The Ottawa Public Library was chosen as one of 10 Ontario libraries to receive a grant from the provincial government that will go towards funding food literacy programs within the city. Over the next two years the library will accept $186,890 to go towards these programs aimed at providing information about healthy eating for the Ottawa public.
The grant comes from the Ontario Libraries Capacity Fund – a $10-million investment over three years that was announced in the 2014 – provincial budget. It will expand the role libraries play within their communities.
On Jan. 29, the Nepean Centrepointe Public Library branch held an event to celebrate the announcement.
Bob Chiarelli, MPP for Ottawa West-Nepean, hailed libraries for bringing communities together and highlighted the importance of food literacy today.
“The Ottawa Public Library is an integral part of the fabric of our community,” says Chiarelli, a former Ottawa mayor and regional chair. “With support from the provincial government for this project, the library will be able to deliver even more benefits and continue to enrich people’s lives in our region.”
The Ottawa Public Library serves more than 943,000 people in the city and surrounding area, and has a total of 33 branches within this vicinity.
The different libraries that received the funding each have their own unique program. The name given to Ottawa’s funded project is A La Carte and contains four specific areas of focus: community outreach, programming, creation of a mobile app and a community garden.
Community outreach pertains to any events that take place outside of the library, while programming is something the libraries would host within their own spaces. The mobile app is supposed to bring together library and community resources to create a healthy living/eating guide for Ottawans, while the project aims at implementing a community garden at one of the library sites.
Chiarelli says the project will be based out of all the Ottawa Public Libraries. It will focus on a range of areas, including education, technology, community engagement, training and development and social services. According to the MPP, it will serve communities such as newcomers, people experiencing homelessness or poverty, and youth or at-risk populations.
Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Teirney, chair of the Ottawa Public Library Board, says he’s looking forward to watching the project develop and is most excited about the mobile app that will be launched. With the app, people will be able to pull up healthy options wherever they are so they know there are alternatives to their meal choices.
“Everyone has a mobile phone these days . . . if people could access that information quickly, and get that bit of education on their phones, that’s a good thing,” says Teirney.
As part of the project, the OPL is partnering with Ottawa Public Health, Just Food Ottawa and the Ottawa Writer’s Festival. The partnerships are aimed at showcasing the important role libraries play within communities, particularly when it comes to food literacy. The OWF will be looking at bringing a food writer or chef in to talk to the community, as well as helping plan discussions and readings with writers and activists about food health and security.
Stittsville-Kanata Coun. Shad Qadri, chair of Ottawa Public Health Board, says the organization is excited about the partnership and endorsing not only nutritious eating but also a well-balanced lifestyle.
“Our partnership is basically to promote healthy eating as well as healthy living,” he says. “I think the more you can tell — especially young people — how to cook their own food rather than using some of the fast quick foods, that may not be as healthy, the better.”