Jordan Covid Q3
The crisis assistance services in our local communities that most people go to for help, including domestic violence shelters, trauma recovery centers, reentry service providers and community-based non-profit and faith based services, were already overburdened before the COVID-19 outbreak. Now, many of them are facing complete breakdown without adequate capacity to prevent the risk of exposure among people in need. It is critical that local officials work to expand emergency shelter options for people who don’t have safety, including victims of domestic violence and gun violence survivors. We also must increase the amount of reentry housing available to people exiting the justice system without shelter. A strategy of sheltering in place won’t have the effect we need it to unless everyone in our communities has a safe place to do so. Local leaders also need to ensure that critical community services can move online and that local service providers receive technology equipment and free or low cost broadband, mobile phone and data services so people in need of services can access virtual help and crisis assistance while continuing to safely shelter in place. Local jurisdictions also need to expand crisis assistance navigator hotlines and tele-wellness checks so vulnerable people can continue to have access to care.
