One year later.
In loss, acceptance is often the hardest part—inviting the loss to settle, acknowledging its place, finding different steps to move forward. March 2021 marks one year since the pandemic settled into our lives. Unspeakably, millions of lives have been lost, 500,000 in the U.S. alone, including 23,000 New Jerseyans. It has taken its toll on all of us; deepening our own vulnerabilities, exposing societal inequities, and widening inequality across populations and communities. As social science researchers, we recognize that we don’t have the answers, but when needs arise we reach out and we help.
What we have uncovered through our conversations and connections to others over this past year is remarkable resilience and determination, especially on the part of direct service and supporting nonprofits in our region. It is reflected in what members of the Clayton Public School District and others are doing to adapt our education system to better recognize the impacts of trauma and the social and emotional learning needs of students. And it is what has emerged in more than 400 thoughtful and sincere submissions to the Community Conversations: New Jersey’s COVID-19 Storytelling Project coordinated by the New Jersey YMCA State Alliance and supported by our researchers.
At WRI, we continue to listen and strive to meet the evolving needs of organizations and communities throughout South Jersey. Flexibility and compassion are essential in a world of uncertainty and transition. This is what we have learned over this past year, it is what our work has shown.
We are also part of the respected and responsive research community that is Rutgers University. As a public university committed to advancing ground-breaking research for the benefit of our citizens, “Rutgers has been on the front lines, using the full power of its science, innovation, and determination to help make the world well again,” said Chancellor Brian Strom, who leads Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences. Rutgers has responded in ways big and small, most of which can be found on rutgers.edu/united. At WRI, we continue to join local and state projects aimed at collecting, documenting, synthesizing and analyzing the experiences of our fellow community members and partners. These insights are valuable and necessary for how we heal and move forward together.
The following quotes are some examples of the sentiments shared in recent projects focused on the impacts of COVID-19, many of which are nonprofits partners serving families on the front lines of this pandemic:
“Our lives changed dramatically in just one day.”
“Everyday things that were taken for granted changed. We are apart, but we're never alone.”
“Learning how to communicate and time management is very important. There’s a lot of pressure from society, jobs, themselves and families find it hard to give themselves grace. There’s a big concern about what to do with the kids; it's hard to be together all the time.”
“The first thing that changed was our delivery style.”
“We immediately had to shift our focus on food distribution...Most people who needed to use the food banks didn't have transportation. We partnered with local food banks that had to close their doors because they couldn’t socially distance their operations. We got volunteers and started delivering food every week to families.”
“Nobody was well prepared for what happened through all of this. But the relationships that we've had with these families have allowed us to work with them closely and serve their immediate needs.”
“Technology has been treated as a luxury for the people who can afford to access it. But nowadays having access to the internet is as crucial as having a roof over your head.”
“[W]e’re a typical program that thrives on interpersonal connections and face-to-face meetings, and in that manner it was whisked away from us overnight, and so our response has shifted... to more meeting the four walls - food, shelter, clothing, transportation. Those kinds of necessities.”
“We’ve tried our best to work with the teenagers to open up, but you know, because of their age they don’t communicate as much as mom or dad does or would like them to. But when they get out of this, they’re going to have to process their feelings and it’s going to be a traumatic experience. We just hope we’ll be able to support them through it.”
“I think it’s helped them to know we’re working from home too, so I think it’s just been helpful for parents to see we’re in our home, and it’s a little more casual, and they’re in their homes and we can see what’s going on for them. I think it’s made people feel bare and exposed in a way, because you’ve taken down those walls of professionalism. I think that’s helped take away the fear of reaching out from people who need help with something. I think it’s been weird but you know, it’s also been really helpful. We’re all being affected by the same thing and it’s peeled some of that [awkwardness] away."
''We're just here to support, refer, and help as much as we can.”
Read our most recent COVID-19 impacts paper here, or add your experience of the COVID-19 pandemic here as part of the Community Conversations: New Jersey’s COVID-19 Storytelling Project coordinated by the New Jersey YMCA State Alliance.
We always welcome questions, comments, and ideas. Please reach us at wrand@camden.rutgers.edu.
Warmest wishes this holiday season!
Stay safe and social distance,
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Darren Spielman
Executive Director |
Sarah Allred
Faculty Director |
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New Jersey’s First Lady Tammy Murphy shares more about the project.
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RESEARCH
Join fellow New Jerseyans in sharing your experience of the pandemic
Community Conversations: New Jersey’s COVID-19 Storytelling Project is a statewide, collective ethnography designed to gather and transform the personal accounts of New Jersey residents, especially those who have faced increased marginalization or greater risk as a result of the pandemic, into the building blocks of a more resilient, compassionate and Healthy New Jersey. It is a collaborative project coordinated by New Jersey YMCA State Alliance and the New Jersey Department of Health and funded through generous support from the Russell Berrie Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, New Jersey Department of Health and additional support from the New Jersey Health Initiatives. From November 2020 through April 1, 2021, this project aims to record and synthesize the full spectrum of residents’ experiences during COVID-19 through a qualitative approach that includes interviews, focus groups, social media dialogues, creative artworks, journaling, participatory observation, or document analysis. This first-of-its-kind project will memorialize the voices of New Jersey residents in all 21 counties, paying particular attention to those who are historically underrepresented and marginalized and may not be currently be represented in the state’s pandemic narrative. Read more about this project and submission guidelines here.
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RESEARCH
LISTENING, PROVIDING, EVOLVING: how direct service organizations are adapting and evolving
Given the uncertainty that families face because of the public health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, direct service work has become indispensable. WRI developed a qualitative evaluation project early in the pandemic to examine the range of responses from a group of direct service organizations as they acknowledged, responded to, and worked to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on the families and communities they serve. To reach that aim, we gathered data through twenty-seven interviews, conducted between May 6 and June 10, 2020, with staff and leadership at eight organizations in southern New Jersey which engage in direct service provision in their communities. Read the white paper.
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RESEARCH
COVID-19 Tracker
WRI plots the progress of COVID-19 across counties in New Jersey. The plots, inspired by those at The New York Times, show deaths (y-axis) on a logarithmic scale over time (x-axis). A logarithmic scale shows different growth rates as lines of different steepness. The page is updated twice per week on Tuesday and Friday at 9 a.m.
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