Recently, Seeds of Change Surrey held a community stakeholders event in the Guildford area of Surrey. The next one in planned for January in the Newton area.
Why Guildford and Newton you might ask?
Where do we begin ? We felt food security should be approached using a place-based, neighbourhood level approach. We decided to focus on two neighbourhoods to begin with in Surrey- Guildford and Newton.
The two focus neighbourhoods were chosen because:
•they are among the five Surrey communities that report the lowest rates of food security according to the My Health, My Community survey. •they both have high levels of vulnerable populations; particularly high child poverty rates, single family households, newcomers and aboriginal populations
Additionally, we mapped social programs and support organizations that were already operating in these neighbourhoods, and found unique opportunities for potential collaboration in both Newton and Guildford.
The FACTS: The child poverty rate is nearly 20% in Newton and 42% in Guildford West and both areas have immigrant populations approaching 50%. Newcomers often struggle with food security. •Single parent households range from 15-25% of families between the two neighbourhoods and lone parent households are at greatest risk of food insecurity both here and across the province. •Newton has a large Aboriginal community, the ethnic group which reports the highest rate of food insecurity – 1 in 4 in Surrey
We would love to hear about your experiences. Email us or visit us on Facebook or Twitter.
Want to get involved with Seeds of Change Surrey?
Contact one of us to learn more: Deirdre Goudriaan at deirdre@teamplayconsulting.com Maggie Baynham at MBaynham@surrey.ca
