Coronavirus could plunge Pierce County’s fragile social safety net into ‘financial ruin’
In the best of times, Tacoma and Pierce County service providers describe the area’s social safety net as a frayed and often underfunded patchwork, doing its best to serve the vulnerable populations that rely on it.
So what happens to that precarious safety net in the worst of times?
With the response to the state’s outbreak of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 quickly ramping up Wednesday, it’s a fear many service providers and de facto service providers — including public schools, local governments and area nonprofits — are being forced to grapple with like never before.
If the dominoes start to fall and adequate contingency plans aren’t in place soon, some nonprofit leaders told The News Tribune this week, the negative impacts could be long-lasting.
Other agencies said that while tough decisions are being made in adherence to evolving recommendations from state officials and Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, they’re identifying creative ways to serve the community during a uniquely challenging time.
‘The devastation of our social services network’
As The News Tribune has previously reported, local homeless service providers and area shelters are working with officials from local and state health departments, along with city and county governments, to respond to the crisis. So far, much of the local effort has focused on prevention efforts at shelters and the dissemination of accurate health information.
The area’s unhoused population, according to Dr. Anthony Chen, director of Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, is particularly “vulnerable” to COVID-19.
With a main office in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood, nonprofit Associated Ministries is contracted to oversee the county’s coordinated entry and diversion program for individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
The agency, according to Associated Ministries executive director Mike Yoder, is getting a firsthand look at the wide-ranging effects of the local coronavirus response.
Already, Yoder said, Associated Ministries has been forced to adapt the way it serves its clients, which includes between 1,500 and 1,800 homeless people who have benefit checks delivered directly to the agency, picking them up in person.
With a staff of 30, many of whom meet daily with clients, Yoder says increased screening and hand-washing precautions are in place. He also noted that several employees with specific health concerns have been reassigned to phone-based work, at least for the time being.
A larger concern, Yoder said, was the uncertain future.
Associated Ministries, he said, relies heavily on contracts with the county, state and city, and those contracts often include monthly or quarterly stipulations related to outcomes and client contacts.
If the effort to contain the spread of coronavirus forces Associated Ministries to shut down or greatly reduces its ability to connect with the clients it’s contractually obligated to serve, what then?
What happens to the clients who depend on Associated Ministries? What happens to the agency’s social workers, many of whom, Yoder said, “don’t have the luxury of taking a month off work” if it means not getting paid.
Yoder said Wednesday he doesn’t know, exactly, and he’s increasingly concerned.
“We could very, very quickly get into financial ruin,” Yoder said. “I’m so concerned about the devastation of our social services network.
“The social service system could be devastated in a month or two when we get back up to speed. We would have to rebuild our homeless system from scratch.”
Families and students ‘close to the edge of survival’
On Wednesday, Seattle Public Schools announced a district-wide closure in response to the local COVID-19 outbreak.
At the time, the school closure was expected to last at least two weeks, according to The Seattle Times.
On Wednesday, school district spokesperson Dan Voelpel said a similar decision had not been made, though by Thursday, a pending announcement by Governor Jay Inslee was expected to change that.
On Wednesday, Voelpel said the district is adhering from a directive from Inslee to develop a contingency plan for a possible closure, and has relied on “the health experts at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department” to help guide it.
Voelpel also acknowledged that Tacoma schools does far more than educate children, including providing essential meals and other services.
When it comes to the prospect of a prolonged closure or other potential coronavirus responses, the district, Voelpel said, is “just at the beginning of thinking through how Tacoma Public Schools can continue to serve our community during this crisis.”
If and when the district is eventually forced to close?
Voelpel was blunt about the potential implications.
More than half of the district’s 30,000 students qualify for free or reduced lunch, Voelpel said, while more than 1,400 are considered homeless under the federal McKinney Vento definition.
As Neal Morton of the Seattle Times reported, more than 4,500 Tacoma students have disabilities.
Voelpel predicted that Tacoma and “other urban low-income districts will see a ripple effect far beyond not educating children,” in the event of a prolonged school closure.
“We have so many families in Tacoma Public Schools who live close to the edge of survival. If those families have to stay home to care for children and cannot work, we fear many of them will be thrown into homelessness,” Voelpel said.
“I have no doubt that many negative consequences that we can’t even anticipate right now will emerge,” he added.
Already, 42-year-old Katrina Collie has gotten a taste of what school closures in Tacoma will mean for many local parents.
Collie has four children at home, including an 8-year-old second grader at Mary Lyon Elementary, which has been closed due to coronavirus since Monday.
A self-employed insurance agent, Collie said she doesn’t get paid if she doesn’t work.
She’s been at home with her child this week, and knows that might be the case for much longer.
To get by, Collie said she’s been eating into her savings — including her tax return. Her partner works, and she estimates the household can likely holdout through March, and maybe a little longer if it’s lucky.
