The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
Through the pandemic, A Wider Circle has pivoted our service delivery model to continue meeting clients’ needs, adding virtual programming and reworking on-site safety protocols to continue providing responsive, impactful support.
For example, as job seekers faced a challenging economic landscape due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, A Wider Circle’s Workforce Development Program quickly translated programming to a remote environment, offering virtual workshops and individual support on a range of topics, with a particular focus on emotional intelligence, labor market navigation, and networking. Through these workshops and individual sessions, we recognized a need to shift away from a purely “teaching” mindset and instead focus on engaging clients where they are, providing career counseling and coaching, emotional and peer support, and sharing expertise around specific, client-identified tasks related to their career development. With this need in mind, we pivoted our services in 2021 to expand our long-term job readiness programming, and help job seekers identify, obtain, and maintain employment consistent with achieving financial stability.
To deepen the level of support we provide to job seekers, we built a virtual job-seeking community, developed an array of online workshops, and a recruited roster of volunteer coaches and experts. We also hired a full-time Career Counselor to provide additional one-on-one support. Through this more individualized and intensive programming, we provided support to job seekers as they faced a rapidly changing (and extremely challenging) job market, helping them to network, apply for, and interview for jobs remotely. For those clients who lost employment during the pandemic, we provided assistance understanding and accessing unemployment and other benefits, and worked alongside them to identify strategies for re-entry into the workforce.