Advancing Thriving Community Food Hubs : Piloting A Social Audit of the UBC Food Hub Market
Creators: name: Du, Deborah
name: Mangat, Manny
name: Tran, Kenward
name: Badran, Zeena
Publisher: name: The University of British Columbia
Year: 2023

description: The UBC Food Hub Market (FHM) is a non-profit community space that is part of the UBC Food Security Initiative (FSI) which falls under the UBC Wellbeing Strategic Framework. This space aims to provide at-cost groceries, which means that the groceries are sold to staff, students, and the overall community on campus at the exact price they were ordered. Providing at-cost groceries is just one goal of the FHM, to name some others, the FHM aims to provide a welcoming space, promote social connection and promote food security (Food at UBC Vancouver, 2023). Starting as a pilot project in early 2022, the FHM has gained a considerable amount of traction since it first opened, not only in the number of customers but also in volunteers as well. Therefore, some tremendous achievements have been made but there were some areas that needed improvement. Our project helped in finding what those improvements were and providing recommendations. This was done through conducting a social audit, which has a lot of different meanings depending on the purpose of an organization and its field. But in the context of our project, a social audit meant conducting in-person interviews “ to review to what extent a [company] has reached their goals” (CFI, 2023). The in-person interviews, which was our primary data, were held during an event held at the FHM, posters were made to inform people as they walked in, and those who participated were given a small incentive of a Blue Chip cookie or a granola bar. The customers are a big part of the FHM progression but so are the volunteers. In the past, focus groups and surveys were conducted surrounding the customers who shopped there but not the volunteers who helped run the space. Therefore, we implemented questions that focused on the volunteers to obtain their feedback as well, and we also compared data from previous surveys which was our secondary data. The types of questions asked were; if there was an improvement in their food security knowledge since shopping at the FHM, was a feeling of connection with the UBC community made and if they felt that the FHM was a welcoming space. We made sure that our questions were in line with the FHM goals. Promoting food security on campus is a challenge for sure and it is the first layer of the four that were created for this project to understand the working mechanisms of the FHM. First we have the campus where we are promoting food security, the second layer is the FHM which is part of the FSI, the third layer consists of the volunteers that help run the space and lastly there are the customers which are the reason why the FHM is being supported and running. This challenge is tough to overcome but it should also be seen as an opportunity for change. Change can happen simply through conversations that can spark understanding of the food system and ideas for what needs to be improved. Just like this project has done by conducting in-person interviews and hearing what people have to say. Through these interviews we found out what improvements the volunteers and customers wanted to see such as more culturally diverse foods, expanding the market and more advertising of the FHM. This is just the beginning for the promotion of food security on the UBC campus and hopefully through our project we are closer to achieving it. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”