key: cord-0997245-0hpae9g7 authors: Shi, Yu; Jang, Hee Soun; Keyes, Laura; Dicke, Lisa title: Nonprofit Service Continuity and Responses in the Pandemic: Disruptions, Ambiguity, Innovation and Challenges date: 2020-05-31 journal: Public Adm Rev DOI: 10.1111/puar.13254 sha: c7c28112c9b2766f9626fb8b0db40c020853fe60 doc_id: 997245 cord_uid: 0hpae9g7 This Viewpoint essay examines the service delivery responses of nonprofit organizations that offer homeless support services amid the COVID‐19 pandemic. Government mandates and severe human needs have forced nonprofits to adapt quickly. Literature reviews provide little information about how nonprofits should manage service continuity under pandemics. Data collected from websites and interviews with nonprofits executives provide an understanding of adaptions and innovations. The study uses a crisis response model: “Disruptions‐Ambiguities‐Innovations‐Challenges” (DAIC) to demonstrate how social service nonprofits are responding to challenges under COVID‐19. Lessons learned are useful for scholars and practitioners to understand ways nonprofits have remained agile and innovative. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The -Coronavirus disease 2019‖ (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted a wide range of social, political, and organizational processes. Political and administrative leaders experience difficulties in comprehending the magnitude of the damages of pandemics, particularly when closure is not in sight (Moon, 2020; Van Dooren and Noordegraaf, 2020) . This pandemic is more than just a health crisisit has had a ripple effect, impacting all dimensions of life. As the world responds to its threats, nonprofits are tasked with providing services for low-income, vulnerable and disadvantaged communities while struggling themselves. Nonprofit organizations serving the poor have experienced dramatic increases in service demands while struggling to maintain the safety and health of their staff and volunteers. Intense demand for services coupled with compounding disruptions, requires adaption. Under COVID-19 nonprofit leaders face constantly changing circumstances--sometimes hourly--and are adjusting their service operations based on directives from all levels of government. In this Viewpoint essay, we interviewed senior leaders in four nonprofit organizations serving the homeless in the North Texas area (Dallas-Fort Worth metro region), and report on their service delivery responses to the COVID-19 crisis. These organizations are the major homeless serving organizations in the DFW metro region. Their pre-pandemic operating budgets range in size between $6 million and $23 million. Except for one newly built shelter (2012), each organization has deep roots, serving the region since the 1970s and 1980s. Among the group is a faith-based nonprofit and a city-built shelter that is operated by a nonprofit organization. The City of Dallas has been active for decades in supporting and engaging the homeless serving nonprofit community through cross-sector communications and collaborations. With strong political support from the Mayor, it reorganized and established its own Office of Homeless Solutions in 2017. Since 2017, daily communications between the city and its community This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. partners have existed. These communications have served to build trust and have kept community partners well connected to the public health guidelines issued during the crisis. Each of the four organizations in our study has adapted to meet higher demands for services in rapidly changing circumstances. There are substantial barriers for the homeless individuals that they serve to likewise adapt. For the homeless, complying with recommended practices from public health experts such as washing hands frequently, maintaining social distance, and avoiding touching potentially affected surfaces is difficult. Although most homeless emergency shelters remain in service, supporting services such as food pantries, soup kitchens and dining services have closed. Our article considers how these homeless serving nonprofit organizations are responding to challenges and continuing services under the conditions of COVID-19. Interviews with nonprofit executives at each agency offer direct, practice-oriented knowledge of the impacts of COVID-19 on their service delivery responses. The crisis has increased demands for nonprofits' services and government mandates have generated disruptions and created ambiguities. Containment and mitigation measures (such as social distancing and stay-at-home orders), disrupt service continuity. These nonprofit organizations are innovative, however, and are responding artfully to the crisis in pursuing their missions. Ambiguities such as how to exercise public health guidelines in engaging volunteers and interacting with clients are challenges, as are resource insufficiencies. The knowledge gained from our interviews and website data is developed into a -Disruptions-Ambiguities-Innovations-Challenges‖ (DAIC) service continuity and response model. Figure 1 depicts each of the four dimensions of the model and allows for conditions presented in the COVID-19 crisis to be inserted. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The first dimension of the DAIC model is disruptions. COVID-19 has created disruptions to each of the organizations' services. While each has strived to continue mission-related critical services to the homeless, public health guidelines have halted some services. The second dimension in the model depicts ambiguities such as how to provide services under public health guidelines. As shown in the Figure 1 , public health guidelines added ambiguity (+) while daily communications have reduced ambiguity (-). The innovations and challenges areas show how the organization is responding. The outer black line in Figure 1 is an information loop feeding back into the mission/goals area. Together, the components in the DAIC model demonstrate the conditions under which the organizations' service continuity exists in the early stages of the pandemic. Although each is a mission driven organization, COVID-19's disruptions have affected them, created ambiguities, required innovations to serve and presented challenges to pursuing existing and newly created goals. The DAIC model is a flow chart that can be used by scholars and practitioners to document and visualize the initial disruptions of a crisis and to understand resulting service delivery responses. The model can also be used by nonprofit practitioners to frame their own experiences and responses amid COVID 19 and can serve as a tool for communication and evaluation. Although definitions, typologies of crises, and various management approaches are discussed in existing literature (Boin 2005; Boin, McConnell, and ‗t Hart 2008, 2010; Rosenthal and Kouzmin 1993; McGuire and Schneck 2010) , many studies focus on natural disasters and government responses to these events (Trebilcock and Daniels 2006; Rosenthal and Kouzmin Accepted Article This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. 