Relationships are everything: The underpinnings of grassroots community action in the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto.

ABSTRACT: Most government emergency/pandemic response plans feature top-down decision making and communication strategies and a focus on 'hard' (physical) infrastructure. There is nothing about the importance of the ideas and communications originating from communities, the social infrastructure that supports their impact locally and their contribution to the central administration. In this study, we found that the 'soft' (social) infrastructure within communities and between communities and formal institutions is key to an inclusive and more equitable response to large-scale crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Grassroots leaders in six Toronto neighbourhoods were interviewed between the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto about what helped or hindered community action. Three t

SUBMITTER: Jackson SF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9797416 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature