STATUS: ACTIVE

SOCIAL: @concordiafoodcoalition

WEBSITE:

https://www.concordiafoodcoalition.com/

ADDRESS: PR Annex, 2100 Mackay, Montreal

ABOUT THE PROGRAM:

The CFC brings together students, faculty, staff, and community members to co-create campus-community food sovereignty. Through education, incubation, and innovation, we collaborate to build sustainable, accessible and democratic local food systems.

We connect student groups, students, faculty, and staff around food issues. We cultivate spaces where passion can drive a creative exchange between these parties. We’re building coalitions to build solutions.

We fund and guide alternatives to current food options. We nurture student-run food initiatives locally and encourage decision-making at the community level. All the while, we’re making sure students stay nourished—connecting them to the ever-growing alternative food system that we’re building.

We conduct research on food system innovation at a local and national level. We engage in specific research on behalf of local food justice organizations. All of these learnings inform our program development + we share them as educational initiatives for students.

TIMELINE

Foundational Years (2012–2014)

• 2012: The CFC emerged from the collective energy of the student strikes, focusing on challenging corporate food monopolies on campus.
• 2013: This formative year saw the release of the first research reports on the campus food system and the launch of the first “Bite Me!” Orientation week,. The Food Advisory Working Group (FAWG) was created, providing the CFC and CSU with a platform to negotiate against campus food monopolies,.
• 2014: The CFC officially incorporated as a non-profit and received its first fee-levy. This year also marked the launch of its first major working group, the Hive Café, and the initiation of the first Request for Proposal (RFP) campaign to replace corporate providers,.

Growth and Expansion (2015–2019)

• 2015: The Concordia Farmers’ Market (CFM) was established as a core project to provide students with fresh, local, and whole foods,.
• 2017: The CFC took over the management of Mother Hubbard’s Kitchen, which became a central working group providing weekly vegan meals until the pandemic,.
• 2017: The organization successfully campaigned for a fee-levy increase, allowing for expanded programming and support for the student-run food economy,.

Pandemic Pivot and Strategic Reorientation (2020–2022)

• 2020: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, working group operations were halted. The CFC shifted its focus to research and launched the Emergency Food Basket campaign to address student food insecurity,.
• 2021: The CFC focused on internal development, creating new Strategic Directions. The New Food Enterprise (NFE) was conceptualized as a collaborative project with the CSU, SEIZE, and the Hive to create a community-based food business model to eventually replace Aramark,.
• 2022: A major research study, Building Food Sovereign Campuses, was published by Dr. Erik Chevrier, documenting the history and system maps of Concordia’s food groups,.

Advocacy Era

• 2024: The CFC launched the first Faculty & Food Group Meet and Greets to bridge academia and activism.
• 2025: The organization maintained a robust schedule of community events, including the Loyola Food Fair, FungiFest, and co-hosted the DevOur conference. The CFC successfully increased its fee levy this year.