1997). For example, t' Hart (1990) , Rosenthal and Kouzmin (1997) , and, t 'Hart, Rosenthal, and Kouzmin (1993) each considers governmental dimensions in their crisis and emergency management models, but these do not include typologies for continuity in nonprofit service delivery. Such explanatory models are not yet in place in the nonprofit literature due to the unfolding nature of the COVID-19 crisis. This study provides a starting point for creating useful models to understand nonprofit service delivery and crisis responses. Our model includes four dimensions: disruptions, ambiguities, innovations and challenges. We use it to document what has occurred in the delivery of homeless services under the COVID-19 pandemic, but the dimensions of the model can be applied to any nonprofit social service organization. Many scholarly studies of strategic and short-term planning discuss maintaining adequate financial reserves and using collaborations to strengthen nonprofit capacities (March and Olsen 1975; Stern 1997; Boin 2008; Christensen and Laegreid 2007; Egeberg 2012) . Fewer studies discuss the unplanned, pervasive and dramatic circumstances presented by a pandemic like COVID-19. Pandemics defy routine planning strategies and require extraordinary adaptations and innovations. It may be difficult or impossible to plan for or sustain effective collaborations or respond to excessive service demands when existing routines, staffing, and technologies are disrupted. More research is needed to learn how nonprofits can adapt and sustain mission-related activities under conditions of high uncertainty and anxiety. Our sample includes four nonprofit agencies that serve the homeless in the Dallas-Fort Worth This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. For each organization, we reviewed their websites and social media communications to learn about disruptions in their services and postings that provided information about COVID-19. We also conducted interviews with a high-level leader such as the executive director in each of the nonprofits to learn about the effects of COVID-19 on their organizations and responses. (The interview questions are available upon request). Zoom or telephone interviews each lasted 30-40 minutes. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an onset of disruptions to nonprofits' normal operating procedures for service continuity. The rapid spread of the virus and alarming death counts affected services at hospitals and in emergency rooms where the homeless seek medical attention. Given these increased pressures on patient-care and on health-care systems, in the North Texas region, and consistent with public health guidelines, Dallas and Tarrant Counties mandated orders of sheltering in place, social distancing of no less than six feet, and the closure of nonessential businesses. The interviews showed that all four nonprofit organizations wanted to keep their mission focus and provide uninterrupted services, yet all faced disruptions. None of the organizations had an immediate response strategy plan in place. All reported an increase in demand for services due to rapid unemployment, altered relationships with clients, and changed volunteer interactions with clients that were affected by public health guidelines. Nonprofit 1 is a Dallas area homeless shelter with the mission of providing emergency rapid rehousing. Due to the lack of an infectious disease plan, the nonprofit had no immediate strategy to respond to the scope of the disruptions. The social distancing order resulted in This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. reducing services from helping 400 individuals daily to 250. The shelter-in-place rule also halted continuation of mission specific services such as case management to move individuals into permanent housing solutions. Instead, staff provided support for the operation of a 24/7 shelter service. Nonprofit 2 is a Dallas metro area nonprofit with a mission of leading vulnerable individuals and families to self-sufficiency and independence and to prevent homelessness. A government mandate to close nonessential businesses increased demand for services and affected service continuity. Business closures led to an estimated loss of 1.3 million jobs in Texas in April 2020 (Texas Workforce Commission, 2020), with approximately 354,500 layoffs occurring in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Within a day of the mandated closures, many laid off workers were looking for assistance with rent and food. The social distancing order also affected service delivery. Although the organization has prided itself on relationship building to provide highquality individualized responses, during the pandemic those responses changed to serving individuals on an -emergency-only‖ basis. Nonprofit 3's mission is a housing-first approach to homelessness by placing individuals in housing and responding to rapid rehousing needs. They provide case management services and food pantry support for families to maintain their housing, but social distancing has impeded their ability to interact with clients. Transitioning case management services to virtual platforms was not viable because their clients are typically unsheltered and without access to technology. Social distancing also required clients to visit their food pantry by car. Volunteers were able to provide food to a limited number of walk-ups but had to use quick service without interactions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The mission of Nonprofit 4 is to shelter individuals experiencing emergency homelessness, provide recovery support programs and move individuals toward permanent rehousing. It had to reduce the number of day and night shelter guests from 600 to 250 to comply with social distancing requirements and it stopped offering some services essential to their mission of recovery. The volunteer and partner-based