Sustainable Funding & Community Capacity Building: Support Black-led, Black-serving and Black-mandated food organizations to effectively serve and respond to community food insecurity through providing access to sustained operating funds, service navigation support, expert advice, and capacity to lead long-term food system transformation, community learning and the tracking of progress on outcomes.

1. Social Development, Finance and Administration Community Funding Unity in partnership with the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit to increase community resilience in times of crisis and support emergency food relief through the implementation of a Black Mandated Funding Framework that prioritizes Black-mandated food organizations to ensure adequate annual operating funds are deployed to address Black food insecurity.

SDFA-CFU, SDFA-CABR

2. Social Development, Finance and Administration Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unity to develop and fund a Black Food Sovereignty Advisory Circle to position community leadership as a central driver of the Plan, facilitate Black residents to identify and track progress toward targets, and to lead ongoing engagement with Black-led, Black-serving organizations and Black communities for effective implementation.

SDFA-CABR

3. Social Development, Finance and Administration Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unity and the Poverty Reduction Office in partnership with the Equity Diversity and Human Rights Division to contribute to the development of protocols related to the collection of baseline data, monitoring and evaluation to measure and report on food security outcomes through CABR’s Black Health Services Coordination Strategy.

SDFA-CABR, SDFA-PRSO, EDHR

4. Social Development, Finance and Administration Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unity to facilitate and fund an annual community-led Black Food Sovereignty Conference to foster opportunities for knowledge sharing, community networking and learning to better understand Black food insecurity and support evidence-based interventions to advance a local and global Black food sovereignty movement toward the realization of the UN International Decade for People of African Descent.

SDFA-CABR

5. Social Development, Finance and Administration’s Tower and Neighbourhood Revitalization Unit to consult with Solid Waste Management Services to apply learnings and success in urban agriculture from the Community Reduce & Reuse Programs to inform the creation of local community knowledge networks to share learnings gained from COVID-19 digital urban agriculture programming in neighbourhoods with large Black populations, including how to build resident leadership, share and connect Black residents with local employment opportunities, and increase access to growing space in tower renewal and revitalization communities.

SDFA-CABR, SDFA-TNR, SWMS

6. Social Development, Finance and Administration Community Funding Unity and the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit in partnership with Parks Forestry and Recreation to improve access to urban agriculture funding opportunities at the City through targeted outreach and promotion of the Urban Forestry Community Grants, the Incentive Program and Community Funding Programs to Black communities, with a focus on 2SLGBTQ+, francophone and continental African populations.

SDFA-CABR, SDFA-CFU, PF&R

7. Parks Forestry and Recreation to continue to provide and strengthen technical support training, service navigation mentorship and social incubation to organizations and resident leaders involved in community-based urban agriculture.

PF&R

8. Parks Forestry and Recreation to work closely with the Indigenous Affairs Office and Social Development Finance and Administration CABR Unit to continue to build community capacity to lead land-based youth leadership and urban community-based agriculture initiatives to support Black and Indigenous youth.

PF&R, SDFA-CABR, IAO

9. Social Development, Finance and Administration Poverty Reduction Office work with Parks Forestry and Recreation Business Services Branch and the Black Food Sovereignty Advisory Committee to support the compiling and distributing of key learnings and outcomes from existing urban agriculture projects the development of new Black-led urban agriculture initiatives, including learnings from the development of the Black Creek Community Farm, the Community Engagement Entrepreneurial Development (CEED) Market Gardens and other projects.

SDFA-PRSO, PF&R

10. Solid Waste Management Services to continue sharing advice, learnings and insights from the Community, Reduce & Reuse Programs as it relates to creating and sustaining community capacity to lead close-loop food waste loss and food waste reduction programs which help support local food security in neighbourhoods with high Black populations, and help develop self-sustaining community-led food initiatives and Reuse Programs.

SWMS

11. Toronto Water to advance the implementation of Black Food Sovereignty urban agriculture sites through providing operational advice and input for water access on growing sites as needed.

TW

12. Strategic Partnerships Office to coordinate with Parks, Forestry and Recreation and Social Development, Finance and Administration Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit and consult with Solid Waste Management Services on their expertise with community resource Sharing and Reuse programs in neighbourhoods with high Black populations, to increase the capacity and sustainability of the Black Food Sovereignty Plan by identifying appropriate corporate and institutional funding and resource partners to advance capital projects, including sponsorships and tool donations for new community gardens and to expand initiatives like the Garden Tool Lending Program.

TOP, PF&R, SDFA-CABR, SWMS

13.Economic Development and Culture to continue to support Black arts, culture and food festivals through existing resources to ensure the sustainability of African, Caribbean and Black-led food and culture programming and to increase opportunities for Black food businesses and Black entrepreneurs.

EDC

14. Economic Development and Culture to work with the Black Food Sovereignty Unit to encourage Black food businesses to participate in food and beverage events and trade shows that help to promote the Black leadership in the food & beverage sector in Toronto.

EDC