Everything you need to know about FoodFit

FoodFit is a community-based health promotion program designed, managed and evaluated by Right To Food. The Waltons Trust has generously provided funding, specifically supporting FoodFit for older adults and Elders (individuals aged 55 and above). The funding will support our Community Food Organization partners in fostering social connections and improving the health of older adults and Elders in communities across the country. 

The FoodFit program has been delivered by partners from coast to coast to coast, who adapt program materials for their specific cultural and geographical context. Program participants generally enter the program with a desire to make some kind of lifestyle change to support their health. Over the course of the 12 week program participants learn nutrition and health basics, reflect on their beliefs and perspectives about what health means for them, practice new recipes/techniques and movement practices, and connect with a caring community of peers to support them on their journey.

Foodfit for older adults program will include: 

• An inclusive and equity-informed approach. We are committed to continue to explore health in a way that is grounded in body respect and fat acceptance, a nourishing relationship with food and movement,  adaptability based on cultural context/community, and a whole-health approach - making room for participants to explore how food, movement and connection support mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health - all while emphasizing relationships and belonging at the heart of the program.

• Online training and materials for Facilitators. Foodfit is hosted on an intuitive and easy to use virtual platform called HowSpace where our partners have access to all things FoodFit  (see below for a sneak peek!)

• Programming aspects that make it resonate for participants: reflection, connection, practice and learning. 

• Curriculum that focuses on:

  • Shifting from an exercise mindset to a movement mindset.

  • An emphasis on neutral information about nutrition - ensuring that participants understand the function that the food they are eating serves, with less emphasis on ideas of good/bad food. The curriculum is organized around the suggested nutrition topics:

    • Understanding Whole Health

    • A Balanced Plate

    • Mindful Eating and Diet Diversity

    • Proteins and Power

    • Energizing Ourselves with Carbohydrates

    • Phenomenal Fats

    • Sweet Treats

    • Shopping on a Budget/Nutritional Bang for Your Buck

    • Breakfasts and Snacks

    • Exploring Foods from Other Cultures

    • The Power of Eating Together

  • Integrating a more active reflective practice component into the program, with prompts to reflect individually as well as with partners and in the group.

  • Emphasizing relationship building and the joy of eating, cooking and moving together.

• Four on-demand virtual training modules in our Howspace Good Food Knowledge Library that are grounded in a popular education approach - meaning that as facilitators are engaging with the content, they are also learning from each other. These modules include:

  • Anti-Oppressive Facilitation

  • Enhancing Engagement and Participation in Programs

  • Customizing Program Content

  • Tips and Tricks for Engaging Participants in Evaluation

• Partnership with two anchor sites The Alex Community Food Centre and DIVERSECity Community Resource Centre), who will offer ongoing coaching and support to new partners facilitating FoodFit, as well as facilitate collective knowledge sharing swaps to support professional development opportunities for facilitators.

• The creation of a virtual community of practice for each FoodFit module, where facilitators can share tricks, tips, adaptations and other information to support each other.

FoodFit is not a weight loss program, nor does it solve the complex issues like poverty and food insecurity that many of our fellow community members deal with. The program is designed to consider whole health and to create a caring space for participants to identify what aspects of their health mean the most to them, and to facilitate an experience that supports them in moving towards these goals in the ways that they can.

How we understand health is also deeply tied to culture and identity. While FoodFit has been developed within the context of a Western worldview, we are committed to being curious about other ways of knowing and being and how the program can be reimagined in a variety of cultural contexts. Here are some exciting examples of how FoodFit has been adapted to reflect diverse worldviews:

• DIVERSECity (Surrey, B.C) has translated program content material into different languages (including Punjabi and Arabic) and changed recipes to reflect the different cultural needs for the many communities they work with.

• The Alex Community Food Centre (Calgary, AB) adapted content about nutrition to emphasize Indigenous foods and ways of eating. They were also able to take parts of the curriculum and repackage it to serve the Bangladeshi community in understanding how to care for themselves as they prepared to fast for Ramadan.

• Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre (Iqaluit, NU) integrated land-based movement practices like clam-digging into their FoodFit programming to better reflect the realities of living in the North.

We’re really excited with how these changes have landed within the FoodFit community, and are equally excited about collaborating with more of our partners to continue to strengthen this program. Most of all, we are excited to continue building a community of practice together - one where we are all learning from each other and exploring what it means to offer health promotion programming in ways that truly reflect the needs and desires of the diverse communities we work with, in deeply transformative ways.

“FoodFit is the gold standard for how we plan the rest of our programs. It has taught us so much about program development and how to consider planning from start to finish.”

Darrell Howard, The Alex CFC

Grant Overview

Right To Food has received a generous donation from The Waltons Trust to support our Community Food Organization partners in fostering social connections and improving the health of older adults and Elders in communities across the country. 

The grant aims to build connections, enhance well-being, and encourage leadership and volunteerism among this demographic group. For the purposes of this program, older adults are defined as individuals aged 55 and above. 

