What's Next?

The following guest column by Gulf Coast President|CEO Mark Pritchett appeared in the May 16 edition of SRQ Daily:

Uncertainty remains a defining trait of COVID-19 and how communities are responding to it. From the virus itself (Is it safe to go out? Will a second wave hit?) to the economic and social impacts (Will those awaiting unemployment benefits get them? What happens after Florida’s eviction moratorium ends?).

Together with our donors and in partnership with Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation, Gulf Coast Community Foundation has been investing in relief for overwhelmed families, stretched service providers, and strained systems. Now, more than six weeks into our COVID-19 Response Initiative, we’ve started seeing shifts in funding requests as nonprofits look toward longer-term stabilization and planning. At the same time, basic needs remain unmet for many in our region, and new people fall into crisis each day.

Take two grants we awarded last week: One will help Centerstone Florida hire new IT staff to improve access, effectiveness, and sustainability of virtual mental-health counseling for thousands of high-need clients. The other covers materials so a group of Suncoast Science Center volunteers can make more face shields and masks needed by local health-care facilities. That dichotomy of capacity building for the “next normal” and urgent response to an emergency need exemplifies our current state. The COVID-19 crisis is unlike other disasters or downturns we’ve dealt with, and learned from, before. Discrete phases of response, recovery, and rebuilding won’t apply like they do when a hurricane blows through.

Read the rest of Mark's column in SRQ Daily