Food First NL is a provincial non-profit organization with a growing network of organizations and individuals actively engaged in improving food security across Newfoundland. Food First NL’s mission is to promote comprehensive, community-based solutions to ensure physical and economic access to adequate and healthy food for all. Food First NL works with over 300 partners to run a wide range of innovative, community-driven programs to advance food security across the province.

In 2015, Food First NL partnered with the NL Public Health Association to develop and lead a provincial dialogue on food security called ‘Everybody Eats’, intended to inform the development of a roadmap for the future of food security in the province. To address ‘silos’, limited communication and duplication of efforts among food security-focused organizations, the Centre began supporting Food First NL to implement and test a Collective Impact approach to advance food security in 2017. The initiative will provide knowledge on effective strategies for deep collaboration and mutually reinforcing activities, facilitate alignments across multiple organizations and demonstrate potential for greater impact on food security through a collective approach. Additionally, the development of a comprehensive shared measurement evaluation plan will monitor progress on food security broadly.