Course:LFS350/Projects/2014W1/T18
Name of the organization:
Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm
Address:
3461 Ross Drive (Location), 2357 Main Mall (Mailing), UBC
Website (if applicable):
Name:
Victoria Hodson
Email address:
victoria.hodson@ubc.ca
Phone number:
604.822.5092
Availability for contact (in September, October and November):
3 days a week (typically Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) 9-4pm
A scope statement for the project:
The Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm operates a 24-ha sustainable farm used for teaching, research, and community programming on UBC’s Vancouver Campus. This student-driven, organic farm provides experiential education in all aspects of sustainable food systems research and management and strives to explore and exemplify how land, food, and community are brought together to create healthy and sustainable food systems. With the UBC Vancouver campus located adjacent to two major neighbourhoods – Point Grey and Dunbar /Southlands- the UBC Farm team is interested in increasing its connection to these communities. Through a preliminary community assessment, we hope to find opportunities for collaboration, outreach, and engagement with the Dunbar/Southlands community. This community assessment focuses on determining local assets, resources and activities, as well as any gaps, barriers and emerging needs in this community that are relevant to the UBC Farm. As part of this interest in our local context, we are also curious about relevant literature exploring best practices or models for community partnerships, collaboration and outreach within university-based farms or similar institutional contexts.
Main project goals and objectives:
1. Conduct a community scan of community centres, schools and non-profits in the Dunbar/Southlands neighbourhood. 2. Develop a comprehensive list (or “asset inventory”) of projects or resources within these community organizations that align with the UBC Farm’s mandate and are related to issues of food security, community-based food systems and sustainability. (The LFS 350 project team will be provided with the UBC Farm’s visioning document Cultivating Place in order to guide the assessment). This list should be derived using a mixed methods approach (see below). 3. Conduct a literature review of relevant scholarship on neighbourhood partnerships with university-based farms or similar institutional contexts. 4. Share your investigation’s results with the UBC Farm in the format of a report, with an introduction, methodology, results, and discussion section.
Recommended research method(s):
To conduct the community assessment: • Web Scan • Informal interviews (with community organization stakeholders, when possible) • Participant observation (explore the neighbourhood on foot) • Government statistics (for demographic information about community composition) For final report and analysis: • Literature review (of peer-reviewed scholarship on community partnerships, collaboration and outreach with university-based farms) • Asset Inventory • Thematic analysis of dataset • Community Map
Potential information sources:
• Community Centres • Online Community Directories • Community Farmers Markets • Interviews with community members • Food Network organizations (eg. Westside Food Collaborative) • Government statistics • Scholarly journal articles
Expected outcome(s):
An effective community assessment will lend insight into our neighbouring region, helping the UBC Farm to find spaces for collaboration and outreach as well as identifying potential challenges, gaps or barriers to such partnerships.
Volunteer opportunities: Urban Farmers, Farm Markets (until October), Community Outreach, Indigenous Initiatives (eg. Feast Bowl), Farmade