Help shape the future of Campus Food Bank at University of Alberta

2024-25 Community Consultations

Since 2019, Campus Food Bank has managed a 600% rise in demand.

To meet this increase, the CFB’s budget has tripled and we have been using savings to purchase the food necessary to meet demand.

The situation is not sustainable.

We are now embarking on several months of community consultation to decide the future of CFB operations and programming.

Consultation Timeline

Community consultations will take place from November to February in two stages:

  1. Stage One (November and December): Consultations will focus on your experiences with campus food security and on collecting your ideas for a more food secure campus.

  2. Stage Two (early 2025): Consultations will focus on gleaning feedback about specific programming options for the CFB’s future evolution, which will be based on Stage One feedback.

Your input from Stage One and Two will be used to decide on program and organizational changes at CFB starting in May 2025. Some larger changes may take effect in September 2025 and beyond, depending on organizational capacity.

Can’t make it to a consultation? Have more to share? Take our survey!

We have an online survey running until December 20 to collect feedback from folks who can’t make it to a live session. The survey offers plenty of question prompts to support you in thinking through your feedback about campus food access, but you do not have to answer every question. We recommend focusing your time on answering the question prompts that really resonate with you or inspire you to share ideas for improving campus food access.

What to expect
when you attend

Community consultations will be offered both online and in person. You may choose to register for an open consultation and/or a consultation run specifically for a certain demographic. In collaboration with campus partners, we will be running specific consultations for certain groups at a higher risk of food insecurity, such as international students, graduate students, Black and Indigenous students, queer students, students with disabilities, students with families, etc.

Online sessions will take one hour and will include:

  • A short presentation on the CFB’s current situation.

  • Prompts for personal reflection.

  • Answering Mentimeter prompts.

  • Opportunities to discuss CFB feedback in small groups.

  • Opportunities to share feedback directly with CFB staff.

  • Accessibility: captions available, other access requests collected at registration.

In person sessions will take one and a half hours and will include:

  • Free food!! (Vegan, GF, and Halal options available.)

  • Everything listed above, plus opportunity for networking and discussion before and after the session.

  • Accessibility: gender-neutral washrooms, no-barrier entry to SUB, other access requests collected at registration.

Everyone is welcome, not just CFB clients!

Please feel free to register for as many sessions as you would like to attend.

Stage One Consultations

  • Partner Session: ISU

    Consultation hosted in partnership with Indigenous Students’ Union.

    December 10, 2024
    6 to 7:30 pm
    In person
    Dinner provided!

    Please register through ISU.

  • Partner Sessions: The Landing

    Consultation hosted in partnership with The Landing.

    December 12, 2024
    Noon to 1 pm
    Online

    Register Now

  • Open Session

    Open to anyone with an interest in improving food security on campus.

    December 13, 2024
    11:30 am to 1 pm
    In person
    SUB 2-725 (second floor, past the Health Centre)
    Lunch provided!

    Register Now

  • Partner Session: UABSA

    Consultation hosted in partnership with UofA Black Students’ Association.

    December 17, 2024
    5:30 to 7 pm
    Online

    Please register through UABSA.

  • More coming soon!

    We’re working on more consultations with key partners across campus. Sign up for alerts below.

FAQs

  • Yes! Our community consultations are open to everyone who has opinions to share about food access on campus. This applies to the live consultations and the asynchronous survey.

  • Consultations in November and December will be designed to get feedback on your experiences with food access in general. We’ll ask questions designed to identify gaps in food access on campus, and we’ll ask about some initial ideas we have for CFB transformation. Consultations in 2025 will be designed to get feedback on very specific options for evolving our programs in 2025 and beyond.

    If you have feedback specifically about current CFB operations (variety, requests, etc), please get in touch with CFB staff directly at info@campusfoodbank.com.

  • We are working on getting gift cards to thank participants, but can’t confirm quite yet. For those who attend an in-person session, we will provide complimentary lunch or dinner. Anyone who completes the asynchronous survey can enter a draw for grocery gift cards as well.

Still have questions? Email info@campusfoodbank.com.