CURA: ACT for CFS – August 2013 Full-team Gathering

TEAM GATHERING, HALIFAX, NS

In August 20-22, 2013, over 80 ACT for CFS team members came together at the Mount Saint Vincent University campus to learn, reconnect, collaborate, and inspire each other. The purpose of this gathering was to share what we’ve been learning during the first half of the project and prepare for the next 1.5 years of change and action.This gathering provided a key opportunity to reconnect with one another and weave together the multiple threads and stories within the ACT for CFS project, bringing together diverse voices to shape next steps.

Patty Williams, Director of the Food Action Research Centre (FoodARC) at Mount Saint Vincent University and Co-Director of ACT for CFS, began the event by delivering a warm welcome to all. Patty discussed the valuable relationships that have propelled and sustained the ACT for CFS project –built at local, provincial, national and even international levels over the past decade.

In keeping with our principles for working together and commitment to participatory action research (PAR), a participatory process was chosen to host this gathering. A team worked to create a welcoming environment to allow everyone attending to bring their passions, unique wisdom and experience, and creativity to plan the last phase of ACT for CFS together.

Community Stories
Each community shared a brief story to describe why their communities wanted to participate in the project, highlights of what they heard, what has inspired them, and much more.

Four stations were created in the four corners of the room for participants to visit and hear more community stories, particularly about the Photovoice projects, Participatory Food Costing Affordability Scenarios, the unique indicator for each community, and maps that present vulnerability to food insecurity(based on the location of food outlets and socio-economic information about residents).

Participatory Community Food Security Assessments – Analysis Team Presentations
Four analysis teams with diverse representation from community and academic partners were created to tackle the large amount of information gathered. Between June and August 2013, each team met frequently and reviewed a particular grouping of the data to address a particular aspect of community food security.