The inaugural PIL was a collaborative WIL initiative between the City of Lethbridge (CoL), the Prentice Institute (PI), and Lethbridge College (LC, now Lethbridge Polytechnic). The theme of the PIL was urban food insecurity and municipal land use policy. This four-week program allowed three undergraduate students from the University of Lethbridge (UofL) and three from LC to research and propose policy recommendations to the City.
In the summer of 2024, the Policy Innovation Lab (PIL) completed its first iteration. This was a collaborative WIL initiative between the City of Lethbridge (CoL), the Prentice Institute (PI), and Lethbridge College (LC, now Lethbridge Polytechnic). The theme of the PIL was urban food insecurity and municipal land use policy. This four-week program allowed three undergraduate students from the University of Lethbridge (UofL) and three from LC to research and propose policy recommendations to the City. Bruce Ascione, JD Gervais, and Amy-Lee Lateeph (LC), and Breanna Little Mustache, Bhawana Pradhan, and Brie Wilson (UofL) participated in a series of seminars and activities to build their understanding of food insecurity, policy, and urban planning.
Erica Gonzalez (Graduate Research Assistant at the Prentice Institute) assisted with planning, co-hosted the PIL activities with Perry Stein (Partner Services Manager, City of Lethbridge, and Prentice Institute Research Affiliate) in May, and led the work of the UofL students (as Summer Interns at the Prentice Institute) up to the completion of this project at the end of August. At the end of May, the students presented to City staff their recommendations to amend the Land-Use Bylaw (LUB) to support urban agriculture initiatives. In August, they delivered a technical report to the City entitled “Decoding Local Food Systems: Addressing Food Insecurity Through Lethbridge Alberta’s Land Use Bylaw” by Erica Gonzalez, Bhawana Pradhan, Breanna Little Mustache, Brie Wilson, Bruce Ascione, JD Gervais, and Amy-Lee Lateeph.
Students at Lethbridge Polytechnic research farm
Students discussing research direction
Students presenting their interim findings
Special recognition goes to the PIL organizational team: Perry Stein (CoL), Dr. Andrea Cuéllar (PI, UofL), and Kristen DeMone, Jaddon Park, Marda Schindele, and Dr. Michael Granzow (LC). The PIL was partly funded through a University of Lethbridge SSHRC Explore grant to Andrea Cuéllar and Perry Stein. Thanks to the many faculty, researchers and community experts who joined us from all over the world to share their knowledge on food security, policy and urban planning: Dr. Willemijn Appels (LC), Logan Bartholow (CoL), Dr. Alison Blay Palmer (Wilfred Laurier University), Jeff Coffman (UofL), Spencer Croil (CoL), Dr. Andrea Cuéllar (PI, UofL), Barbara Filion (Canadian Commission for UNESCO), Jessica Fox (LC), Dr. Michael Granzow (LC), Dr. Lars Hallstrom (PI, UofL), Dr. Kevin Jones (University of Alberta), Tamara Larter (self), Joshua Leith (LC), Kolk Farms (self), Ross Kilgour (CoL), Dr. Cheryl Martens (Universidad de San Fransisco Quito), Taylor Manns (PI), Danielle McIntyre (Lethbridge Interfaith Food Bank), Dr. Lucy Natarajan (University College London), David Schimpky (Canadian Commission for UNESCO), Kathleen Sheppard (Environment Lethbridge), Dr. Chandra Singh (LC), Sydney Whiting (PI) and Lowell Yellowhorn (LC).
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The Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy is located on traditional Blackfoot Confederacy territory. We honour the Blackfoot people and their traditional ways of knowing in caring for this land, as well as all Indigenous Peoples who have helped shape and continue to strengthen our community.