InPractice: Lessons for and from Practitioners

As part of the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies project, researchers conducted virtual interviews with staff members at 10 workforce programs to learn how they used technology to adapt their services during the COVID-19 pandemic. This blog post examines five adaptations they made.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced leaders of the Male Student Success Initiative at the Community College of Baltimore County to create an entirely online environment for a formerly hands-on program. Here are some measures the program took to deepen its commitment to supporting and mentoring its students.

The InPractice blog is MDRC’s place for sharing resources and tips developed by practitioners, for practitioners. This review of the past year’s posts shows how our program partners adjusted to difficult, uncertain conditions and continued to deliver services during the worst of the pandemic.

Home visiting programs like Child First are a vital support system for families coping with challenges such as homelessness, poverty, drug abuse, and maternal depression. As the COVID-19 crisis continues, Child First teams have transitioned to telehealth technology to maintain their relationships with families and provide them with much-needed services.

Monisha Gibson, director and CEO of the Maritime Odyssey Preschool in Norwalk, Connecticut, discusses the program’s work with a vulnerable student and family population during the coronavirus pandemic. She describes how Odyssey adapted to continue its holistic approach: prenatal support, food distribution, connections to mental health services, and quality preschool.

A recent (virtual) discussion with representatives of 13 schools, districts, and programs that provide work-based learning found each of them seizing unexpected opportunities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The pivot from hands-on experiential learning to virtual instruction is varied and evolving at these organizations, which offer internships, apprenticeships, job shadowing, and other work-related programs.

Here are MDRC’s Top Five Tips for social service and educational programs adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic. They focus on ensuring staff members’ and participants’ personal safety so that agencies can continue providing high-quality services and support while working remotely. They also include guidance on protecting participant confidentiality.

Bridgette Gray, chief impact officer at the sector-based training and career advancement program Per Scholas, shares tips for retooling in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The organization successfully transitioned 521 students and 200 staff members to a virtual training environment over a single, remarkable week in March 2020.

Building connections among staff members can feel especially challenging in a time when remote work and video conference calls make up most of our working day. Icebreaker activities are fun, useful tools that managers, supervisors, training facilitators, and coaches can use to enliven meetings and strengthen team and group bonds.

Programs across the country must adjust to working remotely while serving clients in the context of COVID-19, and it’s a challenge — especially if your work typically depends on in-person contact. Here are some tips to help run remote group meetings with staff, stakeholders, and participants in this uncertain, unsettling time.