Community organizations during the early COVID-19 pandemic: a relational response process of need meeting

Abstract It has been widely reported that community organizations played a key role in meeting people’s basic needs, such as needs for food, medicines, and social contact, during COVID-19 lockdowns around the world. This article explores the perspectives of organizers and workers from 25 community organizations in England, regarding their organizations’ responses to the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thematic analysis and comparison of cases is used to theorize why many community organizations were so effective at meeting needs in their communities during the early months of the pandemic. It is argued that key features of effective responses were Identifying need through trust-based relationships; Acting teleologically to meet need; and Valuing the knowledge of community-facing workers. These factors interacted with one another in a relational response process of need-meeting. I argue that effective responses to local need involve an asset-based approach to organizational structures, in which everyone working in a community organization, on a paid or unpaid basis, has their expertise valued as part of organizational decision-making.