Children’s Quarter is seeking to work with Member organisations to:
- recruit families to be part of a city-wide ‘Food Club’
- set up, develop and learn from small local food projects involving families with disabled and vulnerable children
- organise a series of monthly Community Lunches for families with children and young people that take part in Fit for All.
Community Lunches
Children’s Quarter can help to fund and organise community lunches hosted by groups involved in Fit for All. They are aimed at families of children and young people who take part or might take part in Fit for All. They must be free and open to families who are not involved with the host group as well as those that already are. They should involve young people and children and some opportunities for physical activities as well as healthy food. Community Lunches also have a brief to promote healthy and accessible food and cooking and, in this way, they form part of the new Fit for All ‘Food Club’.
If you are interested in hosting a community lunch between now and April 2023, please email Paul at CQ.
Food Club
We are offering amounts of between £250 to £750 to Member groups to help develop ideas and involve families in Food Club. We would also like Members to work with CQ to develop a network of families and groups that are involved and interested in this work in the form of a ‘Food Club’ for Birmingham and the West Midlands.
Why?
The cost of living crisis is disproportionately affecting families with disabled and vulnerable children. Food is something everyone needs and is often a particular issue for disabled children and their families.
More directly, the idea for Food Club has come out of our work with Members on Fit for All funded by the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme (which in Birmingham is called Bring it On Brum). This funds school holiday activities and food for children who get free school meals or who have SEND. CQ coordinates Fit for All which helps CQ Members to create holiday activities for children and young people. The HAF fund also aims to help parents/carers and families get more skilled and able to provide good quality meals. We want Food Club to be play a part in this.
What?
Food Club has a small amount of funding we can use to invest in, and learn from, work led by CQ Members that helps eligible families and children to gain skills and resources related to:
- Food growing
- Buying and sourcing food
- Cooking and processing food
- Understanding more about nutrition.
At £250-£750 per project, the money we have available is not enough to set up projects on its own, but could be used to invest in, existing or new work, for example:
- Work looking at feasibility or evaluation
- Meetings and events to involve families in Food Club or a local food project
- Buying a set of materials, tools or resources to enable a club or similar
- To enable fact-finding or a small piece of research.
We would like to support Members across a range of projects including: Food Co-operatives; Community Pantries; Places of Welcome; projects that could include children and young people including cookery clubs and food growing clubs; and initiatives that could be more explicitly geared toward the needs and interests of SEND children and young people and their families. These include support projects for SEND families and nutritional and food education. We would like everyone involved in any of these projects and the work that grows out of them to be part of the Food Club. And we’re also introducing existing local food projects to the network.
Who?
CQ is looking for partners who are also CQ Members and committed to cooperative working. We are particularly keen to support projects that involve more than one Member working together.
Partners would be responsible for managing and delivering projects, but CQ would remain involved and supportive, eg in supporting management and delivery as needed; in communications and bringing in expert partners including existing local food projects; and as fundraisers. We will be looking to raise further funding for this work.
Where?
We are looking for Food Club projects and membership across the West Midlands.
When?
Projects and events to develop and promote Food Club don’t need to start until December 2022. The deadline for Expressions of Interest is Monday 26 September.