Research

The U.S. food system is vulnerable, local organizations are driving solutions

August 3, 2026

Rising food prices, supply chain disruptions, extreme weather, and regulatory changes to nutrition benefits all expose how vulnerable the U.S. food system is to shocks, and how difficult it can be for people with limited incomes to access food.

How can we create a resilient food system that promotes equity in food security and livelihoods, even in the face of crises? To help answer this question, Loyola University Chicago researchers Tania Schusler, Maria Akchurin, and Dikshya Dahal studied what they could learn from the experiences of nonprofit organizations that responded to increased hunger, business disruptions, and other food-related impacts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a study recently published by Agriculture and Human Values, the researchers found that nonprofit organizations’ social relationships in communities hardest hit by the pandemic enabled them to apply local knowledge for creative problem-solving, integrate food with services like mental health or jobs training, and mobilize resources to address community priorities.

Community connection and why it works

“Government responses were essential but insufficient to meet the increased demand for food assistance during the pandemic as people experienced reduced hours, job loss, illness, or the death of their family’s primary income provider. Community-based, nonprofit organizations pivoted their operations to provide people with food,” explained Schusler, associate professor in the School of Environmental Sustainability.

The researchers asked representatives of nonprofits across Chicagoland to tell their pandemic response stories. They identified organizations through the Chicago Region Food System Fund, which provides grant funding to transform local food systems. Many organizations had social ties through their leaders, staff, and volunteers with communities that experienced higher social vulnerability during the pandemic, such as Black, Latine, Asian, and Indigenous communities, immigrants, frontline workers, LGBTQ+ individuals, veterans, youth, and the elderly.

“Across many varied stories, we noticed a common pattern. These organizations’ social relationships in their respective communities allowed them to respond creatively and thoughtfully to food insecurity, even if they had not previously focused on food assistance, showing how community embeddedness serves as a crucial organizational resource during crises,” said Akchurin, assistant professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Putting local knowledge into practice

Local knowledge gained through community ties helped organizations tailor food to recipients’ cultures and material resources, like whether they had a kitchen. For instance, some nonprofits advocated successfully for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to tailor its food boxes to specific communities by including culturally relevant foods that were part of their staple diets. Many organizations developed their own food distribution programs, operating outdoor pickup locations or delivering food boxes and prepared meals, often sourcing locally produced foods. Others grew food at community gardens or small-scale farms and coordinated outdoor farmer markets, pop-ups, or mobile grocery buses to provide people with nutritious food.

Nonprofits often integrated this food-related work with education, health, workforce training, economic development, housing, and other social programs. Dahal, who completed her MS of environmental science and sustainability thesis in conjunction with the research, shared the example of a faith-based organization operating in predominantly Black and Latine neighborhoods on Chicago’s southwest side.

“As they coordinated volunteers to distribute food, they added refrigeration equipment to their kitchen space so that they could store more food for distribution,” Dahal said. “This led them to begin exploring how to transform that space into a community kitchen that would provide education in culinary skills and small business development. They not only worked to meet immediate food needs but also to promote long-term community development.”

Several organizations also developed connections external to their communities. They served as bridging actors, marshaling supplies, volunteers, or funds available from larger nonprofits, companies, and governmental programs to address community-identified priorities, such as financial assistance for renters or infrastructure investments on small-scale farms.