There is increasing evidence of a significant rise in loneliness and isolation among older adults, closely linked to poor nutrition. Together, these factors contribute to poorer mental and physical health outcomes in older adults, particularly those with lower incomes. By addressing these interconnected challenges, we can support a more holistic approach to improving their well-being.

This is the second cohort of grantees supported through FoodFit for Older Adults. In April 2025 we awarded 9 grantees. 

If your application is successful, we will select up to 9 grantees, each receiving $40,000, to cover the costs of  Foodfit programming over the course of a 2 year granting period.  Additionally, each selected grantee will be required to attend a FoodFit orientation session, walking them through the program deliverables and timelines. 

Organizations are able to spend the grant money to cover any program related cost - for example, facilitator salary,  food, supplies, and/or honoraria for guest facilitators.

Along with the grant, we are able to offer:

• A full 12 week Foodfit curriculum 

• A paid-for membership to Howspace, where the program curriculum and training is hosted.

• Four complimentary on-demand training modules for beginner/intermediate facilitators to explore their facilitation practice.

• Coaching and mentoring from experienced facilitators who hold subject matter expertise in Indigenizing program content, making program content culturally relevant, creating spaces of radical belonging, body respect and liberation, and much more.

• Access to an asynchronous virtual community of practice where facilitators can ask for tips from peers and offer support to each other as the program is being delivered.

• Knowledge swaps on Zoom to ask real-time questions of peers, as well as guest speakers who offer subject matter expertise about different topics.

We are seeking the following from the organizations we partner with:

1. Dedicated staff time sufficient to deliver the program.  We ask you to indicate whether you will be hiring new staff for the program or will free up the time of existing qualified staff, and how much time will be allocated to program delivery in either case.

2. Staff members who facilitate the program are open to participating in an evaluation process that will look at impact on participants, as well as a process evaluation that will support the ongoing refinement and growth of the program.

3. Facilitators are willing to use our intuitive and easy-to-use online training and social platform for orientation and on an ongoing basis - we promise it will be simple!

4. Facilitators can dedicate about 20-25 hrs over the course of a few weeks to reviewing training materials before facilitating FoodFit. This includes:

5. 
   

   • Self paced: 12-15 hours for four facilitator training modules. The modules are available on-demand and contain a mixture of activities in front of and away from the computer.

   • Self paced: 5-7 hours to review FoodFit specific content and review curriculum content. This will be in front of a computer.

   • Real time: 1–3 hours of calls with the FoodFit program manager, anchor site FoodFit facilitators, and grantee cohort to discuss any questions and meet your peers. This will be done on Zoom, with the option of phone calls for some of the meetings.

6. An existing commitment or willingness to explore a whole health perspective to food programming. We define whole health as looking beyond the biomedical model and approaching health as spiritual, mental, emotional and physical, & rooted in equity, belonging and community.

We will be holding an information session on Thursday, December 11 2025, to share more information and address any questions you may have about the grant. Register Here.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible, organizations must:

• Be a Community Food Centre, a member of Right To Food’s Good Food Organization program, or part of the Indigenous Network.

• Be a legal entity in Canada.

• Be a registered charitable or nonprofit organization, or have a registered trustee (required only if it is standard practice for your organization to have one in place to receive funding). Please refer to these FAQs for more information. 

• We provide funding to eligible unqualified donees as defined by Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)

• Recipients of the first round of funding through Food Agency for Older Adults and FoodFit For Older Adults 2025-2027 are NOT eligible to apply for this funding. However, all other past recipients of FoodFit Microgrants are eligible to apply.

Funds will be distributed in a single installment to cover a two-year period, with two reports required during that time.

Reporting Requirements

Successful applicants will be required to submit:

• An interim report after the first year of funding

• A final report at the end of the two-year term. 

Evaluation will focus on impact and story telling, resources and training, participant evaluation, community of practice, and overall feedback on how the FoodFit program is promoting change for older adults in combating social isolation and  improving health and well-being.

How To Apply 

• Please note: The online application form takes approximately 45mins - 1 hour to complete.

• There are three sections to this application process (referred to as ‘Tasks’), and all tasks must be completed. 

• We have also provided a PDF copy of the application form for your reference.

Timeline: 

Please complete this application by Tuesday, December 23, 2025

We will notify successful applicants by Tuesday January 20, 2026.

To apply, please click on "Apply" and complete the application form.

Technical support

In order to apply, you will need to have an organization profile set up. If you have an organization account already set up, you should be able to switch by clicking your name at the top left of the site and switching to your organization.

If you do not have an organization profile, you will need to set one up by following these steps:

• Click on your name in the top right of the top navigation bar and select My Account.
• On the Account Settings page, scroll down and click the button Set up Organization.
• Complete the required fields and click Continue.
• Ensure that your Organization name appears at the top left of the site (switch from your name to the Organization name if needed).
• Return to the Programs page and select the program you wish to apply for.

User Guides: Read the Quick Start Guide for a step-by-step outline on how to start and submit your application. See the SM Apply User guide for detailed technical support with screenshots to help you out.

We look forward to receiving and reviewing your application!