Change starts here.
Change starts here.
Linda Geggie has planted the seeds for the development and adoption of a food strategy for the Capital Regional District on Vancouver Island.
Participants of the first United Way Public Policy Institute (PPI) celebrated completion of their sessions in June, 2011.
Linda participated in the Public Policy Institute sessions as coordinator of the Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable (CRFAIR). She engaged with public policy experts and others to hone her policy project.
Linda’s policy work considers food from a systems perspective. “Just as we do planning for housing, transportation and economic development, the question is, ‘How do we look at how our food is produced, distributed and consumed in a way that meets our goals for health and sustainability.’”
An emerging food strategy would look at, for example, expanding agricultural land within the Capital Region.
Not only did Linda benefit from the experience of institute faculty, she found timely support from her peers in the program. “Different people had different pieces that were really useful to me, for example Carolyn, who works with the Boys and Girls Club. One of the things our organization is looking at is potentially merging with another organization. Carolyn had just been the process of merging the Boys and Girls Clubs. It was timely for me to be able to meet her and ask her about that. She also does donor relations and sponsorship work and we’re moving into that. So now I have a great resource in Carolyn who can mentor me and she has agreed to do that.”
Linda’s personal journey on the food front began at the community level. “I didn’t wake up one morning and say, ‘Hey I want to do food policy.’ For many years I’ve worked in grassroots organizing and projects with youth in urban areas, for example community gardens. We found that a lot of the things we wanted to do involved public land and getting government support and permissions and that took me down the path to working more on behalf of food and farm organizations.”
In May 2011, Linda says, Capital Regional District (CRD) planning staff recommended that a food strategy be considered by the CRD. The presentation she developed for the Public Policy Insititute will inform the work she will do next year during the consultation and support-building phase with stakeholders. “I’ll be employing all of my wits and all of my learning in doing that.”
Linda’s advice for anyone considering joining the next PPI sessions: “Be willing to commit your time, your passion, your brainpower. It takes a lot of thinking and listening if you want to get the most out of it.
“What I saw happen with me and others in the cohort is that we connected with amazing people that inspired us and left us feeling not alone in our work. My passion for my work was renewed. It happened for a lot of people. At the beginning a lot of us came in burned out and griping about funding. As we moved forward there was a shift in the group to become much more positive and focused on what we are trying to do. People got re-inspired.”
Former BC premier Mike Harcourt will be joined by four public policy experts to present 2012 sessions. The non-profit, non-partisan institute is the first of its kind in British Columbia.
Joining Harcourt to present sessions in 2012 are:
• Dr. Liz Whynot, former president of BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre
• Brenda Eaton, chair, BC Housing Management Commission and former Deputy Minister to BC Premier Gordon Campbell; former BC Deputy Minister in Finance and Treasury Board, Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, and Social Services
• Elizabeth Cull, former BC Minister of Health, Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations
• Ida Goodreau, former president and CEO Vancouver Coastal Health.
This unique learning opportunity is designed for non-profit organizations grappling with dynamic challenges in social and health services, and, for individuals eager to help change the future by shaping public policy.
Participants will be mentored on an applied project targeting a public policy issue strategically relevant to their organizations.
Sessions will be delivered once a month over a two-day period between January and June 2012. This program is open to participants from across the province. Tuition, accommodation and travel expenses will be subsidized.
With only 25 participants selected, space is limited.
Visit http://www.uwlm.ca/ppi for more information, or to apply. Application deadline: Sept. 30, 2011. To learn more, contact Yves Trudel at ppi@uwlm.ca
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