Item - 2026.EX29.1

The Executive Committee recommends that:

1. City Council receive the letter (February 24, 2026) from Mayor Olivia Chow for information.

The Acting Director, Transformation, City Manager's Office gave a presentation on Toronto Wins Bloomberg Philanthropies 2025 - 2026 Mayors Challenge.

I am proud to share that Toronto has been awarded the Bloomberg Philanthropies 2025-2026 Mayors Challenge prize in recognition of our ambitious vision for Toronto’s school food program. We are one of just 24 winners selected out of 630 participating cities worldwide. The City will receive $1.4 million as we work with community partners to expand bulk purchasing of food, lowering food costs while supporting local jobs and Canadian farmers. The prize is an investment in our vision, and it comes with two years of expert support and dedicated funding for staff to help bring this vision to life.

The Bloomberg Prize comes on the heels of my 2026 budget, which made critical investments to reduce the cost of living, including a $7 million boost to expand school food programs to an additional 155 schools and 62,000 students this year. The City’s support for morning meal programs provides immediate relief on grocery bills, delivering almost $900 in savings for families with two kids. Since the beginning of my term, the City has boosted investment in school food programs by more than 80 per cent. We are on track to provide meals to every one of the 330,000 public school students in the City this year.

Attached is an overview of the bulk purchasing program that will be supported by the Bloomberg Prize. This is a system-level shift — work that will reshape the food economy in our City. Bulk purchasing and coordinating logistics can drive down our food costs by more than 10 percent. We hope to use the City’s vast purchasing power, together with community partners, to source more food locally, at low cost, supporting local jobs – not mega chains or US-based food suppliers.