Benjamin Mann’s Post

Hey All, I’m pleased to announce that I started a new role today as Strenthening Communities Manager, in the Public Health Team here in Essex. Thanks to the team for making me feel so at home today. I’m super excited to be working with such a talented and ambitious bunch. My passion for affordable food moves with me, and I’ll be working hard with you to develop the next phase of what we’ve started together, securing a long term future for affordable food in every community. #newjob #publichealth #strengtheningcommunities #affordablefood #communitysupermarkets #healthyweigt #goodfood #fruit #veg

This week, I visited the Limes Farm and Noah's Ark Community Pantries in Epping Forest. I was with our Deputy Leader, Cllr Louise McKinlay, and colleagues from Epping Forest District Council and Feeding Britain. Both pantries are part of a growing network of affordable food programmes in Essex. They are, in part, funded by Essex County Council, but run by local, community-based groups. Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill are, on paper, leafy and wealthy. But, many in the community face high living costs and food access issues due to their proximity to London. Both teams are passionate and tenacious. They deliver a range of low cost food, including fresh fruits and vegetables, frozen, chilled, and canned items. It's enough for anyone to make a meal for themselves or their families. Today, I visited the Brooklands Community Shop in Jaywick. It's growing, thanks to Louise, Alison, and their team. They've added a new coffee machine. Now, they can serve freshly brewed coffee. Visitors can sit and chat. Next, they plan to offer Barista training for locals. This will help them find jobs in cafes and coffee shops. It's amazing and exciting! 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝘂𝗻𝗮 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 Before I go, I want to share a real-time example that shows the cost of basic food items, and highlights the importance of the affordable food work. On my way to Jaywick I stopped at a well known wholesaler to pick up 24 tins of Tuna for the Community Shop. Tuna being a popular, affordable and accessible source of protein. In the car, I worked out that each tin had cost me £0.85p. That felt like a lot. So, I stopped at a local supermarket and bought a similar-sized tin of their own-brand tuna for £0.55p. Before arriving in Brooklands I stopped at the nearest convenience store to buy a tin of tuna for £1.29. Then, I compared prices. The convenience store charged 139% more than the supermarket own brand and 158% more than the Brooklands Community Shop, where a tin costs just £0.50. Clearly, the community shop offers better quality, lower prices, and saves travel time. I urge you all to do the 'Tinned Tuna Test' in your local areas and let me know the results. #Communityshop #Affordablefood #Tuna #Tinnedtunatest #CommunitySupermarket #Consumerchoice #Communitypantry

What do I want to talk about?...Thanks for asking LinkedIn. I'd like to talk about one example of the incredible work taking place across Essex to provide community based access to affordable food. Located in Greenstead, in the City of Colchester, the Colchester Community Supermarket is delivered by the fabulous team from The Divine Assembly Ministries, and has grown in scale significantly since launching in March of this year. With a membership of over 330 individuals, supporting over 700 adults and 500 children, all credit must go to to Elizabeth Alake-Akinyemi and her team, Marwa and Diane (whom I'm yet to meet, but have heard alot about). Between them and their community supporters, they run an incredible store with produce available across all categories of ambient, fresh and frozen alongside households essentials, passing a saving of on average 35% onto each shopper. What has impressed me most is the level of innovation, with the team already realising things I am only just thinking about. By portioning and freezing, fresh fruit and vegetables, turning vegetables into fresh soups, and dehydrating fruit to make bags of healthy snacks, the team are extending the range of produce available, as well as extending the life span of perishable items. With so much hidden waste potentially usable within the hospitality and food manufacture industries alone, this has to be the future of waste reduction and access to high quality, affordable food. If you know of anybody in the hospitality or food manufacturing sectors who would be up for a conversation with me about large scale re-processing, repackaging and blast freezing of left over food, please DM me. #Foodwaste #Wastereduction #Affordablefood #Colchestercommunitysupermarket #Healthyweight 😀

A Mobile Community Supermarket for Rural Uttlesford 🚛 Conversations in Uttlesford over the last six months have been really positive and there is a clear need to address food insecurity in the District over the coming years, supporting individuals and families from falling into financial crisis and enabling everybody who needs it, to access healthy, nutritious food and affordable household items.   Essex County Council and Uttlesford District Council are working together to develop a new proposal for the District that builds on the success of the Community Supermarket programme elsewhere in Essex.   Before we go into a grant application process, we’re really keen to find out who is interested in the opportunity, and to get an idea about how you might approach some of the unique features of working in a large rural district like Uttlesford.   If you would be interested in putting in an application for the £70,000 that will be available to support the set up and running of this community food programme, register your interest by following the link below. Give us a feel for how you might approach the opportunity and then simply press send 💻 .   https://lnkd.in/d2ncSU4f   You have until Friday 23rd August 2024 to respond.      