“I don’t have sick leave or anything like that, so I have to work,” Collie said. “I’m OK now, but I’m looking at when that (savings) runs out, I have no idea what I’m going to do.”
In addition to Mary Lyon, Sheridan and Lowell elementary schools have also experienced temporary coronavirus-related closures, as has Wilson High School.
As The News Tribune reported, the district’s Nutrition Services Department has worked this week to provide free student meals at the elementary schools.
In the event Tacoma public schools are forced to close over coronavirus concerns, Voelpel detailed some potential roles the district might continue to play.
“For us here at Tacoma Public Schools, we will work with the Governor’s Office and OSPI to explore everything we can possibly do to support our community if we are ordered into an extended shutdown,” Voelpel said, adding that schools might serve as daycare centers for children of healthcare workers.
“I don’t know that anyone can give you a global assessment of the implications of an extended school closure in a community or a region,” Voelpel said.
“It’s unprecedented.”
Area nonprofits facing financial ‘consequences’
Joining Inslee at a press conference Wednesday morning announcing a three-county ban on large public events, Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier alluded to the many looming challenges facing nonprofits.
At the same time, the county executive also reiterated the larger priority of protecting public health and in particular vulnerable populations.
For some important local agencies, Dammeier acknowledged that the new public health restrictions will undoubtedly have “consequences.”
Dammeier noted that the Emergency Food Network — which distributes needed food throughout the county — had planned to hold its annual breakfast fundraiser Thursday morning.
According to an Emergency Food Network spokesperson, the agency’s annual recognition breakfast — which had an income goal of $50,000 — will not be rescheduled.
Emergency Food Network CEO Michelle Douglas says the agency is hopeful the planned fundraising will now occur online.
The cancellation was one of many that have already started to impact the bottom line of local nonprofits.
Northwest Spay and Neuter — a nonprofit that provides low-cost spay and neuter services for dogs and cats — was recently forced to cancel its annual “Whiskers Wine and Dine” fundraising event.
According to executive director Melanie Rushforth, roughly half of the agency’s budget typically comes from money raised at the fundraiser dinner.
An incomplete list of other nonprofits and charitable groups that have recently been forced to cancel or reschedule important events include Girl Scouts, Citizens for a Healthy Bay, and Tacoma Arts Live — which announced Thursday it will also lay off some of its part-time staff.
Seniors, refugees and immigrants also impacted
Area schools, food banks and homeless service providers are far from alone in dealing with the impacts of COVID-19 and the local response to the outbreak.
On Tuesday, as a precautionary measure, the city of Tacoma closed two of its senior centers.
According to city spokesperson Megan Snow, the Beacon senior center on South 13th Street and the Lighthouse senior center near Stewart Middle School in the city’s south end typically provide social and physical wellness activities as well as regular meals.
The decision to close the senior centers, Snow said, was not taken lightly.
“Protecting the community’s health and safety is our top priority,” Snow explained, noting that the elderly and those with potentially compromised immune systems — two populations served by senior centers — are vulnerable to COVID-19.
During the senior center closures, which will be reevaluated at the end of the month, Snow said the city is working with various partners to make sure meals will be available for pickup.
Even before the senior centers were ordered closed, Snow said attendance at Beacon and Lighthouse had dropped by roughly half.
Snow said the drop off is “very much a signal from our participants that they don’t feel safe.”
On Hilltop, where Tacoma Community House has served the area’s large immigrant and refugee population for more than 100 years, executive director Lauren Walker Lee said fallout from the spread of the coronavirus is also being felt.
Every day, Lee said, Tacoma Community House typically serves 200 clients and students. The agency’s services include education — like GED preparation and English language classes — as well as immigration assistance, citizenship classes, employment services and legal advocacy.
Earlier this month, Walker Lee said Tacoma Community House put a number of measures in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus and protect clients and staff.
On Wednesday, Lee said the agency made the difficult — but necessary — decision to largely close its doors until March 30, asking its employees to work from home during the interim.
Thankfully, Walker Lee said, Tacoma Community House classes were already scheduled to be on spring break between March 30 and April 10, lessening the potential negative impact to affected students. In anticipation of a possible closure, Walker Lee said curriculum had already been “accelerated” over the last two weeks.
Walker Lee also said that most scheduled appointments with clients will be conducted by phone or video conferencing, when possible.
Date sensitive or emergency cases will be handled in person, “on a contingency triage basis,” according to Tacoma Community House spokesperson Tim Close.
The agency’s goal, Walker Lee said, was for services to remain available during this time.
“This is not meant to diminish our services,” Walker Lee said. “It’s just doing a business model differently, hopefully for a short period of time.”
“We’re learning to do things differently, and how to deal with crisis,” Walker Lee added.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 1:31 PM.
