Food First NL has taken on the exciting opportunity to partner with Labrador-Grenfell Health to be part of the Nourish Anchor Cohort. The Nourish Anchor Cohort is made up of health care and community partnerships, called Anchor Collaboratives. These place-based teams work together to determine how food - and the ability to access food - are a determinant of health. 

The Food First NL and Labrador-Grenfell Health Anchor Collaborative focuses on traditional foods and the impacts of colonization on food and health in Indigenous populations. Traditional foods are imperative to the health and healing of Indigenous Peoples, and colonization and climate change make it increasingly difficult to access those foods, which negatively impacts health care outcomes. Together, Labrador-Grenfell Health and Food First NL aim to build a network that creates more equitable health outcomes for Indigenous Peoples across Labrador-Grenfell Health facilities and services. 

Read more about the Nourish Anchor Cohort here. 

Food First NL works to link national school food partners, ideas, and opportunities to NL. In 2021, we continued to advocate for a national universal school food program alongside many others in the Coalition for Healthy School Food, and we’re once again working with Farm to Cafeteria Canada to roll out their next round of Farm to School Grants, some of which will hopefully sprout up in our province.

Earlier this year, Food First NL partnered with Fishing for Success and Farm to Cafeteria Canada to deliver a Sea to School webinar. This powerful and engaging panel featured many incredible speakers, including: Emily Doyle, PhD candidate at the Memorial University Faculty of Medicine; Jenn Lovewell of Bay2Tray in San Francisco; Elizabeth Moore of Local Food to School in Haida Gwaii; Kimberly Orren of Fishing for Success, right here in Newfoundland and Labrador; and Talia Young of Fishadelphia in Philadelphia. 

Panelists had a great discussion about their programs, which focus on getting local, sustainable seafood on the tables for students in the school system. They discussed the benefits of Sea to School programs, as well as drawbacks and barriers to getting fish in schools and why we do not have sea to school programs in Newfoundland and Labrador. 

The conversation spanned many topics and was very informative. You can watch the Sea to School webinar here.