Covid-19 ResPONSE

As the short and long term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to emerge and evolve, disrupting our daily lives and challenging us to think and act differently, the Food Systems Leadership Network is offering multiple ways for members to connect with peers and experts to ask questions, exchange ideas and resources, and work together to create more equitable and resilient food systems.

Lean into this network as a resource and a source of inspiration to help you make sense out of chaos, find patterns and connections, and discover opportunities for collaborations and partnerships. See below for images of organizations in COVID response from across the country.

The Chicago Botanic Garden’s Windy City Harvest VeggieRx program hustled to provide contactless delivery/pick-up of over 5000 bags between March and October!
The Chicago Botanic Garden’s Farm on Ogden retail space re-opened quickly after initial quarantines with new safety measures in place to ensure that community residents impacted by historical and systematic disinvestment in their neighborhoods could still access fresh, affordable, locally grown produce.
Families served by The Dream Center in Los Angeles receive free boxes of surplus fruits and vegetables, distributed by Food Forward. Credit: The Dream Center
Food Forward's Agency Relations team pose with pallets of recovered wholesale fruits and vegetables, on their way to hunger relief agencies in Southern California. Credit: Food Forward
Newly formed Seven Valleys Food Rescue partnered with United Way and Main Street Farms in Cortland, New York to rescue and distribute over 700 pounds of greens to local food pantries in March 2020. Photo Credit: Seven Valleys Health Coalition.
Sustainable Food Center’s Neighborhood Pop-Up Grocery Project purchased food from farmers and food hubs and donated it to local, neighborhood restaurants who sold the groceries at low cost. (Austin, Texas)
Since early April, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation has supported our community by pivoting a CSA program and leveraging grants to distribute nearly 5000 meals by local chefs and local produce free of charge to Central Brooklyn residents who have been impacted by the pandemic.
Organic Seed Alliance's Jared Zystro harvests sweet corn for the Food for the People Food Bank in Eureka, CA
We are working from home, masking when we're there, limiting visitors, and staying away if we don't have to be there. I had an order coming in on Saturday and took this pic while I was working alone, my laptop propped on a pallet of bell peppers. Six months into the pandemic, long hair, mask, and no one else in the warehouse. -Steve Young-Burns, The Good Acre
Two farms partnered with a brewery in town to host a small, socially distant, outdoor pop-up to get CSA members their pickups that usually would have happened at an in-person market in early spring. Pictured is Mighty Soil Farm and a customers. Credit: Upper Peninsula Food Exchange

The FSLN COVID Response Listserv

This national listserv is focused specifically on identifying, amplifying, and replicating the solutions, innovations, and collaborations that are emerging in response to COVID-19. Since launching in March, the listserv has become a dynamic venue for exploring and acting on our best ideas for driving resilience and equity in our communities, and is serving as a platform for organizing around needed resources, policy shifts, collaborations, or other actions. This listserv is the FSLN’s primary channel for COVID-specific communications.

In response to questions, discussions, and themes that have emerged through the listserv, the FSLN partnered with individuals with topical expertise to deliver relevant and timely calls that addressed emerging concerns and issues and offered space for folks to exchange resources and explore opportunities. Access past calls and resources below.
During the early stages of the pandemic, the FSLN team did a bi-weekly distillation of the insights, innovations and needs that came up in discussions into brief reports that we shared back to the group, with funders, and with partners at the USDA.

We hope you’ll join this listserv to share ideas, build solidarity, and further tap into the knowledge within this national community of food systems leaders.

Access Community Wisdom

Biweekly recaps, Call notes, recordings and resources have been curated and shared in one convenient location.

Find It Here

Title	Description	Tags
Direct to Consumer Innovations in Response to COVID	How did local food businesses and orgs respond to COVID and keep feeding their communities? …	COVID Response, Direct to Consumer Markets, Food Access, Food Hubs, Supply Chain Logistics, Value Chain Coordination
Value Chain Adaptations During COVID-19	How are value chain practitioners adapting their practice in response to COVID-19? How are value …	Collaboration, COVID Response, Distribution, Food Access, Supply Chain Logistics, Value Chain Coordination
COVID-19 & Small & Mid-Sized Meat Processors: Exploring the Challenges, Solutions, & a Path Forward	How does the small scale meat supply chain respond to a pandemic? While COVID-19 has …	COVID Response, Meat, Policy, Supply Chain Logistics, Value Chain Coordination, Wholesale
Using Maps for Food Systems Access and Planning	With COVID-19 disruptions in supply chains, mapping and analyzing food availability and flows can be …	Community Economic Development, Community Engagement, COVID Response, Food Access, Food Systems, Supply Chain Logistics, Technology

COVD-19 Resource Spreadsheet
This spreadsheet is a compilation of key resources that have been curated from across the country and organized by category. This is an open and working document – please contribute to it!

Have ideas for how we can best support you? Email us at [email protected]

Local Food Systems Response to COVID Team

The Wallace Center is partnering with the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service along with a team led by the University of Kentucky are conducting a research project to document and disseminate innovations and best practices from local and regional food systems leaders in response to the COVID pandemic. Wallace Center is thrilled to be a partner in this research to share the brilliant resilience and creativity of the value chain businesses and organizations in our community. Learn more about the project and access resources here!

Sign up for The Listserv

Please note, it may take up to 24 hours to access the listserv