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<p>The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted food systems, exacerbating ethnoracial and socioeconomic disparities in food insecurity, exposing food industry workers to increased health risks, and threatening the livelihoods of small-scale food businesses. We explored how nonprofit organizations responded to such disruptions in the Chicago, IL, USA metropolitan region through analysis of 127 reports from 104 organizations and focus group discussions with 26 representatives of 20 organizations. We find that organizations that modified their operations based on their social ties with the communities with whom they work–what we refer to as nonprofits’ community embeddedness–allowed them to adapt and innovate strategies to provide emergency food assistance, often in ways designed to strengthen local food systems. Embeddedness created the conditions to: (1) apply local knowledge for creative problem-solving that values community culture and assets, (2) integrate food across a range of social issues like mental health or jobs training operating from an ethic of care that extends beyond fulfilling basic needs, and (3) act as social brokers mobilizing external resources and advocating policies to address community priorities. The study suggests that community embeddedness supported nonprofit organizations’ efforts to address pandemic-induced crises by designing and implementing adaptive strategies with potential to increase social equity within food systems.</p>

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How community embeddedness shaped nonprofit organizational responses to COVID-19 pandemic-related food system disruptions

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年6月18日

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  • Tania M. Schusler,
  • Maria Akchurin,
  • Dikshya Dahal

摘要

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted food systems, exacerbating ethnoracial and socioeconomic disparities in food insecurity, exposing food industry workers to increased health risks, and threatening the livelihoods of small-scale food businesses. We explored how nonprofit organizations responded to such disruptions in the Chicago, IL, USA metropolitan region through analysis of 127 reports from 104 organizations and focus group discussions with 26 representatives of 20 organizations. We find that organizations that modified their operations based on their social ties with the communities with whom they work–what we refer to as nonprofits’ community embeddedness–allowed them to adapt and innovate strategies to provide emergency food assistance, often in ways designed to strengthen local food systems. Embeddedness created the conditions to: (1) apply local knowledge for creative problem-solving that values community culture and assets, (2) integrate food across a range of social issues like mental health or jobs training operating from an ethic of care that extends beyond fulfilling basic needs, and (3) act as social brokers mobilizing external resources and advocating policies to address community priorities. The study suggests that community embeddedness supported nonprofit organizations’ efforts to address pandemic-induced crises by designing and implementing adaptive strategies with potential to increase social equity within food systems.