Business View Magazine l January 2023

14 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 Local governments, in particular, are uniquely equipped to address food system resilience because they oversee local policies like zoning laws. Additionally, school districts act as key food distribution networks to students. And because they’re closer to constituents, local governments are more responsive to community needs. They play a crucial role in coordinating emergency food response efforts, the guide notes. “As new evidence emerges and food system resilience as a field of study grows, practices in this guide are sure to adapt and change. This guide offers a place to start,” said Elsie Moore, a Ph.D candidate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a co-creator of the guide, which includes six modules. Beginning with a foundation in equitable resilience, the guide directs administrators in a linear fashion how to define, assess, strategize, implement and measure a food system’s resilience. While it’s designed as a tool for local government, both staff and policymakers, those outside of the public sector interested in food system resilience can also benefit from strategies in the guide, the brief continues. The resource provides information, resources and other tools for local administrators to build local food system resilience by either creating a stand-alone food system resilience plan or embedding strategies for food system resilience into government plans. “Effective food systems work requires meaningful collaboration with community partners and community members. We hope this planning guide can be a tool to catalyze multiple stakeholders and lead to broader food system resilience beyond a single entity,” says Meg Burke, a researcher at The Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence and another co-creator. resources of nonprofit food assistance programs, with governments from the federal to local level stepping in to help fill the gaps and coordinate responses,” reads the guide, which was developed over a year by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future and the Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence in collaboration with representatives from five American cities: Austin, Tx.; Baltimore, Md.; Denver, Colo.; Moorhead, Minn.; and Orlando, Fla. Participants were selected to represent diverse interests and challenges, a brief about the project says, and to combine evidence and on-the-ground experiences from practitioners.