits play a critical role in imagining and building an equitable, just, and caring society. Yet, as we all know, opportunities for nonprofit leaders to develop new skills, perspectives, and knowledge, and strengthen their professional vitality are often severely limited, particularly at a time of funding challenges and in an environment of constraint and uncertainty.
Our work in this area has led us to ask:
“How do non-profit leaders renew themselves in their profession, and how do their organizations and causes benefit when they do? Are there different ways we can come at nonprofit leader renewal that are responsive to the realities in which people work?”
Pat Thompson has spent the last year reflecting on these questions. Her work is a response to growing evidence that an increasing number of not-for-profit leaders are leaving their positions citing burnout, excessive pressures, poor compensation and stress. A decreasing number of young people are choosing leadership paths in the sector for many of the same reasons. These trends suggest, among other things, that we may have been neglecting the person who leads in our urgency to affect change on a larger scale.
One conclusion Pat draws is that vocational renewal is inextricably tied to organizational and civic renewal - and that we need to tend to all of these dimensions if we hope to address the tough issues confronting us today. Pat’s paper examines how we can strengthen professional vitality, and provides some recommendations on next steps. We hope this paper will get you thinking and talking about new ways to go about strengthening Canada’s dynamic nonprofit sector. Over the next several months the Foundation will be exploring ways to deepen and extend the conversation about this work. We welcome your thoughts and feedback to Pat Thompson’s paper info@metcalffoundation.com.
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2008
Income Security for Working-Age Adults in Canada: Let’s consider the model under our nose.
This document traces the evolution of income security programs for seniors and children in Canada. more >
The report looks at patterns to see what we can learn about reforming income security for working-age adults.
John Stapleton’s presentation slides
Click here to see coverage of John Stapleton’s paper in Saturday's Star - November 8, 2008.
The paper “Income Security for Working-Age Adults in Canada: Let’s consider the model under our nose.” builds upon the recommendations outlined in John’s 2007 Metcalf report, “Why is it so tough to get ahead?” It also expands upon a framework for income security reform put forward to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology Subcommittee on Cities investigating urban poverty (see June 2008 Senate report entitled Poverty, Housing and Homelessness: Issues and Options). We hope that this paper will contribute to public policy dialogue and further inform governments’ work to eliminate poverty.
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Food Connects Us All: Sustainable Local Food in Southern Ontario
Food Connects Us All aims to contribute to a broader understanding of food system dynamics in this province. more >
It is intended as a backdrop for discussions on how Ontario could move toward a truly local sustainable food system through collaboration and the identification of key leverage points for food system change. Three key findings of the paper are: there is a need to connect the dots between the key actors and to capitalize on the pool of energy available in southern Ontario to bring about system-wide change; with a food system as large and complex as Ontario’s, change will come about by pushing simultaneously and incrementally in a number of directions and discovering “unexpected realignments and new synergies;” and, while we are starting to see the long-awaited fruition of the efforts of those who have been working for years and even decades on advancing a local sustainable food system, this is not enough. Now is the time to seize the moment.
The paper is based on open-ended interviews with 39 people working in the area, as well as a survey of recent research and policy papers on the subject. The paper is organized into two parts. Part One is a general introduction to the landscape of sustainable local food in southern Ontario – the issues, the policy gaps, and the potential for collaborative efforts. Part Two contains a sampling of some current initiatives, drawing on the experience of the participants in the original meetings, and those of people in their networks.
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Opening Doors: The First Five Years of the Metcalf Foundation’s Performing Arts Program
In 2001, the Metcalf Foundation launched a new and innovative performing arts program. more >
Five years later, we undertook a review of this program Opening Doors: The First Five Years of the Metcalf Foundation’s Performing Arts Program – it was the first time that our Foundation had ever embarked on a formal evaluative process. The review was completed between January and June 2006. Grant-makers all make choices about what to support and how best to deliver that support. We want to understand the impact of these choices – to determine if the decisions were well-made, and what resulted from our intervention. Are we making the difference we hope for? If not, what could we do to realize the full potential of our commitment and resources? These are challenging questions.
Opening Doors: The First Five Years of the Metcalf Foundation’s Performing Arts Program describes the context for the arts program and the review process that we undertook. It also includes a brief summary of the evaluators’ report and recommendations, and what we learned about the Foundation’s work in the performing arts sector.
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2007
Why is it so tough to get ahead? How our tangled social programs pathologize the transition to self-reliance.
Metcalf Innovation Fellow John Stapleton launched a new report on December 5th, 2007. more >
The report is called: Why is it so tough to get ahead? How our tangled social programs pathologize the transition to self-reliance.
We cannot claim to have people-centred government policies. Not when an 18 year old, lone-parent refugee is considered to be an adult under four policies, a child under two, a student under a third policy, a dependent adult under two others, a non-resident under two, and a legal resident of Canada under four more. And as far as government is concerned, it is her job to sort all this out.
This report documents the disincentives to achieving greater self-reliance within Ontario’s welfare, housing and social support system. It aims to make understandable to policymakers and the public how removing subsidies from poor Ontarians in an uncoordinated way makes it impossible for recipients to achieve greater self-reliance.
Research was undertaken with members of the Somali, Vietnamese-Chinese and St. Christopher House communities. The issues of disincentives are viewed through the lens of first generation poor immigrants receiving benefits from multiple sources, and youth who have grown up in public housing in households with social assistance as the main income source.
As the report states: “Working-age social assistance recipients in Ontario, especially those who are public housing residents live with disincentives. The more they earn, the more they lose in benefits; when they tell the truth, they are punished. The programs within the social assistance and housing system work in isolation from each other. When people start to earn, the various benefit systems, as well as public housing often take back more than they leave behind, giving people little or no incentive to become more self-reliant.”
The report outlines a series of recommendations for policy solutions that can be taken right away to eliminate some of the barriers thrown up by multiple subsidies and program policies. The ultimate goal for this report is to call attention to the need for a new governance model – one that enables governments and their agencies to forge policies and procedures in a coordinated way so that the transition to self-reliance is a healthy, supported process for people.
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Related materials >
Remove bricks from welfare wall
Toronto Star - Editorial
December 8, 2007
The treadmill of poverty
Toronto Star - Laurie Monsebraaten
December 6, 2007
Destroy Canada's welfare trap
National Post
December 8, 2007
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