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Better Health Bakery
A social enterprise bakery based in Haggerston, East London. They are part of The Centre for Better Health, a long standing Hackney-based mental health charity. They offer trainee placements in our bakery to adults recovering from mental ill-health.
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Brewdog
A business taking the concept of shareholders to a new level with its 'equity punks', putting collaboration and love of craft beers at the centre of everything they do. A great example of what purpose-led business can do.
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HISBE Food CIC
HISBE Food is a new type of supermarket, built and run on a purpose-led social enterprise business model, for the benefit of local people, local economy and local community.
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The Open Food Network
The Open Food Network (OFN) is a growing network of small to medium and community food enterprises, independent producers, retailers and distributors, dedicated to building a stronger, fairer food system in the UK. We believe that by working together, sharing skills, ideas and resources, we can provide good, nutritious, affordable food to everyone.
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Abundance
Abundance is a network of urban harvesting project which identifies fruit growing that would otherwise go to waste, and redistributes it to charities or community groups that will make good use of it. Through local initiative, it aims to protect nature in urban settings and involves the local schools and communities to get involved. A great way to get people to reconnect with the local land and build a sense of community around it.
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Citizens Assembly
Not food specific, but a great example of citizen engagement and participation. A Citizens’ Assembly is a representative group of citizens who are selected at random from the population to learn about, deliberate upon, and make recommendations in relation to a particular issue or set of issues.
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Divine Chocolate
Set up to challenge the chocolate trade over 20 years ago, it is very much centered around the cooperative of farmers that produce the cocoa in the first place, showing another business model to ensure producers are at the centre of the business. It is 44% owned by farmers, and the success of the brand and its storytelling shows just how much people care about good ethical food systems.
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Good Food Nation Ambassadors
With the Scottish government opening up the question of what a Good Food Nation is and should deliver in Scotland, a coalition of NGOs have called upon Good Food Nation Ambassadors to engage with their local communities, increase awareness and momentum for the consultation, and campaign for a brighter future for Scotland’s food system. A great example of empowering people to voice their values and beliefs to government.
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Cafédirect
Cafédirect was founded in direct response to the coffee crisis of 1989, when prices plummeted and farmers were struggling to break even, let alone make a profit. In 2010, Cafédirect raised the bar even further and created Producers Direct.
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Incredible Edibles Network
"If you eat, you're in" The Incredible Edible movement has been building food communities for decades and is a flagship example of what empowering people through food can do. Started in Todmorden and now across the globe, the movement showcases"lives lived in connected communities, built out of the power of their own will, their own imagination and grown through the power of small actions."
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The Co-op
As both a member-owned co-operative and food retailer, the Co-op's business model illustrate one way of engaging with your shareholders and members. Their approach to crowdsourcing ideas to tackle various socio-environmental issues, including packaging, is worth a read. This is all about empowering your audience and seeing them for what they are - an engaged, creative, resourceful, hopeful cohort that cares about people, animals and the planet.
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A People’s Food Policy
The report was developed by a coalition of representatives from the Land Workers' Alliance, Global Justice Now, the Ecological Land Co-op, The Centre for Agroecology and the Permaculture Association, and only took 18-months to be produced. While the report itself is an umissable read, the process taken to write it is equally worth attention.
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Riverford
Known for its fruit and vegetable box scheme, and more broadly for being a voice for ethical food systems, the company went 74% employee-owned in 2018. A good reminder that food citizens include the workforce, and not simply the end-user.
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Wigan Council
Wigan borough of Greater Manchester developed an informal agreement between the council and everyone who lives or works here to work together to create a better borough. Through it, the council and it citizens each commit to doing their bit to improve life in the borough. This is a great example of how local authorities can engage local (food) citizens.
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Food Teachers Centre
The Food Teachers Centre is a UK based self-help group founded by Louise T Davies in 2013 and supported by experienced associates. It provides a platform to exchange best practice, gives advice and support to less experienced teachers, answering practical concerns and keeping them abreast of the latest curriculum changes. It's a fantastic example of building a supportive community online.
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Producer’s Direct
The charity arm of Cafedirect and farmers-led (approx. 600,000), it was set up for farmers to share resources across the world, and led to the creation of Centres of Excellence. This shows the power of the community when it is given a platform to connect and share resources.
