As an organization that advocates for equity and justice, we believe that Food First NL needs to lead by example, and we have made some major strides this year. Here are the highlights:

• We implemented a living wage policy that pegs the bottom end of our wage scale to the living wage for St. John’s as calculated by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives - currently $18.85/hr. 

• We implemented a simplified, updated, and transparent salary structure

• Inspired by the example set by our colleagues at FoodShare TO, we brought in a fixed maximum ratio of 3.0 between the salaries of our lowest and highest-paid employees.

• We brought in work from home as an option for all employees at all times

• We added more options for long-term leave for our team members to pursue personal development, education, and community/political action

• We worked on equity-informed hiring by creating guidelines for the recognition of experience in lieu of credentials and developing new guidelines for job postings and outreach

• We brought in a new open recruitment process for our Board of Directors and developed equity and skills gap checklists to inform their selection process.

These are important steps, but we have a long road yet to travel. Internally, we continue to take a critical eye on our own structures and the power dynamics inside them, and at the gaps in the diversity of our own team. 

Looking outwards, we know that we need to do more to integrate the voices of people with lived experience of food insecurity, and to centre Indigenous voices in our work and in the food system more broadly. 

We know that this work is challenging and we know that it will sometimes go sideways - but that makes it all the more important to commit to. We also look, as always, to our community partners for honest feedback and accountability. If you have ideas about how Food First NL can be better, please share them with us!

Photo credit: Ritche Perez

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