17 – hua foundation Race + Food Public Event Series

 

 

 

 

 

Project Title

Food & Race 3: Straws and Stories

Organization Name

hua foundation

Keywords

Waste reduction, single use items, plastic straws, cultural competency, policy analysis, accessibility

Organization Information

Organization Name

hua foundation

Mission and Vision of Organization

Our Mission

  • Our mission is to empower youth in the Asian diaspora to fully participate in advancing social change through exploring our racialized identities and building resilience in communities.

Our Vision

  • Our vision is an inclusive reality in which young people are empowered to connect, lead, and grow into their best selves through an intersectional, anti-racism approach to social change work.

Guiding Principles + Values

Our Intersectional Approach:

  1. Valuing culture Acknowledging the legacy of racism and discrimination endured by racialized people, including people from the Asian diaspora, much of our work is guided by the desire to dignify the lived experiences of racialized people by building pride and meaningful connections to our ancestral cultures, our cultural practices, and our cultural communities. The stuff of our heart is hard to quantify, of course, so much of this work lies in shedding light on that which feels intangible, but shapes our everyday lives.
  2. Preserving heritage We wish to honour and share the history of struggle, resistance, and resilience that lies at the root of our experiences as diasporic Asians and that defines Vancouver’s Chinatown, where hua foundation is headquartered. We do this while focusing our work on empowering youth and fostering intergenerational, intercultural exchange.
  3. Promoting socio-environmental sustainability We enact social change through a socio-environmental lens, an approach that works from the perspective that advancing environmental justice will build a more equitable, sustainable reality for all.
  4. Tackling systems change By applying our research and engagement design, we provide policy analysis and recommendations that address the root causes of social, environmental, and cultural issues.

Values:

  • Courage
  • Health
  • Sustainable planet
  • Collaboration
  • Innovation
  • Inclusivity
  • Integrity
  • Honesty
  • Playfulness
  • Humility
  • Compassion
  • Creativity

Contact Information

  • Primary Contact Person(s): Kevin Huang
  • Email: kevin@huafoundation.org
  • Address: 188 East Pender Street, Vancouver. V6A1T3
  • Phone: 604-868-2001
  • Website: Huafoundation.org
  • Best time(s) method(s) to contact: Email

Project Information

Project Description

As a part of hua foundation’s ongoing work to create culturally specific and relevant spaces in the food movement, we launched our new race equity portfolio in 2018. This new initiative consists of several elements that contribute toward systemic changes through policy, community development, and public discourse, to workshops that address power and privilege.

For this project with LFS350, students will be involved in our "Race and Food" public event series. These events are designed to highlight and centre identity, race, and culture through the lens of food.

In March, we will be hold our third event to highlight how City policies often fail to recognize the nuanced needs of ethnocultural communities and thus disproportionately impacts these communities. While details are to be finalized, there will be discussion on Vancouver’s “cultural blindness” explored through food policy, Greenest City strategy, and other City agendas. One specific example is how the upcoming plastic straw ban will impact bubbletea – both as a drink and potentially as a social space for community members. We hope that this event will create further discussion and actions on how to become more inclusive as a city.

Project Goal

The goal of our “Race and Food” event series is to advance public discourse and understanding of identity, race, and culture through the lens of food. The event – third in the series – will focus on municipal policies. Students will help with the planning, execution, and evaluation of the event. Namely, there will be roles around promotion and documentation of the event.

Project scope includes:

  • Event planning
  • Supporting with marketing & communications
  • Facilitating discussions and summarizing findings

Student Assets and Skills (preferred or required)

  • Project management
  • Branding and marketing, including social media, design,
  • Digital media: photography, videography
  • Cultural competency, intercultural understanding
  • Facilitation and interview skills
  • Lived experiences in ethnocultural food spaces, especially Chinese restaurants, bubbletea cafes/culture

Student Assets and Skills (to be developed)

  • Cultural competency, intercultural understanding
  • Policy analysis, through cultural lens

Criminal record check required?

  • Not required

Project Location

The majority of the work will be done remotely, with occasional meetings at our downtown Vancouver office (Granville and Pender). Students will also have the opportunity to visit a school breakfast program at the beginning of the term.

Preferred Days of Week and Hours

Monday-Friday between 10-6pm. Weekends possible.

Exact timing of day and hours will depend on project needs.

Project/Partner Orientation Materials

Related Community Service Opportunities for Students

TBD

Expected Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

I hope students will learn about

  • Cultural competency
  • Diversity beyond tokenization
  • Inclusion through an equity framework
  • Policy making

I think students will come to appreciate

  • How their experiences are valid and that there are people with similar shared experience
  • Through this project, students will develop

The ability to critically challenge policy and other systems. A recognition of how power and privilege plays out in our City.

Organizational Outcomes

  • Advance public discourse on Vancouver’s “cultural blindness”
  • Highlight for audiences how to participate in civic processes
  • Engage new audiences / increase civic participation

More broadly, this project advances our organization’s goals by

  • Creating and holding space where we can we can share discourse about identity, race, and culture
  • Advancing intersections of heritage and social change
  • Increasing civic participation
source: https://wiki.ubc.ca/Course:LFS350/Projects/W2019/HuaFoundation