A Message for Our Stakeholders
March 28, 2018
The Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA) has been pleased to have received annual funding for a number of years from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to host the Nutrition Resource Centre (NRC) and support a range of provincial nutrition services. As this ministry funding ends on March 31, 2018, OPHA will be winding down existing ministry-funded activities and changing over to an exciting new model.
OPHA recognizes the unique nutrition expertise that has been provided by the NRC and its valued role as a hub for catalyzing nutrition and healthy eating into practice to support health intermediaries, educators, social service providers among others. We are proud of NRC’s numerous accomplishments over the last 19 years, serving as one of Ontario’s Health Promotion Resource Centres and supporting health intermediaries in their efforts to improve the health of Ontarians through healthy eating and nutrition programs and services.
Over the years, the role, focus and contributions of the NRC has evolved in response to developments on the provincial scene. Past NRC achievements have ranged from coordinating several province-wide healthy eating programs, including NutriSTEP, Eat Smart, Colour It Up and the Community Food Advisor Program, to providing thought-provoking webinars, forums, podcasts, resources, workshops and conferences on relevant and emerging food and nutrition topics. We are pleased that the NRC was called upon to provide support to MOHLTC as well as other ministries for the development of various nutrition guidelines, policies and legislation. Recent examples include: diabetes prevention programming in primary care, menu labelling, Student and First Nations Student Nutrition Program Guidelines, modernized public health standards, and the Healthy Kids Community Challenge. Through NRC’s various information-sharing tools, such as its daily News In Brief, Newsletter and free online Navigator, with evidence-based healthy eating and nutrition resources, the NRC has served as an innovative nutrition hub for Ontario’s health promoters and intermediaries.
Looking forward, we’re excited to build on these successes under a new funding model and would welcome hearing your ideas and views about the services you value and the role a new centre can play in advancing healthy eating and nutrition. We’re pursuing new funders, sponsors and other revenue sources to support our new model. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with your feedback and suggestions. Meanwhile, stay tuned as we finalize our plans and host an online forum to hear your feedback. We plan on continuing our daily News In Brief service, and will keep you informed should we anticipate any changes to this service.
The NRC has appreciated the support of our many stakeholders, especially those that shared their insights and expertise through our Advisory and Provincial Roundtable Committees, stakeholder surveys and evaluations. We’re also appreciative of the collaborations with other healthy eating partners, including Dietitians of Canada and Ontario Dietitians in Public Health, the Health Promotion Resource Centres, as well as many others.
Again, thank you for your past support and we look forward to continuing to work together to advance healthy eating and nutrition in Ontario.