Our Approach: The Food Hub Model – Community Empowerment

The healthy circle

Our aim is to focus on a particular community where we create a single project with access to the whole fresh food virtuous circle – growing, cooking, choosing, accessing and enjoying fresh food – a Food Hub. Where we can’t deliver all the elements, we look for partners and promote their opportunities alongside our own. People can join at any point and dip into all aspects or some.

What is our Food Hub model of working?

• A joined up approach in a specific community,  a virtuous and expanding circle of activity and involvement.
• All aspects of healthy food – growing, purchasing fruit and veg, cooking skills, enjoying and choosing a healthy diet
• Community empowerment and social/campaigning aspects of food e.g. on food poverty or health inequalities.
• Working with partners wherever possible
• Community involved in choosing, planning and running activities underpinned by volunteers
• Processes supported by a Food Hub Activator

The Food Hub Activator – a community development / food related background is based in the community and  sets out to create momentum around healthy food, with activities for different groups and new partnerships. They make sure the work we are funded to do connects up with what others are doing, and tries to get people really involved in planning and organising activities.

NGCFI has adopted a community engagement model as our response to the reality that all the top down efforts to “change people’s behaviour” around healthy food have failed to deliver. We see our role as putting our resources at the disposal of people in communities supporting them to take a lead in improving diet, health and well-being for themselves, their families, their community.

Our Food Hub Model is a joined up approach in a specific local community and we currently work in three areas; Springburn, Milton and Royston. The model covers all aspects of healthy food, growing, purchasing fruit and vegetables, cooking skills, enjoying and choosing a healthy diet. It is focused on community empowerment across all aspects of food poverty and health inequalities using partners wherever possible.
It supports the Community in becoming involved in choosing, planning and running activities underpinned by volunteers and supported by a Food Hub Activator.
We support people in low income communities across North Glasgow. We actively engage our communities in healthy cookery classes, growing food and we also offer access to affordable fruit and vegetables at our community sales points.

We recruit, train and support volunteers from a wide variety of backgrounds and none of our activities would be possible without them.