I am proud to say that you can now listen the Feeding Britain: Insights into eliminating hunger from the UK podcast, Episode 14: Community Supermarkets in Essex - A County Council Perspective. Recorded in conversation with Feeding Britain CEO Andrew Forsey, the podcast reflects on the breadth of work we have undertaken in Essex to develop the foundations of an Affordable Food Network. Thanks, as ever, to Cllr Louise McKinlay for participating in the podcast and joining me in sharing her personal and professional observations. https://lnkd.in/emnSBirh #podcast #feedingbritain #affordablefood #communitysupermarkets

Today’s Feeding Britain Parliamentary Event at the House of Lords was nothing short of inspiring. These events are an incredible celebration of the work taking place across the UK, to deliver regular, reliable access to affordable, nutritious food. Something so many of us take for granted. For those who are unable to afford or access regular food to support themselves and their families, the impacts of food insecurity are significant and damaging. Alongside colleagues from the University of Essex, Maz Serafina Aspillaga and I presented on the work we’ve been doing in Essex to facilitate the foundations of an affordable food network. We’re now at 8 community based affordable food hubs, with five more joining the network this year. Collectively they are providing access to food for over 3,000 members across the county. Thanks to Feeding Britain for the invitation to present the headlines from our recent evaluation, and thanks to Baroness Rosie Boycott for sponsoring the event. An amazing opportunity to share what we’re doing, to share our learning, learning and to share time with people who are passionate about the importance of this work. #affordablefood #communityfoodnetwork #communitysupermarkets #essexcountycouncil #feedingbritian

Today’s Feeding Britain Parliamentary Event at the House of Lords was nothing short of inspiring. These events are an incredible celebration of the work taking place across the UK, to deliver regular, reliable access or affordable, nutritious food. Something so many of us take for granted. For those unable to afford or access regular food to support themselves and their families, the impacts of food insecurity are significant and damaging. Alongside colleagues from the University of Essex, Maz Serafina Aspillaga and I presented on the work we’ve been doing in Essex to facilitate the foundations of an affordable food network. We’re now at 8 community based affordable food hubs, with five more joining the network this year, and collectively they are providing access to food, for over 3,000 shoppers across the county. Thanks to Feeding BritaIn for the invitation to present the headlines from our recent evaluation, and thanks to Baroness Rosie Boycott for sponsoring the event. It was an amazing opportunity to share what we’re doing, to share our learning and to share time with people who are passionate about the importance of this work. #affordablefood #communityfoodnetwork #communitysupermarkets #essexcountycouncil #feedingbritian

One of the highlights of leading the Essex Affordable Food Programme over the last two years, has been the opportunity to work alongside Andrew Forsey and the team at Feeding Britain. With a network of over 100 regional and local partnerships, supporting over 700 frontline organisations, they have such depth of experience, which aligned with their passion and diplomacy has greatly aided our work in Essex and taught me much about working alongside communities in this space. In recent weeks Feeding Britain have launched another incredible programme, built out of their regular check in's with regional partners. A direct result of listening and understanding what is needed the Feeding Britain Buddy Programme is seeking to strengthen connections and practice sharing across the Affordable Food Network, matching food clubs and Community Supermarkets with a peers elsewhere to discuss challenges, share great practice and learn from each other.   If you're involved in one of the Essex Community Supermarket programmes, or part of any Food Club or affordable food programmes, sign up today using the free membership link at Feedingbritain.org and register for the Buddy Programme. Based on a check in every six weeks or so, it's a unique opportunity to learn, to share, and to develop practice. https://lnkd.in/ezWqmsZX

Today is Bystander Awareness Day. If you can find time today...this week...or next week, check out the online this eLearning module and share it with your colleagues- https://lnkd.in/dv6qR4MK It's super important as many people as possible are informed.

If anybody wants to understand more about the devastating impact that food insecurity has on the lives of individuals and families, listen to yesterdays episode of the Radio 4 show 'The Food Programme'. https://lnkd.in/eczqcfPa The conditions around access to affordable food discussed in the episode focus on Norfolk but are mirrored across the Country. The incredible work of the **Nourishing Norfolk** network, with Billie Lawler at the helm, is a blueprint for day to day impact, whilst at the same time building a sustainable affordable food infrastructure. If anybody needs a business case for why an affordable food programme is critical to moving us beyond the crisis support of FoodBanks, please give it a listen. #Radio4 #Affordablefood #Communitysupermarket #Pantry #Nourishingnorfolk #Feedingbritain