Planning for food system disruptions: lessons learned about resilience attributes from local governments’ emergency food response efforts

Introduction Local governments in the United States are critical emergency food response actors during disruptions. They are perceived as being well-positioned to provide food, connect with community partners, and inform residents. A variety of resilience-related factors (referred to here as resilience attributes) influence the ease and pace of their responses. This exploratory study investigated how resilience attributes were associated with five local governments’ emergency food response efforts during the early phases (April 2020–January 2021) of the COVID-19 pandemic and the facilitators and barriers to exhibiting higher levels of these resilience attributes. Methods Participants in this study were members of the Food System Resilience Community of Practice (CoP), which was a small group of local government stakeholders convened and facilitated by the Center for a Livable Future and the Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University. We used a mixed-method embedded design for the research: we collected survey data (April 2020) before the six-month CoP and completed semi-structured in-depth interviews (December 2020 and January 2021) after the CoP. We recorded, transcribed, and analyzed the interviews using the phronetic iterative approach and combined the quantitative and qualitative data using an analysis matrix. Results We found that preparedness, connectivity, capital reserves, diversity, redundancy, flexibility, and equity were a part of the local governments’ emergency response efforts, and having higher levels of these attributes was supportive of work. We also identified cross-cutting facilitators and barriers that helped or hindered local governments in exhibiting these attributes. Discussion By examining five local governments’ emergency food response efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are able to better understand how resilience attributes were associated with efforts and what actions can help or hinder local governments in displaying these attributes. From this, we can identify programmatic and policy opportunities that can help local governments better prepare for and be resilient to future crises.