narcotics and alcoholism recovery programs used activities such as art classes as therapies. These therapies and kennel boarding services for animals deemed critical to recovery were put on hold. Partner agencies could not provide on-site services at Nonprofit 4's campus due to social distancing which reduced their staff and volunteer capacity. The fear of spreading the COVID-19 virus severely limited their ability to provide the supports necessary for the treatment of long-term recovery. We use ambiguity to describe the mediating factor resulting from the disruptions created by COVID-19 (such as public health guidelines and local government mandates), to the responses of nonprofits' service continuity. Van Stralen (2015) describes ambiguity as creating conditions whereby -multiple reasonable explanations‖ exist for an event. Overlapping and rapidly changing policies create ambiguities as knowledge becomes fleeting and what is -reasonable‖ is defined, redefined, or unclear. These organizations did not have pandemic plans to respond to COVID-19 nor a set of -best practices.‖ The rapid influx of ambiguities created by newly devised public health guidelines, government mandates, conflicting media reports, and a lack of hard data created obstacles for decision makers as they grappled to understand how to provide services and respond effectively (Van Dooren and Noordegraaf, 2020). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. activities in Nonprofit 1. Volunteer outreach was curtailed due to the shelter-in-place mandate. Case management was suspended as staff were rerouted to support their 24/7 shelter operations. The organization is without answers for how to prepare individuals for moving into homes when the mandates are lifted. County and local governments did not provide clear directions on how to comply with the mandates in a shelter facility further complicating an already ambiguous and hectic process of retooling operations. Ambiguities have affected Nonprofit 2 resulting in the organization creating -band-aid‖ solutions that focused primarily on tracking outputsnumbers served. They describe their COVID-19 approach as a -Red Cross model‖ of emergency response rather than a comprehensive approach toward helping clients into self-sufficiency. The major ambiguities identified by Nonprofit 3 were -how long will this last?‖ and -When will ‗normal' return?‖ Severe layoffs in the area resulted in a client base that was vastly expanded with people needing immediate food and housing services. Private dollars poured into the organization from local foundations, area celebrities and residents. However, the organization wonders -how long will the attention and ultimately the financial support last?‖ Ambiguities also exist about sustaining their own workforce, although they have applied for federal emergency aid. A final ambiguity involves applying to multiple agencies for funding to support their clients. Among these include emergency mortgage payment relief and rental assistance administered by the federal Office of Community Care and the Housing and Community Development Department. An additional application must go through the HUD Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funds, a program of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which the city will administer. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The federal housing funds will provide relief for the clients living in Nonprofit 3's housing. However, the nonprofit organization wonders if they will be required to provide a financial match to access the federal relief funds, a requirement that would have substantial budgetary impacts and as of this date is still unknown. A critical ambiguity for Nonprofit 4 relates to contact tracing for individuals within the shelter system. In early April, none of their clients had tested positive for COVID-19, yet an area faith-based shelter (that tends to separate itself from others in the community), reported 38 individuals they sheltered had tested positive for COVID-19 (Liou, 2020) . Without contact tracing, those with the virus may enter other points in the broader shelter system and spread the disease. The organization respondent noted, -the city is communicating daily with us to help address this issue.‖ An encampment solution for individuals to tent in place was under discussion, but there are limitations for Nonprofit 4 to safely provide outreach services. Ambiguity in the abilities of the city to keep employees safe without protective barriers or adequate personal protective equipment also remained unanswered questions affecting this organization's efforts. These ambiguities resulted from public health guidelines and government mandates that lacked direction for how the shelter system could operate safely. Questions of -how‖ permeate the conditions affecting each of the nonprofits we interviewed. -How‖ to institute effective contact tracing, -how‖ to engage nonprofit workers and volunteers in service delivery, -how‖ to secure and maintain fundraising amid increased service demands, and -how‖ to keep employees and volunteers safe? These ambiguities preclude easyto-identify solutions. Yet each nonprofit, despite significant disruptions and ambiguities, have continued to provide mission critical services using innovations and courage. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The nonprofit sector is known for its ability to innovate and respond quickly to community needs. In this section, we report on the innovative and creative responses these four nonprofits are using to manage the disruptions and ambiguities affecting their service continuity. These innovations are aligned with challenges due to the uncertainties of COVID-19, and with the ambiguities created by the disruptions. Our review of all four nonprofit organizations' web and social media communications show that each put out immediate -calls to action‖ seeking emergency donor support. Letters from executive directors were prominently located on home pages indicating the impacts of COVID-19 on their organization's operations as early as mid-March. These letters described plans to reduce or eliminate the use of volunteers (to comply with public health guidelines), and each presented an urgent plea for financial support. Sustaining resources and fundraising will be challenges in the long-term as COVID-19 induces economic downturns. Table 1 provides a brief description of each nonprofit organization's innovative responses to COVID-19 and the aligned challenges.