- Stories from the Ground
A Youth Food Leaders Program Update and Heartfelt Thanks to Our Participants and Supporters
Growing Youth Leadership Through Food
This year, the Youth Food Leaders (YFL) program has grown in exciting and meaningful ways—thanks to the generous support of the Medavie Foundation, Feed Nova Scotia, and the TELUS Atlantic Canada Community Board. Their support has enabled new program cohorts and fostered strong, values-aligned partnerships across Nova Scotia. Together, we’re creating spaces where youth can connect, learn, and lead through food.
Four Partnerships, Four Unique Journeys
St. Andrews Community Centre – Halifax (Fall 2024)
Focus: In the heart of Halifax’s West End, the St. Andrews Community Centre buzzes with energy and possibility. In the fall of 2024, it became home to a new Youth Food Leaders cohort, designed specifically with and for 13–15-year-olds from the community – a group often overlooked by existing programming and facing real barriers to food access and literacy.
Approach: A youth-led design session kicked off the program in which youth highlighted their hopes, interests, and ideas for the program: a focus on building foundational cooking skills, agency and independence in the kitchen, as well as opportunities for some fun and friendly competition!
Impact: As the weeks progressed, we saw transformation. The cohort fostered a supportive food culture, where trying new foods and encouraging one another became the norm. By the final workshop, many youth were cooking with ease — one proudly shared, “I liked how we had independence”.
Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre & Native Council of Nova Scotia – Halifax Region (Winter–Fall 2025)
Focus: In November 2024, we began a powerful journey with the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre and the Native Council of Nova Scotia to co-create a Youth Food Leaders program with and for urban Indigenous youth, rooted in Mi’kmaq culture, traditional practices, and community connection.
Approach: Based in youth-led design, workshops have ranged from land-based learning — like eeling near Antigonish and maple tapping in HRM — to hands-on kitchen sessions focused on food safety and skill-building, including an introduction to canning and a meal prep and budgeting workshop. Facilitated by our Indigenous Food Coordinator and Youth and Community Food Coordinator, MNFC and NCNS staff, and guest hosts including elders and knowledge keepers, the program has become a space of reconnection and celebration.
Impact: Over the last ten months, we have witnessed youth stepping into leadership, supporting each other, and taking ownership of their learning. Their confidence has visibly grown, and the kitchen and program space has become a place of pride, creativity, cultural affirmation, and peer bonding. During a workshop focused on the creation of a youth-led recipe book, a participant chose to express their experience through a graphic filled with words like “Reconnection, Community, Care, Joy, Teachings, Laughter, Friendship, Compassion, Youth.” These aren’t just words — they are reflections of what the program had become.
Membertou Youth Centre – Membertou First Nation, Unama’ki (Summer-Fall 2025)
Focus: In the spring of 2025, our journey took us to Unama’ki, where we partnered with the Membertou Youth Centre, the Island Food Network, and Feed Nova Scotia to bring Youth Food Leaders to Membertou youth aged 10–14.
Approach: With our Indigenous Food Coordinator based near Sydney, we have been working closely with the youth, the Membertou Youth Centre, and community partners to design a program that reflects their values and aspirations. So far, youth have taken on hands-on workshops exploring jam-making, beekeeping, lobster cooking, and baking, as well as joined a pop-up picnic with the Sydney Library and Youth Project.
Impact: This program, spanning from July-November, has visibly brought youth closer together, grown their confidence, and created opportunities for exposure and exploration of cultural knowledge, new foods, practical skills, all contributing actively to Membertou’s food story.
YMCA of Southwest Nova Scotia – Bridgewater, South Shore (Fall 2025)
Focus: As Youth Food Leaders continues to grow, so does our commitment to building long-term capacity across the province. This summer, we reconnected with the YMCA of Southwest Nova Scotia to pilot a new delivery model from September-December — one where partners lead on the ground, and Nourish provides tools, mentorship, training, and funding.
Approach: Nourish spent the spring and summer of 2025 developing professional development materials to support this model, ensuring that partners are equipped to run YFL programs in their own communities. In September, the YMCA launched a new cohort, starting with youth-led design sessions and their youth dove in with enthusiasm — designing workshop topics and activities, imagining recipes, and shaping the program from the ground up.
Impact: While we are just at the start of this new partnership, we are already hearing from the youth and their families that they “are having a blast” and we are learning ways to adapt this model to better meet the needs of the youth and our partner. This “train the trainer” approach is helping us test scalable ways to support partners remotely while maintaining the heart of YFL: youth-led, food-centered, community-rooted programming. It’s an exciting step toward expanding our reach and deepening our impact across Nova Scotia.
Looking Ahead
These partnerships reflect the heart of Youth Food Leaders: fostering youth engagement through mentorship, leadership development, food literacy education, and community connection. Through this program, we’ve been able to meet youth where they are—in kitchens, on the land, and in community spaces—and co-create programs that nourish skills, confidence, and connection.
We’re grateful to our supporters—including the Medavie Foundation, Feed Nova Scotia, and the TELUS Atlantic Canada Community Board—for believing in the power of youth and food. Together, we are building a movement: one meal, one workshop, one young leader at a time.
