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Program Description

  Food Systems Resilience

OFSR is charged with developing and maintaining a strategy for improving the efficiency, equity, sustainability, and resilience of the food systems in Montgomery County. Through fostering public-private partnerships with the community for systems change, OFSR will expand upon the County government's investments in ensuring equitable and dignified access to nutritious, culturally diverse foods for all residents and harness the unique strengths of business, nonprofit, and government partners to enhance the health of our people, economy, and natural resources. OFSR prioritizes ensuring greater County government focus on food systems data collection, monitoring, and reporting (including food access and security data).

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Program Contacts

Contact Heather Bois Bruskin of the Office of Food Systems Resilience at 240-773-3349 or Grace Pedersen of the Office of Management and Budget at 240-773-1088 for more information regarding this department's operating budget.

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Program Performance Measures

Program Performance MeasuresActual FY24Actual FY25Estimated FY26Target FY27Target FY28
Number of Agencies or Divisions participating in the OFSR's interagency collaborative initiatives 13939404040
Percentage of agencies that actively engaged in an OFSR initiative or task group 223%28%30%35%40%
Number of technical assistance sessions provided by the OFSR 3148794101109
Number of engagements that OFSR has informed policy-making through subject matter expertise 426169175180187
Number of (County or State) successful policy changes that occurred with OFSR leadership 51820222426
Percentage of OFSR's funded partners that are compliant with data requirements 674%66%75%80%83%
Percentage of OFSR's funded partners that are compliant with their scope of their work 795%78%85%90%95%
Number of organizations, contractors, grantees, funded through OFSR initiatives 83960626568
Percentage of food sourced from Montgomery County through OFSR programs and investments 968%26%40%50%60%
Percentage of Montgomery County zip codes benefiting from OFSR initiatives 1093%100%100%100%100%
1  OFSR’s interagency collaboratives are open to all Montgomery County Government agencies, with most participants returning annually. Agencies are engaged through standing interagency groups, shared communications, and cross-county initiatives. These collaboratives provide structured spaces for coordination, policy updates, and joint problem-solving.
2  This metric includes all agency divisions that attend or present at OFSR’s quarterly interagency meetings. It then measures how many of those divisions take on a more active role beyond meeting participation, such as contributing to emergency planning task groups or serving as grant reviewers.
3  In FY24 a significant expansion of Office of Food System Resilience (OFSR) funding for the creation of additional grants and programs increased the number of organizations in need of technical assistance. Additionally, the OFSR was not fully staffed at the beginning of FY24, until September of 2024.
4  The number of engagements that Office of Food System Resilience (OFSR) contributed to policy making increased in FY25 due to the office's use of improved data-management systems, which enabled better tracking of engagements where staff applied their subject-matter expertise to inform policy decisions.
5  This metric tracks county or state policy changes that occurred with OFSR playing a leadership role. Policy work includes leading, managing, advocating for, drafting, or providing subject matter expertise on policy development. A policy change is considered successful when it is adopted, funded, or implemented following substantial OFSR contribution.
6  The Office of Food System Resilience (OFSR) saw an increase in the number of partners from FY24 to FY25. FY25 was the first year many community-based organizations participated as grantees in these new programs. The decline in compliance reflects a normal adjustment period as partners learned new reporting processes and timelines. The County’s pandemic food assistance funding programs did not require any service data collection or reporting, and FY25 was the first transition of funds administration through a grant program. FY25 introduced County grant procedures, including performance data requirements, that many food assistance provider nonprofits had never previously navigated. The office expects compliance to improve as partners receive continued support through technical assistance, peer learning groups, site visits, and updated data collection guidance materials.
7  In FY25, several challenges affected partners’ ability to meet their estimates. Rising food prices, community concerns early in the year related to federal enforcement, and supply issues such as egg shortages created unexpected pressure on operations. Additionally, partners were asked to develop program milestones, something many were doing for the first time, which led some to overestimate their capacity. The office is currently working closely with organizations to establish realistic baselines and set achievable goals for this new fiscal year. It is important to note that all the noncompliance issues were small, and are resolved by deadline extensions or technical assistance. Only one organization has sustained adverse non-compliance, and the Office of Grants Management has notified the organization that they are no longer eligible to access county grant funds.
8  Amount of funds disbursed, 700k in FY24 and 13.6 M in FY25.
9  Given that the number of partners and amount of funds administered nearly doubled from FY24 to FY25, many organizations had not previously been encouraged to, or been in the practice of, focusing on local food sourcing. Tracking this metric will help the OFSR support partners in increasing their use of locally sourced foods. In FY25, the OFSR also conducted a local pricing analysis to better understand the seasonality and price variance of certain products in order to maximize local investment. This metric measures the share of food purchased from Montgomery County businesses and producers through OFSR-funded programs. The FY25 decline reflects rapid program expansion, onboarding of new partners, and increase in reporting accuracy. Targeted technical assistance, a food aggregator project and local pricing analysis are expected to gradually increase local sourcing in future years.
10  The OFSR aims to serve the entire county through the services and programs.
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Program Budget Changes

FY27 Recommended ChangesExpendituresFTEs
FY26 Approved138467206.00
Enhance: Food Systems Education Grant Program1500000.00
Increase Cost: Two and a Half Percent Inflationary Adjustment to Non-Profit Service Provider Contracts1022000.00
Technical Adj: Correction Associated with Prior Contract Transfers from the Department of Health and Human Services651070.00
Reduce: Retail Food Access Program-1500000.00
Reduce: Food as Medicine Grant Program-2307790.00
Multi-program adjustments, including negotiated compensation changes, employee benefit changes, changes due to staff turnover, reorganizations, and other budget changes affecting multiple programs.651630.00
FY27 Recommended138484116.00