1 minute read
Bristol Food Fund
Introducing Bristol Local Food Fund
For thousands of people across the city, Bristol’s vibrant food culture is a world away. Bristol Local Food Fund aims to build one central pot to support existing projects to tackle food inequality. By connecting the efforts already in place, and recruiting a citizens panel to choose which new projects to support, the fund will ensure that everyone can access affordable, healthy food.
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The recent Gold Sustainable Food Award is a brilliant achievement for Bristol, but this should not overshadow the thousands of people who are unable to access enough food for themselves or their families, due to a range of complex inequalities - ethnicity, class, physical ability and more. No one wants to live in a city of inequalities. Bristol has an amazing charitable and community ethos, but to make a real impact, there needs to be a way to focus resources and give power to those who are so often disempowered by the structures in our society.
Bristol Local Food Fund (BLFF) is a new project, created and run by a small group of volunteers working in partnership with City Funds, Burges Salmon, Bristol City Council, Feeding Bristol and Bristol Food Network. Through an initial Crowdfunder, BLFF wants to raise an initial £100,000 to give communities the resources to take direct action on food insecurity. A Citizen’s Panel - made up of people from across the city with lived experience of the issues at hand - will be appointed to award the funds. Panellists will be paid the real living wage for their time.
Mike Lloyd-Jones, Founder of Bristol Local Food Fund: “With something like 13,000 households experiencing food insecurity, we need to do more to support the communities being left behind due to structural racism, inequality and inadequate infrastructure. COVID-19 made the situation worse – new projects emerged but now we need to build on that momentum and make sure everyone’s voices are heard.”
If you want to help us get started, please take 2 minutes to pledge your support to the Bristol Local Food Fund.
Or if you’re interested in learning more about the Fund and how you could get involved, please email bristollocalfoodfund@gmail.com.
