COVID-19 responses: Food policy councils are “stepping in, stepping up, and stepping back"

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, food policy councils (FPCs) have emerged as a critical struc­ture for organizing community-based responses to multiple food system issues. Strong relationships with various food system stakeholders have proven essential in inspiring coordinated action. Using the early results of a Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future survey of FPCs (2020), we discuss some of the accomplishments and contributions that 118 FPCs have made toward addressing hunger and supporting producers, school food, food chain workers, racial equity, and resilience in the United States and in tribal nations.