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Land Workers Alliance
The Landworkers’ Alliance is a grassroots union of farmers, growers and land-based workers with a mission to improve the livelihoods of its members and create a better food system for everyone. This democratic, member-led union is a member of La Via Campesina, the global movement of small-scale producers and peasant farmers, and is run by producers for producers. A great inspiration for creating strong communities with clear purpose, it has effective mechanisms to empower its members.
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Community Supported Agriculture (UK)
CSAs have been showing us for many years that bringing together producers and the general public can be a win-win situation. By sharing the responsibilities, risks and rewards of farming, not only does the community have access to good food, but the benefits go far beyond to include opportunities for training, higher levels of employment, better quality of life, better connections between farming and communities, and better turnover for producers.
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Food Chain
A business built around connecting communities of chefs and producers, and determined to break down the barriers from the middlemen, this platform encourages collaborations and initiatives centred around creating fair, ethical and high quality food and trade.
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LEAF Education
Having recently merged with FACE (Farming and Countryside Education), the charity works across the education, farming and food sectors to inspire, engage and mobilise farmers and teachers about the value of farming in a learning context. LEAF is also behind Open Farm Sundays, which attracts over 250,000 members of the public to over 400 farms on a single day each June, inspiring us to bring more communities together around food and farming.
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Made In Hackney
The charity is centred around bringing food experiences to people by providing a space for the community to thrive and find common purpose. Their focus is on an enterprising, eco-community kitchen and cookery school that aims to improve the lives of Londoners, including low-income families, and those recovering from mental health issues). As of 2019, they are looking to expand and to share the lessons learned with others though their Community Food Forum - a peer to peer advice and skill sharing forum.
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North East Organic Growers
A worker's co-operative based in the village of Bomarsund, Northumberland, North East Organic Growers is a community of farmers committed to organic farming and delivering a fruit and vegetable box scheme to local residents. Another great example of a local scale business model that shows how shared set of values, principles and purpose can create positive change in the food system.
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Rural Youth Project And Festival
Focussed on empowering and protecting the future of rural youth, the Rural Youth Network is an initiative centred on understanding and supporting the rural youth. What started as a large scale survey has evolved to include a three-day festival - the Rural Youth Ideas Festival - which in 2018 brought together 80+ young people to share their experience of living in rural areas in Scotland. Featuring a line-up of inspiring speakers and leadership, business and communication skills workshops, against a backdrop of glamping, live music and local food, the festival aligns with the network's core aims of empowering young people to share their story, making them feel heard and giving them the resources to thrive.
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Sustainable Food Cities
The Sustainable Food Cities approach involves developing a cross-sector partnership of local public agencies, businesses, academics and NGOs committed to working together to make healthy and sustainable food a defining characteristic of where they live. The network helps people and places share challenges, explore practical solutions and develop best practice on key food issues. Some fabulous examples of how the approach has been applied can be found in Hull, Belfast, Brighton and Hove, Carderdale, Newcastle, and others!
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We Farm
We Farm is world's largest farmer-to-farmer digital network, allowing farmers to connect with one another via SMS to solve problems, share ideas, and spread innovation for free, without the need an internet connection. Operating across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, We Farm crowd- sources information to help farmers tackle the agricultural, social, economic and environmental issues they face today - from sourcing seeds, to how to increase yields, tackling climate change and how to diversify their farming businesses. Driven by the belief that farmers have knowledge that should be shared and celebrated, this innovative network is a great example of how to connect and nourish a community at a global level.
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Rebel Kitchen
A purpose-led and B corp business, Rebel Kitchen aims to redefine health, encourages us to question the norm and empowers us as rebels. And this is not just with their customers, but how they run the whole business and engage with their employees too.
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Flavour School
How to empower people through food? How about by helping children (and adults!) learn about the senses, taste and flavour, in order to give them more confidence and curiosity to try new things! Flavour School is a charity devoted to exploring food and flavour through the senses, and vice versa. Inspired by the SAPERE method of sensory food education – a conviction that taste education is good for health – Flavour School helps children (and adults) develop knowledge, skills, vocabulary and positive associations, to give them more confidence and curiosity to try new foods - fundamental building blocks for developing a healthy, happy relationship with food, and for self-motivated learning in general.
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