Food Security in an Uncertain Time

Even before the pandemic hit, we faced a crisis of food insecurity in South Louisiana. Too many people didn’t know where they would get their next meal and in 2019, roughly one in four children statewide were experiencing food insecurity.

The pandemic not only increased the number of people facing food insecurity, but made it harder to connect them with resources. For our elderly and immunocompromised residents in particular, leaving the house for a grocery store, food bank, or meal distribution site brought significant risk. To keep our community safe, especially early in the pandemic, we needed to help folks stay home.

This was an enormous challenge for our region, but the Foundation is well prepared to meet such crises with solutions.

Senior Program Officer Isabel Barrios specializes in responding to disasters. In recent years, she led the Foundation’s work at home and afar in the wake of catastrophe. She managed our response to Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana, Hurricanes Maria and Irma in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, Hurricanes Laura and Delta in Southeast Louisiana, as well as massive flooding in Baton Rouge in 2016 and tornadoes in New Orleans East in 2017. She was instrumental in the development of the Foundation’s disaster response framework, which includes strategic coordination with government, nonprofits, and philanthropists, as well as research and responsive grantmaking to help nonprofits and individuals recover from disaster.

When COVID-19 hit, we used that framework to help tackle the problem of food insecurity during a pandemic. Part of that framework involves working closely with local governments and nonprofit partners, and this was no exception.

In New Orleans, for instance, we collaborated early on with the New Orleans Mayor’s office. There were many nonprofits working to distribute meals across the city, but without coordination, they might duplicate their efforts or leave residents behind. Isabel served as the co-chair of the city’s Food Security Task Force and used her leadership, experience, and relationships with nonprofits to facilitate productive collaboration across the many groups.

To support the city in securing more resources, we funded research into the emerging needs around pandemic food security and helped the city prepare a proposal to FEMA about the findings. FEMA had never funded this type of initiative before, but they were convinced and awarded the city a pioneering grant of $18 million.

With this funding, the City of New Orleans added its own food security initiative to supplement those of the nonprofit sector. They contracted with Revolution Foods, who partnered with local restaurants, the Chef’s Brigade, the New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute (NOCHI), and d’Livery NOLA. Within a few short weeks, these partners had begun distributing meals to families that needed them — and by May 2021, the city had secured over $30 million in total funding and delivered 3.3 million meals to over 24,000 people.

Through August 2021, we continued to provide disaster relief funding to nonprofits responding to the pandemic. Our long-term support goes beyond funding, however. Our Nonprofit Leadership and Effectiveness programming allows us to help nonprofits build their capacity to respond when disaster strikes, and to rebuild in the wake of it. We know that some of what we’re forced to learn during a crisis can make our work stronger, even in times of calm.

“After we go through these things,” says Barrios, “we are forever changed.”

This was the case for the Broadmoor Improvement Association, who partnered with the New Orleans Food Policy Action Council (FPAC) to address food insecurity early in the pandemic, and who the Foundation supported with grants. The Broadmoor Improvement Association had always run a food pantry in their neighborhood, but they expanded their efforts. To meet the needs of the growing number of people, often seniors, who were food insecure, they learned how to help people sign up for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and developed their capacity to interpret for people with limited English proficiency who wanted to apply for SNAP.

These shifts were born from disaster, but their impact will last long beyond this crisis. The Broadmoor Improvement Association was just one of many nonprofits we saw adapt, adjust, and strengthen as our community was most in need. In the hardest times, we find our nonprofits work harder.