tenant profile

Sustain Ontarios Director Ravenna Nuaimy-Barker and the Good Food Ideas map

SUSTAIN ONTARIO Studio 364

Food is a hot topic these days. In this case, were not talking about the latest pop-up restaurant but healthy and sustainable food for the worlds growing population. Many groups involved in food security are looking at how to support local agriculture (including urban and near-urban farms), improve access to affordable and healthy options for everyone, and educate people about how to grow their own food and make more sustainable food purchasing choices. Sustain Ontario: The Alliance for Healthy Food & Farming (Studio 364) is one of those very groups. Sustain Ontario was conceived through a two year process led by the Metcalf Foundation that brought together food and agriculture groups who identified the need for collaborative policy and advocacy work. Following the publication of Food Connects Us All the request for a provincial alliance was put forth and Sustain Ontario was formed in 2009. Fast forward to 2012, we find them in the midst of an office renovation that will create a collaborative workspace with their partners-infood Meal Exchange (Studio 365). We worked with the two groups on a co-location with the understanding that something as simple as proximity can add benefit to their shared purpose and cultivate other exciting (and potentially unexpected) results. Sustain Ontarios Director Ravenna Nuaimy-Barker says, Meal Exchange and Sustain Ontario have already begun to work together on a few projects like a national network getting good food into cafeterias, but we know that theres so much more to come. We cant wait to see what creative and transformative things happen when we get together. Sustain Ontario has adopted a many-pronged approach to healthy food and sustainable agriculture. They have a growing membership of over 300 organizations, food enterprises, and public sector groups. They collaborate with a number of other organizations across the province (and even nation-wide) on initiatives and working groups that are looking at a wide range of topics from meat processing, to food policy, to a farmers market voucher program. They hold events, provide resources, and really embrace the term alliance in everything they do. In the same way Sustain Ontario works to connect groups, theyre also working to connect the dots between agriculture, health, economic and community development, and the environment. Ravenna says, We dont just believe that a better world is possible, we get to see it growing every day. Its very exciting to be creating linkages between groups working in health, farming, the arts, community development, communication, and more. We get to see collaborations that are not only fun, but that create a healthier, more sustainable place for us all to live. www.sustainontario.ca