Food Power aims to strengthen the ability of local communities to reduce food poverty, through solutions developed in partnership and with the support of peers from across the UK. The goal is to transform the way that people experiencing food poverty access support so they can create long-term, sustainable lives that are free from hunger.
Food Power supports coordinated approaches to tackling food poverty in over 50 areas across the UK, tailored to the particular locality and unique policy contexts across the four nations. The four year programme is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and is led by Sustain and Church Action on Poverty.
As one of the Food Power food poverty alliances, Food Cardiff believe that good food means fair food: it should be good for people, good for the place we live in, and good for our planet, as well as being affordable and nutritious. By promoting healthy, sustainable and ethical food, as part of a thriving local economy, we can improve health and wellbeing, and create a more vibrant, connected and prosperous city.
Case Study 1: The creation of the Dusty Forge Pantry
People in Cardiff are now able to access affordable healthy food, thanks to a new project initiated by Food Cardiff. ACE (Action in Caerau & Ely) set up the Dusty Forge Pantry, run and used by local people, at its base in west Cardiff. The project is part of the Your Local Pantry network and was the first of its kind in Wales.
Pantries are membership-based food clubs that enable people to access food at a small fraction of the usual supermarket price, improving household food security and freeing up more money for other essential household costs (such as rent and utilities). The weekly fee at Dusty Forge is £5, for which members will be able to choose ten items, with a total value of around £20.
Food Cardiff partner Fareshare Cymru supplies the Pantry with quality, healthy and in-date food that would have otherwise gone to waste, saving over 12 tonnes of food per year. As the Dusty Forge Pantry develops, Food Cardiff will support other local businesses, allotments and community growing sites to supply fresh, sustainably grown food to the Pantry.
The idea to set up a Your Local Pantry in Cardiff was developed by Food Cardiff as part of the Building Resilience: 5 Year Food Security Plan. Food Cardiff worked with Cardiff Business School to conduct a feasibility study into establishing a pantry in Cardiff.
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Case Study 2: Optimising Family Income
After conducting a piece of research into the uptake and spending potential of Healthy Start vouchers, it became clear that awareness of the scheme was low with some frontline staff. Through partnership working between Cardiff and Vale Public Health Team, Cardiff Council’s Money Advice Team and the Cardiff and Vale University Hospital Board dietetic team, Food Cardiff developed a training package to support frontline staff to raise awareness and uptake of food schemes, adopting a train-the-trainer approach to maximise reach.
The training encompasses information about what the schemes are, eligibility and accessibility. Information about food banks, food co-ops, nutrition information and Nutrition Skills for Life courses are also provided. Through sourcing and reviewing information about the different food schemes, we produced a suite of resources to facilitate training delivery and support frontline staff during consultations with clients.
We successfully delivered our first train-the-trainer session on the 16th of May 2019. Staff from various organisations such as Housing Associations, Cardiff Council’s Money Advice Team, Help Me Quit and Wellbeing4U attended. Feedback was very positive, with interest already being expressed for the next training session.
