There has been a whirl of activity behind CRC’s closed doors over the past eight weeks to ensure financial and operational stability. During that period, we focused on improving CRC’s financial position and its service delivery model. We are pleased to announce success in both areas.
CRC obtained a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program administered by the Small Business Administration. We expect that most of the loan will be forgiven under the yet-to-be-finalized rules. The PPP loan proved pivotal to CRC’s ability to retain its small group of employees and allow them to plan and design a revised service delivery model that complements CRC’s traditional platform.
CRC’s longstanding service delivery model is based on personal connection. In the past, group programs were regularly held in CRC’s conference room; one-on-one advising sessions were held with advisors in small offices. We were justifiably proud of that model. It created strong personal bonds between CRC and its members. A tidal wave of forces now requires that we vastly expand the portfolio of virtual services.
We have been experimenting and discussing how to expand virtual services over the last two years which gave us a fortuitous head start. Nonetheless, nobody contemplated the compressed timetable over the past few weeks to offer webinars, Zoom advisory sessions and other virtual interactions. CRC will continue to offer traditional in-person services to members, depending on demand and the public health environment.
Designing efficient, flexible, secure and controllable interfaces for virtual services is a complex and time-consuming task. The hard work and long hours by CRC’s team are allowing us to introduce an expanded portfolio of online programs and resources this month. The timing is fortunate, as we expect a large influx of new members in the near future due to high unemployment caused by the pandemic. In the absence of virtual service options, we would most likely be unable to accommodate many of them (
e.g
., our conference room might be limited to a handful of people to satisfy best practices for social distancing).
We are most thankful to CRC’s many friends who stepped-up with added financial support over the past few weeks. The added support is allowing us to keep the resources needed to improve CRC’s service delivery model. Ironically, Covid-19 has made us stronger and we look forward to serving job seekers during these unprecedented times.
Kristina Phillips
Executive Director
Thomas C. Ratchford
Board President
