The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected society’s medically and
socially vulnerable populations in various ways: loss of employment,
food insecurity, and reduced access to essential medical and social
services. Nonprofit community-based organization (also known as
CBOs) have been working with the health care sector to address the
needs of vulnerable populations. CBOs have an important role in
mitigating the economic consequences of COVID-19. However, in a
time of deep economic difficulty and physical and mental distress
when social services are most needed many CBOs are facing
diminishing resources despite greater need for those services by the
clients they serve; some are struggling to survive. It is estimated that
up to sixty percent of organizations reported destabilizing conditions.
CBOs often rely on donations, grants, and fundraising events to keep
their doors open. Many are anticipating decreases in donations by
donors, along with canceled fundraising events to comply with social
distancing measures. Social distancing policies will cause special
events to be canceled. the stock market decline will limit donations
made by private and foundation philanthropy; CBOs like food banks
and transitional housing facilities could close at a time when more
than 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment and need
them the most.
a The COVID-19 pandemic has forced service delivery organizations
across the US to rethink how they deliver support in a world where in-
person interactions are restricted. Organizations serving vulnerable
populations have had to be particularly adaptable to rapidly restore
and ensure the continuity of services to meet people’s needs, needs
that may have been intensified by the pandemic. Organizations have
had to determine the new skills and supports their participants and
staff need to meet new demands of balancing work and family.
Although COVID-19 introduced challenges that could create gaps in
service delivery, it also led to insights about how human service
delivery programs can be resilient and function while under these
new circumstances
Essential social services are struggling to survive the COVID-19 crisis.
Commonwealth Fund. (2020, June 1). from
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2020/essential-social-
services-are-struggling-survive-covid-19-crisis
