Social Enterprise in a Sustainable Food System
A social enterprise is a revenue-generating activity for an organization to achieve a social impact.
Social enterprises provide services and goods, and can operate to generate employment or meet a communities’ need. Profit from a social enterprise is re-invested to achieve social benefits.
Much of what we know about social enterprises in NL is thanks to the work of organizations like the Community Sector Council (CSC). In CSC’s “Ready for Takeoff” report, they found that the majority of social enterprises consider their work to be ‘multi sector’, meaning they address a need, or provide a service or product, for different types of businesses. The most common type of social enterprise activity is in hospitality and food!
Social enterprise can be a catalyst for community food projects. Across NL, many organizations operate social enterprises to achieve social impact. Some of these organizations include:
The Pye Farm, part of Labrador Institute, combines research and education with food production in Happy Valley-Goose Bay
A new pilot “Food Hub” in Corner Brook, run by Food First NL, is looking at new ways to transport and distribute local foods, offering customers an online store to purchase from many producers at once.
Sharing our Cultures, an organization that celebrates diverse cultural communities, is working with newcomer youth to create reusable shopping bags.
Hungry Heart and The Pantry, are cafes serving delicious local fare and supporting members of their community with training and job creation in food service. The Association for New Canadians operates a food truck and has launched a new Cook to Connect program with the St. John’s Farmer’s Market Co-op.
Each of these social enterprises realizes positive social, economic, and environmental impacts from food.
So, we are interested to know:
how can we support social enterprises that address the social, economic, and environmental impact of food?
If you are part of, or support, social enterprises in NL please take our online survey: https://form.typeform.com/to/xxPvdj0U
Let’s connect on ways social enterprise can be part of a sustainable food system!