GUELPH The Guelph-Wellington Smart Cities initiative, in collaboration with 10C, announced the Guelph-Wellington Urban Agriculture Challenge (GWUAC) on Sept. 15. This program, led by Harve$t Impact—a social financing program of 10C and a core pillar of the Our Food Future—is calling for projects that will support circular economic recovery and accelerate food production, getting more food to the table with less environmental impact.
“We’ve certainly been challenged the last few months with COVID-19, but this is one challenge that will bring together innovation and collaborative thinking and be transformed into meaningful initiatives that will make this community stronger,” said Gueph CAO Scott Stewart.
To be considered for a portion of the $102,000 available funding, submissions should answer this question: How might businesses, not-for-profits and individual community members use circular thinking and urban agricultural practices to improve community resilience by increasing production of (and access to) nutritious food in urban and/or rural settings in Guelph-Wellington?
“Imagine living in a community with visible food sources at street level, on rooftops, in shared gardens, on balconies, in urban greenhouses, and in forms we have not yet seen. Investing in urban agriculture can help reconnect our urban lives to food production,” said 10C executive director Julia Grady.
The categories in this challenge allow for a variety of submissions from large to small, and are open to entries from non-profit community or charitable organizations, Indigenous groups, for-profit businesses, cooperatives and social enterprises, and informal community groups, and from across the Guelph-Wellington community. GWUAC is centred on community resilience and encourages and supports submissions from a diverse set of applicants including BIPOC, LGBTQ2+and under-represented people.
The three categories are:
– Transformative Urban Agriculture – $70,000 for one innovative, food growing project in an urban or town setting;
– Scaling Out Community Agriculture -$20,000 for a food growing project that has the potential to grow community wide; and
– Shovel and Fork Fund – $2,000 each for six initiatives that support community food growing.
Applications for expression of interest for this challenge are now being accepted through to Oct. 30, and shortlisted projects will be announced by Nov. 16. After a phase 2 application process for 20 of the shortlisted projects, the community evaluation committee will announce final selections by Jan. 31, 2021 for projects to start in the 2021 growing season.
For full entry details, deadlines and application process, visit kitchentable.foodfuture.ca.
