Title
Discussion on COVID-19 Impact on Social Services
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To: Social Service Human Relations Board
From: Eric Fonstein, Development Manager
BACKGROUND
COVID-19 is a respiratory illness spreading worldwide. The California Department of Public Health issued guidance for mass gatherings on March 7. The Alameda County Department of Public Health subsequently issued a more restrictive shelter-in-place order on March 16. As new directives continue to be issued on a daily basis, COVID-19 implications for the City of Alameda’s social services are numerous, particularly for vulnerable populations, such as seniors and those that are homeless.
DISCUSSION
COVID-19 has had immediate impact on SSHRB-related events and activities scheduled for this spring:
• The City and AUSD cancelled its annual Youth Career and Job Fair, scheduled for March 19. The City and AUSD are working to provide summer youth employment information on-line, so that it is available to AUSD Career Center managers and interested high school students.
• The City postponed the annual Season for Nonviolence speech contest, scheduled for March 21. The contest will be rescheduled when AUSD resumes its event programing.
• Many of the community events which the City planned to use to promote the 2020 Census have been cancelled. The City is working with Alameda County to quickly implement other grassroots public education tools that do not rely on face-to-face communication and mass gatherings.
• The City also postponed its Annual Community Services Luncheon, scheduled for April 29.
City staff has invited representatives from private social welfare organizations to share with the Board their perspectives of COVID-19’s implications on the delivery of needed services to local residents.
RECOMMENDATION
Discussion on COVID-19 Impacts on City of Alameda’s Social Services.
By,
Eric Fonstein, Development Manager