Designing a Resilient Operating System: Lowering Costs, Mitigating Risks, and Creating Opportunity

At the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Building Resilience conference, Marvin Carr-Ligons of the Walmart Foundation led a conversation with leaders from UnidosUS, Feeding America, and United Way Worldwide about how their organizations are strengthening the infrastructure of community resilience—and why hunger relief, social connection, and disaster preparedness must be treated as one integrated system. 

Resilience Is Relational Capacity 

Marvin Carr-Ligons, a systems and material science engineer, opened by reframing resilience beyond individual grit. "Resilience isn't only about individual or institutional grit or toughness. It is relational capacity," he said. "It's about whether every person, customer, member, associate, supplier, and every business can access what they need—and who they need—before, during, and after disruption." With 90% of Americans living within 10 miles of a Walmart, the company views community resilience as inseparable from business continuity. "Hunger relief and social connections aren't separate from disaster work," Carr-Ligons emphasized. "They are resilience infrastructure." 

Barriers That Hinder Community Support 

Rita Carreón of UnidosUS identified four key barriers: inaccessible information, particularly when multilingual communications are cut; fear as a "disaster multiplier," especially among vulnerable families; a need for more sustained, long-term partnerships with community-based organizations; and resource constraints in vital support programs, such as SNAP and Medicaid, which can exacerbate existing disparities. "Disasters don't create inequality; they just reveal it," Carreón said.

Listening to the People Most Impacted 

Kathryn Strickland shared how Feeding America—a network of over 250 food banks serving nearly six billion meals annually—transformed its approach by hosting listening sessions with people experiencing food insecurity. Those conversations revealed that homebound individuals, working mothers, rural residents, and communities of color were being underserved. In southeast Missouri, a food bank learned from a Black church congregation that its mobile pantry signaled impermanence rather than commitment. The food bank responded by hiring community engagement staff rooted in that neighborhood and co-planning services.

Nationally, this listening-first approach led Feeding America to partner with UnidosUS—a relationship that proved critical when Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck, connecting local food banks with Unidos affiliates for translation and outreach. "If we can come together and bring that 'better together' ethos under blue skies, then we will have the resilience that can weather any disaster and always emerge from them stronger," Strickland said. 

Cross-Sector Leadership and Proactive Investment 

Marcus Coleman of United Way Worldwide highlighted three levers for resilience: civic engagement, cross-sector leadership, and risk-informed design. In Valdosta, Ga., pre-existing partnerships between United Way, the local food bank, Salvation Army, and Red Cross translated directly into effective response when Hurricane Helene hit. Coleman stressed that the risk landscape is changing—from unprecedented flooding in Western North Carolina to wildfires in Maui—and communities must plan for new challenges. "Proactive investment ensures that we answer the question of how everybody can receive alerts, warnings, and information in the language and the way that they understand," he said. 

The panelists agreed that philanthropy's role extends beyond funding. Multi-year investments, space for honest dialogue, and treating community-based organizations as long-term partners are essential to building the kind of resilience that helps communities weather disasters and emerge stronger.