COVID-19 Food-Related Policy Tracking

The current pandemic has shone light on many of the vulnerabilities of the food system and exacerbated hardship for marginalized populations. The Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) is responding to the crisis through a range of projects.

Today, FLPC, in collaboration with the Whole Person Care Team, both divisions within the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, is launching two policy tracking tools:

• The first, our State Policies for Feeding Vulnerable Populations Tool, tracks state policies that facilitate food delivery, food at centralized pick-up locations, and funding to support emergency feeding programs. Our research emphasizes marginalized populations; including older adults, differently abled individuals, low-income households, children, and those experiencing homelessness.
• The second policy tracker looks at state-wide stay-at-home orders and advisories. This document has particular emphasis on the impact of those orders and advisories and how they are treating the food system. At this time, we are not tracking reopening plans. Here is the New York Times’ comprehensive resource on reopening.

We envision these tools to be a resource for tracking best practices, identifying shortfalls, and helping direct practitioners to programs and funding.

We intend for both of these resources to be dynamic. You will see in both resources a link to a form. We invite any advocates, researchers, or others to contribute to these resources.

If you are interested in similar municipal resources, view this resource from our friends at the Healthy Food Policy Project.

You can see both spreadsheet trackers here!