Recovery and resilience: long-term work meets COVID-19
Six weeks ago, our planning work with LIFT JAX was chugging along. In January, we had officially made the decision with resident leaders to begin our work Out East. We were excited to get started, and we had divided up into four subcommittees to dream big about what we wanted to accomplish together for each pillar of the model. Planning work can be challenging, but there was a palpable sense of momentum as we moved into March.
You know the rest. Like seemingly everyone else in the country, we were blown away by how quickly things escalated. The ground shifted below us and we needed to take a moment to assess our approach in the moment. On March 23rd, we sent out a memo to the Steering Committee that said the following:
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting our lives in many ways, and this includes the work of LIFT JAX. We often remind ourselves that LIFT JAX is a long-term endeavor, and our planning process has focused on the steps we need to achieve results over the years to come. While we do not wish to lose sight of those long-term goals, we are also aware that the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have acute effects Out East as schools close, people lose jobs and income, and residents are driven into isolation to protect against the spread of the virus. It is within this context and our commitment to the community that we are looking for ways to provide immediate help in the short term.
At that point, community partners helped us identify three immediate priorities. The first is access to basic needs, and especially food. This remains a priority today. The second is around education and support for children. The Duval County Public School system has done incredible work to move entirely online for the remainder of the school year, in addition to continuing to offer services like tele-therapy and providing an astonishing 45,000 meals per day to students who need them. But going to school is a source of stability and security for many children, and we know that for all of the District’s best efforts, many children in neighborhoods like the Eastside will suffer disproportionately from the pandemic. The third priority is access to information. We know that many residents in the Eastside and elsewhere will need to tap into supportive resources to help stay afloat during this time, and so there is an opportunity to develop channels to reach residents with reliable, timely information. (We will continue to share resources as we become aware of them on our Community Resources page.)
We continue to pursue opportunities to address immediate needs, while also keep our eye on our long-term vision of success. As we have worked to respond during this time, we have developed a set of questions to help guide us:
What are the immediate needs in the community?
What role does LIFT JAX play in ensuring those immediate needs are addressed (which often includes connecting with partners who are leading efforts to address immediate needs)?
When possible, how can LIFT JAX respond in the short-term in a way that builds the foundation for long-term success?
The third question seems particularly important during this time, especially as we are beginning to see the disproportionate effects of the crisis on communities like the Eastside. While we alleviate the pain right now, we need to be building a stronger foundation so that the next crisis doesn’t set us back yet again. Carol Naughton of Purpose Built Communities shared a quote with us that struck a chord. We haven’t been able to find out to whom we can attribute this bit of genius and inspiration, but we’ll leave it with you here.
It would be heartbreaking if the best we could do is recover to fragility. We need to be able to recover to strength. We need to be able to recover to resiliency.