Food depository’s new response strategy is great example of how to serve communities in need

Actively listening and responding to what a community says it needs is what makes a charitable organization stand out from the rest. Especially during a pandemic.

Locally, the Greater Chicago Food Depository is doing just that.

The food justice organization on Monday announced $2.6 million in equity grants that will support the opening of four new food pantries in high-priority communities and improvements to 22 existing pantries.

We applaud the Greater Chicago Food Depository’s choice to have a shift in strategy during a time in which racial disparities and food insecurities have been made worse by the pandemic. The food depository, which used to focus on equality when distributing funds to its partners, is focusing on equity this time around.

With equality and equity, both methods aim to achieve fairness. However, equality does it by treating everyone the same regardless of need, while equity treats people differently dependent on need.

“We don’t want the South and West sides to feel like if they go to the North Side, they will have a different experience or get a higher level of service,” said Nicole Robinson, the food depository’s vice president of community impact. “What we are trying to do is make sure that they envision a level of service that they want, and we don’t want it to be constrained by the resources they have access to.”

The whole idea behind these grants is to strengthen the emergency food systems in Black and Latino communities in Chicago that are disproportionately affected by food insecurity and COVID-19.

Up to $75,000 will be used to improve facilities and expand operations at 22 of the food depository’s partners, while about $200,000 will be used for the new food pantries. The four new pantry partners are the American Association of Single Parents in Dolton, Endeleo Institute in Washington Heights, the Inner-City Muslim Action Network in Englewood and the New Life Centers of Chicagoland in South Lawndale.

The Greater Chicago Food Depository is being smart in how it uses those much-needed funds. When it comes to helping out communities in need, organizations cannot use the same approach they had in any time before the pandemic.

People’s problems and issues have drastically grown and changed. So should our solutions.

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