Key Issue 3
Tackling Food Poverty, Diet related ill-health and increasing access to affordable healthy food
3A: tackle food poverty
Covid-19 Spring/Summer 2020 Emergency Food Response
Cambridge Food Poverty Alliance
Cambridge Sustainable Food CIC is the lead organisation for the Cambridge Food Poverty Alliance, formed in 2018 as part of the Food Power network. The Alliance has 25 organisational members and meets monthly. Cambridge Sustainable Food’s Partnership Coordinator is also Food Power’s regional mentor and is working with the County Council to facilitate a county-wide approach to food poverty.
Over three years, the Cambridge Food Poverty Alliance has:
Produced a report on food poverty in Cambridge
Organised Cambridge’s first food poverty conference with seventy attendees
Co-created Cambridge Food Poverty Action Plan (endorsed by City Council) through consultation workshops, interviews and questionnaires
Led Cambridge’s Coronavirus Emergency Food Response (see report)
Constantly updated signposting to emergency services
Created nine community food hubs in low-income areas, with central supply of surplus/fresh donated food.
COVID-19 and the emergency response
Cambridge Food Poverty Alliance’s success was a key factor in the City Council’s asking it and Cambridge Sustainable Food CIC to lead Cambridge’s Coronavirus Emergency Food Response. This has meant coordinating a whole city approach.
Between March 2020 to April 2021:
4,518 holiday lunches to 308 families, including 785 children
Distributed 266 tonnes of food, over 37 tonnes of which was surplus food
There were 36,636 visits to the Food Hubs with 2,390 deliveries made to households by the hubs
CoFarm donated 2.3 tonnes of locally grown fresh produce
8,251 community meals prepared, of which 4,611 were delivered to households and 3,640 sent to the Food Hubs.
High-quality social food provision in Cambridge
Holiday hunger programme is run by a steering group of voluntary sector organisations, including Cambridge Sustainable Food and the City Council
Council-funded cookery workshops programme for low-income families (recipe booklet created by Cambridge Sustainable Food)
Four City-Council funded community fridges (transitioned into Community Food Hubs for COVID-19)
Fairbite Food Club 100-member social supermarket
Free/ low-cost community meals (FoodCycle, lunch clubs for older people, churches) – see community food map
Meals-on-wheels service
Karim Foundation and Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum ensure that culturally appropriate food is available
Cambridge Sustainable Food CIC runs campaigns to increase Healthy Start voucher uptake (5% increase in uptake in CB4), including the creation of Healthy Start Veg Box Scheme.
The Living Wage
The City Council was officially accredited by the Living Wage Foundation in 2014. 75 city businesses also signed up, including Cambridge University. The Council employs a Living Wage Officer who promotes the scheme and holds a Living Wage Week every year with workshops and talks. In 2019, Cambridge received a Living Wage Champion Award from the Living Wage Foundation.
Information and training
Web pages are regularly made available for professionals and the public. The website Making Money Count provides useful referral to agencies in Cambridgeshire. Cambridge Sustainable Food ran training for midwives (30 attendees) on Healthy Start vouchers and on food poverty for Children’s Centre Managers (8 attendees) and county-wide youth workers (13 attendees). The regularly updated Coronavirus emergency food signposting tool for organisations, created by Cambridge Sustainable Food on behalf of the Cambridge Food Poverty Alliance, is distributed widely.
3B: Promote Healthy Eating
CUCT holiday lunches
Local authority
Cambridgeshire County Council, represented on Cambridge Sustainable Food Partnership Board by a Public Health Manager, is responsible for promoting the health and wellbeing of residents, including obesity, diet, physical activity, better nutrition and healthy lifestyle in hospitals, GP practices, pharmacies and the community. Its Healthy Weight Strategy (to 2019, currently under review), aims to support people towards healthy weight through diet and exercise. Everyone Health, commissioned by County Council, provides a range of healthy lifestyle support including diet and weight management. Be Well Cambridgeshire also provides advice and support in this area. Let’s Get Moving promotes local exercise activities and Change 4 Life. The City Council is also committed to supporting free exercise referrals by GPs for low income residents.
Cambridge United Community Trust
CUCT runs community fitness groups including: healthy stadium tours (and healthy eating talk) and Man v Fat football
They also run free, socially-distanced, multi-sports sessions in low-income areas throughout summer holidays with free lunches.
Sugar Smart campaign
Breastfeeding
There are a range of initiatives supporting breastfeeding:
Cambridge Breastfeeding Alliance provides resources and a Facebook group
Rosie Maternity Hospital provides specialist advice and resources
La Leche league Cambridge provide online breastfeeding support via Zoom/Facebook
Ely Milks provide online breastfeeding support
Cottenham Breastfeeding Cafe provides a drop-in session
Haverhill Breastfeeding Friend provides peer-to-peer support.
Campaigns
Cambridge Sustainable Food runs regularly healthy eating/drinking campaigns, such as:
Sugar Smart, Veg Cities: both reaching 3,000+ people
World War 2 Rationing Challenge (pg 13) with events including a dietician talking about health improvements during rationing
Cambridge City Council promotes a Refill scheme with 110 refill points and is installing 10 new drinking fountains in the city.
Cambridge Food Hub delivering Healthy Start Fruit and Veg Boxes
Cookery workshops
Free cookery classes are run across the city:
Cambridge Sustainable Food ran 16 sessions 2019/20, plus sessions at holiday hunger programme
Red Hen developed online courses, holding two, six week budget courses in 2019/20
Let's Cook Project delivers sessions at Romsey Mill, online content/cookery sessions for Abbey People.
Healthy Start
We have an ongoing campaign to increase uptake of Healthy Start vouchers, including:
Stalls/materials promoting vouchers
Cookery sessions based on fruit and veg
Cambridge Food Poverty Alliance/Cambridge Sustainable Food CIC partnered with Cambridge Organic, a local box scheme to deliver weekly veg boxes plus healthy recipes, 12 targeted families in return for Healthy Start voucher and £2.
Food For Life
There are 25 nurseries/schools/colleges catered by Food For Life Served Here (FFL) contractors/hold an award themselves (9 Gold Served Here, 15 Bronze Served Here, 2 Early Years). A Food For Life representative sits on the Cambridge Sustainable Food Procurement Group.
Other
Healthier Options (33 businesses) scheme in Cambridgeshire works with city and North Cambridge businesses near schools to improve quality of food takeaways.
Cyrenians’ Homeless project has an allotment. Cambridge in Abundance offers food growing and cookery sessions with a “plot to plate” approach. City Council's Sustainable Design and Construction SPD includes food growing in new developments.
Cambridge Food Poverty Alliance produced a report on food deserts and food swamps in Cambridge and is looking at schemes to improve access to healthy food in 'deserts' e.g. Healthy Start Veg Box.
There is an active East of England Social Prescribing Network.