The COVID-19 Food and Nutrition (COVID-19 F&N) Work Group is comprised of researchers, evaluators, advocacy organization representatives, practitioners, and students who are evaluating the effectiveness of policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) strategies that have strong potential to protect children and their family’s food and nutrition security, as a key social determinant of health (SDOH), and overall health and well-being during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The work group is a collaborative effort supported by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation Network (NOPREN).

The COVID-19 F&N work group seeks to build on the momentum of the HER NOPREN COVID-19 School Nutrition Implications Work Group, active March 2020 – February 2021, which mainly focused on the implications of COVID-19 related school closures. The new work group will build-off their efforts and collaborations with the other existing HER and NOPREN work groups (e.g. schools, early childhood, rural food access, healthy food retail, food policy councils, food security) to respond to the broader COVID-19 food and nutrition space with an eye towards long-term food and nutrition resiliency, food systems transformation, and public health emergency and disaster preparedness, including climate-related emergencies.

Membership in the work group is open to those with an interest in COVID-19, public health emergencies, and food and nutrition, including research focused on financial policies/poverty alleviation programs (e.g., earned income tax credit, American Recovery Act, paycheck programs, loan forgiveness), nutrition assistance programs (e.g., government programs, state CARES programs), healthy food distribution, food and nutrition security, diet quality, and disaster response, all with an equity-centered approach. The primary population of interest is children, ages 0 to 18, and their families, especially in lower-income and racial and ethnic populations at highest risk for lower diet quality and obesity, as well as those disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and most at risk for future public health emergencies.

Food Systems Work Group Literature Scan 

(Click below to access the literature review by date. This resource will be updated on a regular basis. To view archived literature scans from 2020-2021, please contact [email protected])

COVID-19 HER Resource Manager

The team at RWJF HER has created a shareable google spreadsheet that lists funded research/projects, publications, and resources related to food insecurity or diet quality/nutritional adequacy and COVID-19. We encourage you to use (and share) this resource to prevent duplication of efforts as well as encourage collaboration on projects. If you choose to add a research project you are currently working on AND need additional support/collaborators, please include your contact information. (Please keep in mind this spreadsheet is accessible to anyone who has the link.)

VIEW Spreadsheet