ONE YEAR AFTER LAUNCH OF SOCIAL IMPACT STUDY, BREAKFAST CLUB OF CANADA SHARES FIRST FINDINGS

Results focus on Club’s priorities of advancing child and youth food nutrition and building communities capacity to help

Montreal, November 27, 2020 — For 26 years, Breakfast Club of Canada has been working hard to allow all children and youth to develop to their full potential. To better assess the direct impacts and objectives of the Club’s approach for breakfast program success, the Club launched a three-year social impact study. During the first year, the Club created the framework to identify and evaluate two main objectives that ensure the greatest impact: The advancement of the cause for mitigating food insecurity, and the reinforcement of communities’ capabilities to help.

“Over the years, the Club’s strategies were developed organically, evolving with our learnings and experiences,” says Judith Barry, Co-Founder and Director of Impacts and Sustainable Solutions at Breakfast Club of Canada. “Our contribution to breakfast programs is supporting school communities in their efforts, but because the needs are greater than ever, we wanted to magnify the impacts of our actions to give even more Canadian children a nutritious breakfast every morning. The national consultation that has been carried out in the past months helped us identify the key elements of success, the ones that most benefit children and our stakeholders.”

The data collected during interviews in the first phase of the study shows that the following aspects are most important to the Club’s school nutrition collaborators:

• The Club has the potential to play a crucial role in the national advancement of the cause by working closely with communities across the country.
• The Club has the potential to carry its stakeholders’ voices and realities to ensure all implicated partners adapt their support to local community needs.
• The Club’s collaborators have reported their greater need for resources and agility to help them amplify the reach and potential of their nutrition program.

These first key-learnings will be verified in the coming months through consultations with the Club’s stakeholders to measure how the organization’s support models meet the needs and expectations of the communities.

“Beyond supporting our schools and community partners feeding children every morning, we want to ensure that our contribution really answers the need,” emphasizes Marie-Josée Lapratte, co-director of programs at Breakfast Club of Canada. “By better understanding our place in the ecosystem, we want to reinforce the strengths of our local approach to increase the national impact of breakfast programs.”

On November 27, 2019, Breakfast Club of Canada announced the launch of this first impact study, generously funded through belairdirect’s partnership with the Club and conducted by CREDO, to better assess the direct results, see beyond the benefits of breakfast and allow the Club to adjust its approach to focus efforts where they can add value. With this information, the Club will capitalize on its strengths to maximize its impacts and, if necessary, refocus actions to create the most value for the Club’s network. The next steps in the impact evaluation will allow the Club to understand how the current approach serves the cause of child food insecurity and allow the organization to move closer to its ultimate goal of ensuring all Canadian children have access to a nutritious breakfast every morning.

About Breakfast Club of Canada

Accredited by Imagine Canada for its effective governance, the Club provides much more than breakfast: its approach is based on commitment, self-esteem and capacity development using an optimal formula adapted to local needs. Breakfast Club of Canada helps feed more than 257,000 children and youth in 1,887 schools across the country. To learn more, visit breakfastclubcanada.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

-30-

For more information or to schedule interviews with a Breakfast Club of Canada spokesperson, please contact:

Tatianna Ducklow |587-897-7430 | tducklow@argylepr.com