Projects to date
The Moving Feast network has undertaken over 30 projects since March 2020, ranging from small, one-off projects to large, multi-year projects involving hundreds of people. Projects have been enabled by over $15M of funding from government, philanthropy and industry.
There has been very strong cross-pollination of people and projects, with many smaller projects leading to repeated collaboration and larger projects. See the list of projects.
Projects align with ‘Challenges’ with big goals for change. See Our approach for more information.
For more information about projects contact hello@movingfeast.net
Challenge 1: Open & optimised collaboration
System structuring, coordination & advocacy • The backbone coordination of the Moving Feast network, including strategy, research, M&E, stakeholder management, securing resources, reporting, project management, capacity-building, communication.
Research & Evaluation • Development of a shared measurement and evaluation framework for Moving Feast, along with ongoing progress tracking of system transition through the use of the Wicked Lab Tool for Systemic Change.
Learning & Development • Development of a suite of capacity-building resources and workshops for the Moving Feast network, including online and face-to-face training workshops and accompanying resources.
Communities of Practice • Development of three Communities of Practice for peer-to-peer sharing of knowledge in the areas of Measurement & Evaluation, WISE models of supported training and employment, Wellbeing and inclusive workplaces. Contact STREATwise to see if a Community of Practice would be valuable for you!
Development of STREATwise • A team within STREAT dedicated to enabling systems-level collaboration and providing a range of knowledge products and services to the Moving Feast network and other major projects.
Logistics and distribution service • A shared service for delivery of bulk fresh produce and care packages to community groups being supported by the food relief activities of Moving Feast. This project also created employment for former offenders.
Open Food Connect • Improving access to produce from over 300 Victorian farmers into social enterprise ‘purchasers’ through development of a ‘Clearing house’ and brokering services for wholesale purchasing to have shared visibility of available produce.
Open Road • Bringing together producers and food hubs to explore the common needs for logistics solutions of small-scale producers across Victoria.
Regenerative City Living Lab • Embedding Victoria Uni students into action research within Moving Feast projects like Open Sauce, and creating food-based engagement activities for students within their local community.
Challenge 2: Reimagining food futures
QVM Purpose Precinct • A place-based social enterprise precinct designed to grow the sector and create new shared business opportunities, create inclusive job pathways, circular innovation and opportunities to engage communities.
Epicurious • Developing the first food-based social enterprise food trails and experiences across Victoria with the aim of increasing the sector’s involvement in the visitor economy and regenerative tourism.
Moving Feast kitchen and pantry • Development of a shared preservation kitchen and retail pantry within the QVM Purpose Precinct, along with a shared preservation kitchen for incubating new food products for retail onsite.
Impact area: Connected food system
Impact area: Fair food system
Challenge 3: Clean & green food economies
Pandemic food relief • Production of culturally appropriate food boxes and ready-made meals for CALD communities during the pandemic crisis period in Melbourne (2020-2022), including tenants locked into public housing estates in inner Melbourne.
GROW Coordinator • Cultivating Community coordinating horticultural activities across the network and securing and managing inner city land to grow produce for the network’s pandemic food relief activities. Many of these gardens are still supplying produce for food relief across Melbourne.
Collingwood Children’s Farm Market Garden • Converting farm paddocks into a market garden to grow seasonal produce for pandemic food relief activities.
Connecting gardens and kitchens at Melbourne Farmers Markets • Onsite gardens to grow produce for food relief and completion of a commercial kitchen to cook relief meals and produce new products.
Cultural food relief and wellbeing for people seeking asylum • Free to Feed produced culturally appropriate produce boxes and ready-made meals and wellbeing checks for refugee and migrant groups.
Keeping InTouch • Kinfolk developing ready-made relief meals throughout the pandemic for women and children escaping domestic violence.
COVID-19 Melbourne Food Hub food security and food justice drive • Sustain growing food for people experiencing food insecurity in Darebin whilst creating training and vocational pathways for youth with learning needs via Bridge Darebin.
Grocer Gift • Increasing access to fresh produce for people experiencing food insecurity through a QR-based digital voucher platform.
Farmers for Moving Feast at Common Ground Project • Growing regenerative produce for food boxes and ready-made meals for vulnerable Victorians living in the Geelong region (G21), establishing a ‘Foster a Farmer’ training program.
First Nation’s Showcase Garden • Collingwood Children’s Farm and the Wurundjeri Narrap team developing a garden giving traditional owners land access for growing cultural foods and a place to educate the public about First Nations food systems.
Urban food infrastructure • Installation of new urban food gardens within public spaces including public housing estates and a university.
Connected Food Hubs • Connecting metro and regional food hubs within a state-wide network to generously share knowledge and resources and incubate new business opportunities.
Greening Cromwell Street • Drawing together local tenants and residents along Cromwell Street in Collingwood to create greener spaces and edible landscapes.
Challenge 4: Diverse & inclusive jobs
Thyme Out • Creating training and employment pathways into hospitality, horticulture and urban farming for young people exiting the justice system.
Green Jobs Pathways • Creating training and employment pathways in horticulture and urban farming across partner farms and gardens for young people aged 16 – 24 years who face a range of complex barriers to employment. The success of the pilot has now become an ongoing offering for young people as part of STREAT's Fast Track to Work program.
Integrated job pathways • Developing integrated pathways across social enterprises operating at the QVM Purpose Precinct, and a model for outcomes-based funding for scaling this work across Victoria.
Refugee employment pathways • Working in collaboration with cultural communities and re-settlement services, STREAT will create a host of supported workplace training and transitions into open employment for young refugees and asylum seekers.
Beyond the Police Check • An 18-month project working with over 200 people with lived experience of the justice system and their employers to build more effective employment pathways beyond the justice system.
Impact area: Regenerative food system
Challenge 5: Net zero food
Cloud Farm • Design and development of a rooftop farm on Collins Street as an early Melbourne demo of regenerative rooftop farming. When completed the farm will be a key location for training and employment pathways for young people.
Whole crop purchasing project • Developing a brokerage service to allow social enterprises to gain visibility of glut produce.
Open Sauce • Open innovation project to develop circular economy products from food social enterprise waste, a shared waste audit toolkit, joint retail opportunities incl. pantry, online sales, a hamper business, a shared shop, and education tools/resources.
Paper Trails • An open innovation project designed to create a suite of participatory workshops and circular retail paper products from the by-products of food and organic waste at the QVM Purpose Precinct.