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. Nonprofit 1 took a two-pronged response approach to use the city's supply of hotel rooms to house the homeless. Working with city leaders, the healthiest individuals were moved to hotels to help support a quick transition when rapid rehousing becomes available for placement into permanent housing. Two innovative responses included 1) finding individuals that meet the city criteria of -healthy‖ and moving them to the city's hotels (city funded), and 2) paying directly for the occupation of private hotel rooms for the most vulnerable (nonprofit funded). Nonprofit 1 faces a challenge with the ongoing provision of food and supplies at the hotels. All This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. individuals housed in hotels are on a long wait list for Meals on Wheels. Due to the lack of restaurants near the hotels, the organization's staff is delivering meals and supplies daily. Nonprofit 2 has changed the way it carries out its case management services. The number of families waiting for services rose by over 100% during March and April. To try to meet these increased demands and to comply with public health guidelines, it created a -tele‖ social work process and posted forms online to help individuals complete the forms over the phone. The case managers set appointments via telephone thus allowing their social workers to safely interact with clients and to continue their case management services. Nonprofit 2 also faces challenges with their emergency response approach. Case managers abbreviate their calls to move quickly through waiting lists and are only responding to immediate emergency needs. They have not been able to provide clients with long-term assistance to ensure individuals stay housed and fed. To be tested for COVID-19, the Dallas area set up drive-up testing centers and required those to be tested to remain in their car. Such protocols are not realistic for the homeless and others without a vehicle. Since personal transportation was not an option for Nonprofit 3's clients, to overcome this constraint, they rigged their van following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines and created a plastic barrier separating the driver and passenger. The driver replaces the plastic after each trip. The passenger sits in the last bench in the van to allow for a six-foot separation. The services of Uber and Lyft also helped clients in need of testing. Nonprofit 3 faces challenges with this response due to the limited number of drivers available and the inherent risk in protecting the drivers from catching COVID-19. Nonprofit 4 is well-connected to the city in the response efforts to control the virus spread and considers themselves an equal partner in their daily conversations with the city. In Convention Center to serve as an emergency shelter because they knew they could not maintain their current shelter capacity due to the social distancing mandate. The city could not recruit and train their own workforce to staff the convention center shelter and Nonprofit 4 provides the professional staff needed for its temporary operation. The city paid the overtime wages for these workers. However, Nonprofit 4 indicated that staffing is a critical challenge to bringing the convention center shelter to scale without access to recovery support systems. Staffing is a critical issue due to the restricted use of volunteers in shelter services. Our interviewee expressed concern that their staff may not want to work overtime for fear of catching COVID-19. This is understandable given the rapid spread of the disease and a natural reluctance for anyone to seek additional possibilities for exposure to the virus (whether during regularly scheduled hours or those paid at overtime). The COVID-19 pandemic has not been a typical or routine emergency and there is a possibility that it could be a seasonal crisis or sustained for some time. The pandemic did not offer time for nonprofits to prepare or mitigate using existing strategies or plans to eliminate ambiguity. Our research shows that, nonetheless, they have persevered and there are academic and practitioneroriented lessons to be learned from their experiences. First, in this Viewpoint essay, we learned about the disruptions associated with COVID-19 and the ambiguities in the Dallas area homeless shelter system. We presented challenges that the nonprofits faced in maintaining service continuity and identified several innovative responses to those challenges. Consistent across all four organizations were logistical obstacles to overcome, safety concerns for staff and clients, rising service demands and increased financial Accepted Article need. The desire to continue serving their communities and to cooperate with public health guidelines was also demonstrated by all four nonprofits. It is possible that these outcomes are part and parcel of a context that includes a history of service continuity, mutual trust, and a spirit of cooperation. Lacking these, the homeless communities in other urban areas may not experience the same outcomes. The DAIC nonprofit service continuity and response model (Figure 1) is constructed based on first-hand knowledge learned in interviews with nonprofit leaders working at the forefront of the pandemic. The model can be used by practitioners as an instrument to document and examine their initial interpretations and reactions during a disruptive event, whether it be the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, or other crisis. Used with a rubric it can provide a means of assessing disruptions, and ambiguity and analyzing and evaluating service responses to adapt to challenges they face. For academics, the model offers a visual for understanding this "single point in time" set of disruptions that are occurring during the COVID 19 pandemic in a large urban area in the U.S., along with the ambiguities, innovations and responses. The model