{"id":42583,"date":"2026-02-19T14:46:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T19:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/?post_type=cu_story&p=42583"},"modified":"2026-02-23T13:31:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T18:31:15","slug":"reimagining-the-minoweesini-grocery-program","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/story\/reimagining-the-minoweesini-grocery-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Reimagining the Mino\u2019Weesini Grocery Program as a Place for Connection and Sharing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n\n \n \n \n \n
\n\n
<\/div>\n \n
\n
\n\n

\n Reimagining the Mino\u2019Weesini Grocery Program as a Place for Connection and Sharing \n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Humans need calories to survive, but food is about so much more than sustenance. We break bread together to celebrate special occasions, show our loved ones we care, and just for the joy of it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Parkdale Food Centre wants its Mino\u2019Weesini Grocery Program to better reflect the central role that food plays in our lives. Located in the west end of downtown Ottawa, Mino\u2019Weesini fights food insecurity by distributing groceries to people who live in a catchment area that includes nearby neighbourhoods like Hintonburg and Mechanicsville. And it holds regular community meals where everyone is welcome.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Chiara Del Gaudio, Associate Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator, School of Industrial Design<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Parkdale Food Centre wants the program to be a pathway toward a healthier and more connected community. The question is how best to do that. And to find a way forward, they\u2019re working with ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´\u2019s Chiara Del Gaudio to co-design a new kind of grocery program. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n

 \u201cThis project started from the idea that food security is not an individual responsibility, but a collective one,\u201d says Del Gaudio, an Associate Professor of Industrial Design and the Director of the Urban Imaginaries Lab.   <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n
\"Whiteboard
Community engagement activity run by the Urban Imaginaries Lab at Taste of Wellington. The activity aimed to promote awareness of food security and spark interest in joining the project.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mino\u2019Weesini is an Algonquin term for \u2018good eats\u2019.  And the Co-Designing Mino Weesini project used participatory design principles to re-imagine what the program could be, and how best it could be aligned with the needs of the members of the community. Between September 2024 and June 2025, Del Gaudio and a team of graduate students:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Collected community members\u2019 reflections on food justice  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Held a community town hall  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Staged participatory design workshops with community members to collectively better understand community members\u2019 needs, desires, ideas and generate visions for the future <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        • Hosted an indoor picnic with neighbours <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
            \n
          • Conducted individual information collection sessions to understand community members feelings about the program <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
              \n
            • Organized an exhibit with the emerging visions. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n
              \n
              \n

              \u201cMany of the things people said they want go beyond food,\u201d says Del Gaudio. \u201cThey brought forward concerns and needs about things that are not currently addressed by Parkdale Food Centre, such as providing resources to help them contribute to their community and mental health care. We heard about dignity a lot, and there was an understanding of food as pleasure\u2014something to be enjoyed together.\u201d  <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

              \n
              \"Community
              First co-design workshop of the project, focused on mapping local food resources.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

              Based on the community consultations, Del Gaudio brought together four visions of what community members want the future of the program to look like: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                \n
              • A community gathering space where people can come for coffee and build connections with other community members. In this vision for the future, Mino\u2019Weesini becomes a platform for ideas and a hub for community activity.  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                  \n
                • A space for sharing knowledge, with libraries where people can access books and workshops where people can learn new skills. This vision encourages to contribute their own time, skills and extra items to the community. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                    \n
                  • A hub for good health that stages wellness workshops and connects people with the health care services that they need. In this vision, Mino\u2019Weesini could teach people about nutrition, and host activities that help people lead an active lifestyle. It would also support users\u2019 mental health by hosting weekly therapy animal sessions, and providing a dedicated rest space where people could pause, reflect and reconnect. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                      \n
                    • A space for innovating, exploring and sharing ideas. In this vision, Mino\u2019Weesini would be equipped with tools for learning, such as laptops, whiteboards and books. It would facilitate community-led workshops on matters of collective interest. And it would be a hub for innovation, where people are encouraged to design community-based solutions, and implement them to have a real-world impact. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n
                      \n
                      \n

                      \u201cWorking with members of the community showed me firsthand many great ideas are floating around and how excited community members are to work together and make them happen,\u201d says Keeva Szeto, a Master of Design student who worked as a research assistant on the project.  \u201cIt helped me better understand that a designer is not just there to provide a solution, but to listen to the needs and desires of the community members, and to build connections and uncover pathways between what is already there and what community members hope to see in the future.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

                      \"Members
                      Final interactive exhibit showcasing the work completed up to that point, including the process, the visions generated, and the values identified by the community and guiding the project.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

                      The Parkdale Food Centre will choose its own path forward, and it could choose to build on some elements of each of these visions. But whatever path it chooses will be guided by core values that include care, community, collaboration, inclusion, learning, sustainability, sharing, self-expression and pleasure from food. <\/p>\n\n\n

                      \n
                      \n

                      \u201cThey are visions of what they would like from Mino\u2019Weesini\u2014what they care about,\u201d says Del Gaudio. \u201cWhat people care about goes beyond food. They want to find ways for connection, sharing, and contributing to the community. The Parkdale Food Centre can be a platform to do these things.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                      Humans need calories to survive, but food is about so much more than sustenance. We break bread together to celebrate special occasions, show our loved ones we care, and just for the joy of it.   The Parkdale Food Centre wants its Mino\u2019Weesini Grocery Program to better reflect the central role that food plays in our lives. Located in the west end of downtown Ottawa, Mino\u2019Weesini fights food insecurity by distributing groceries to people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":42585,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[237,193,198,328],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-42583","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-faculty","cu_story_type-feature-stories","cu_story_type-industrial-design","cu_story_type-women-in-engineering"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/42583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/42583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42626,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/42583\/revisions\/42626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=42583"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=42583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}