Community Vitality 2025 - Type Diabeat It
Community Vitality 2025
Type Diabeat It
Boosting Capacity of the Kitchen Project for Food-Insecure Black Households
Grant: $300,000 Over 1 year
Project Summary: In 2022, Statistics Canada reported that 38% of Black households were food-insecure—twice the rate of white households and surpassing all other racialized communities. Alarmingly, 4 in 10 Black homes face food insecurity, and 46.6% of Black children live in food-insecure households. The Type Diabeat It Kitchen Project directly addresses these challenges by developing its 1.5-acre agricultural site.
Type Diabeat It is a grassroots organization tackling food insecurity and Type 2 Diabetes in London’s African, Caribbean, and Black communities. Their Kitchen Project continues the transformation of its 1.5-acre agricultural site into a facility for growing Afrocentric produce and delivering culturally relevant food literacy programming.
The initiative addresses a critical need. According to Statistics Canada, 38% of Black households in Canada are food-insecure, with nearly half of Black children living in food-insecure homes. These conditions significantly increase the risk of chronic illnesses like Type 2 Diabetes.
The $300,000 Community Vitality grant will fund the retrofitting of two shipping containers into a fully equipped teaching kitchen and pantry space, allow the in-ground well to finish being insulations, and launch a substantial portion of the projects programming.
The Type Diabeat It team outside one of the shipping containers to be retrofitted with the funding
The Kitchen Project is already making a measurable impact. Its current programming includes culturally relevant food box distributions for over 500 families, a 10-week Afro Heritage Food Literacy Curriculum for youth, monthly cooking sessions for seniors, and free fitness classes in partnership with the YMCA.
This has all been made possible thanks to funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Supporting Black Canadians Initiative, the City of London, and the Miggsie Fund – Lawson Foundation. The Community Vitality grant provides the funding for essential infrastructure enhancing Type Diabeat It’s ability to address physical health, cultural connection, resilience and community empowerment.
“Type Diabeat It has a proven track record of delivering impactful programs,” said Executive Director Mystery Furtado. “Partnerships with organizations like the London Food Bank, YMCA of Southwestern Ontario, and Thames Valley District School Board mean we are well-positioned to carry out this project. Our team has the expertise, community trust, and infrastructure to make a meaningful and sustainable impact.”
These partnerships mean the project is shaped by African, Caribbean, and Black people in the community, embodying the “nothing about us without us” spirit of the Community Vitality grants program.
Full list of 2025 Community Vitality grant recipients:
Alzheimer Society Southwest Partners: Dementia Support for Marginalized Communities ($232,400 over 3 years)
Forest City Film Festival: Vital Signs Program Support ($75,000 over 3 years)
Growing Chefs! Ontario: Learn to Grow, Grow to Give ($225,000 over 3 years)
John Howard Society of London & District, John Howard Society of Ontario, and Goodwill Industries: Fair Chances Employment Pipeline Project ($109,500 over 2 years)
Ontario Nature and Chippewas of the Thames First Nation: Cross-cultural Collaboration to Enhance Climate Resiliency ($170,000 over 3 years)
Progressive Animal Welfare Services: Enhancing Well-Being of London's Vulnerable Communities through PAWS ($60,000 over 3 years)
Southwest Middlesex Health Centre: Mental Health and Wellness Support for Indigenous Patients ($138,544 over 2 years)
STEAM Education Centre: Building Indigenous Equity in STEAM for the Jobs of Tomorrow ($225,000 over 3 years)
Type Diabeat It: Type Diabeat It Kitchen ($300,000 over 1 year)