is a flow-chart of what is occurring during the initial stage of the COVID 19 pandemic, but its utility extends beyond that contribution. Figure 1 , depicts the "hit by surprise" point in time created by the pandemic, but in a separate phase of investigation (e.g., on a different timeline, for example) the model can also be useful. As noted, this study examined responses in Phase 1 of the pandemic (characterized by crisis), but as the governmental planned phases for re-opening the economy (Phase 2-limited reopenings; and Phase 3-relaxed government operating standards and a majority of businesses resuming operations) unfold, we will be able to use the D-A-I-C model to more fully examine nonprofit service responses for the homeless over time. We will also be able to more closely This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. consider the roles of the government partners in the homeless shelter system. Examining the factors affecting nonprofit and government innovations across a larger sample of cities using the D-A-I-C model is also planned. The dimensions of the model may also be reordered to create other interesting areas for investigation. Agency decision-making processes could be conceptualized by reordering the dimensions of the model from D-A-I-C to A-C-I-D; ambiguities, challenges, innovations, and disruptions. In this example, the model begins with ambiguity (e.g. How can we prepare if there is a spike in COVID-19 cases, or a geographic spread in the fall?), challenges (e.g., Which programs will need to be expanded or curtailed?), innovations (e.g., Leasing land for an encampment, or Which of our partners can help us with social media?), and, disruptions (e.g., Homeless children are in need of remote education in our shelter). What is learned feedbacks into the responses, and into the mission and goals area. Thus, the four dimensions in the model are both explanatory and can be reordered based on event, time, and unique circumstances. And, although the activities and roles of nonprofits and governments vary in other countries, we believe the model may be used in a wide range of circumstances. Second, our article offers useful insight about nonprofit and government coordination and collaboration including:  Organizational history helps create stability. Although the pandemic was new, collectively, the four nonprofits we investigated have established a long history of serving their communities. They have familiarity with the individuals they serve and experience in offering needed services. This provides a stable foundation from which to adapt and innovate in responding to government mandates or other disruptions and to continue to provide for their clients' needs.  Overcommunication reduces ambiguity. The ongoing daily communication led by the city with the homeless shelter system supported the dissemination of information and reduced its ambiguity. These communications helped shelters translate the practical application of public health guidelines and provided information about the homeless populations' needs and coordination of service responses. These findings illustrate the importance of building continual communications and fostering mutual respect.  Disruption does not mean distraction. All four organizations kept an eye on their mission. They persevered early in the pandemic, adapted and responded to community needs without the luxury of reliable information. The organizations chose to act even knowing that they could not anticipate all the needs or offer all their usual services. We acknowledge that this study relies on reviews of websites and interviews with officials in only a few nonprofit organizations in one metroplex area. And, the nonprofits presented here engage in service provision to only the most vulnerable of populations. However, there is value in the knowledge generated by what we learned from these of local nonprofits. There will be more lessons to be learned in future inquiries conducted over time and in the U.S. and globally. No one knows if, in the fall and winter, COVID-19 will spike again but there is no doubt that nonprofits' service continuity will be needed to provide services. This is a fact that permeates at any phase of the COVID-19 pandemic or would exist in any other crisis event. Note: Other examples of ambiguities include fewer staff and volunteers, increased numbers of people in need, limited ability to contact trace positive COVID-19 individuals in the shelter system, and conflicting media reports. The plus sign + denotes -adds to‖ the ambiguity while the minus signdenotes a -decrease‖ or subtraction from ambiguity. Must provide services to scale in convention center without access to additional supports and programs Note: Only primary disruptions, ambiguities, innovations and challenges are listed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. 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The need for strategic management of disasters Fighting against COVID-19 with agile, adaptive, and transparent government: Wicked policy problems and new governance challenges Crises and crisis management: Toward comprehensive government decision making Groupthinking in Government: A Study of Small Groups and Policy Failure Crisis decision making: The centralization thesis revisited Texas Workforce Commission Crisis and learning: A conceptual balance sheet Staging science: Authoritativeness and fragility of models and measurement in the COVID-19 crisis Alternative models of government-nonprofit sector relations: Theoretical and international perspectives. Nonprofit and voluntary sector quarterly We want to thank the reviewers for their insightful comments and the interviewees from four nonprofit organizations.Acknowledging these organization's realities now, and in the future, can help to provide information useful for investigating, anticipating and addressing future calamities. 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