This Viewpoint essay examines the service delivery responses of nonprofit organizations that offer homeless support services amid the COVID‐19 pandemic. Government mandates and severe human needs have forced nonprofits to adapt quickly. Literature reviews provide little information about how nonprofits should manage service continuity under pandemics. Data collected from websites and interviews with nonprofits executives provide an understanding of adaptations and innovations. The study uses a crisis response model—“Disruptions‐Ambiguities‐Innovations‐Challenges” (DAIC)—to demonstrate how social service nonprofits are responding to challenges under COVID‐19. Lessons learned are useful for scholars and practitioners to understand ways nonprofits have remained agile and innovative.
Most cities, counties, and neighborhoods are not designed for an aging population. By providing a range of services to all residents, Lifelong Communities allow individuals to age in place. Although the Lifelong Communities Initiative is based on established guiding principles, little information exists regarding the realities of moving from policy to implementation. The Atlanta Regional Commission conducted a case study in Mableton, Georgia, and found successful implementation requires a combination of support from local citizen groups and government. The Atlanta Regional Commission is replicating these best practices in other communities and providing support to those aspiring to launch or expand Lifelong Communities.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to juxtapose chaos theory with organizational learning theory to examine whether public organizations co-evolve into a new order or rather institutionalize newly gained knowledge in times of a highly complex public health crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design utilizes the results from a survey administered to 200 emergency management and public health officials in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.
Findings
The findings of this paper suggest that public entities were more likely to represent organizational learning through the coordination of professionals, access to quality information, and participation in daily communication. Leadership was associated with the dissemination of knowledge through the system rather than the development of new standard operating procedures (as suggested by chaos theory and co-evolution).
Research limitations/implications
There are limitations to this study given the purposive sample of emergency management and public health officials employed in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.
Practical implications
The authors find that public organizations that learn how to respond to unprecedented events through reliance on structure, leadership, and culture connect decision makers to credible information resulting in organizational learning.
Social implications
As a result, public administrators need to focus and rely on their organization’s capacity to receive and retain information in a crisis.
Originality/value
This research contributes to our understanding of organizational learning in public organizations under highly complex public health situations finding decisions makers rely on both organizational structure and culture to support the flow of credible information.
Atlanta, like most other parts of the nation, is experiencing a dramatic increase in its older adult population. To support healthy aging, it is important to create lifelong communities where people can live throughout their lifetime and where older adults can age in place. The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), serving as the Area Agency on Aging and the Metropolitan Planning Organization, developed the Lifelong Communities Initiative as a comprehensive effort to help communities in the metro area respond to the diverse needs of a changing population. To more fully realize the Lifelong Community concept for the Atlanta region, ARC sponsored an intensive design workshop that produced several major breakthroughs in what makes a community truly "lifelong." This article will describe ARC's Lifelong Community Initiative, the planning process, the outcomes of the charrette process, and present the community of Mableton as a case study to implement a lifelong community.
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