Supporting our Partners throughout the Region
Photo: Andrew Wiand, enFocus Executive Director, conducts a Monday morning "Stand Up" Zoom call with the Fellow team during coronavirus quarantine
enFocus April 27, 2020 · 5 min read
The effects of the COVID-19 quarantine have been swift and far reaching for individuals and organizations across the region and beyond. enFocus Fellows working for private companies, schools, colleges and Universities, local government, healthcare, and social services organizations across the region have experienced an unprecedented shift in normal activities. The changes for organizations, from shifting teaching in the classroom to eLearning or halting production of a product due to stay home orders, are surfacing critical needs for leadership to solve, both now and in the future.
We feel privileged that we are able to continue to sustain our program and provide key support to the community during this time. In total, our Fellows are working on over 40 projects for over 30 regional organizations. Projects range from improvements in current operations and process to the development of novel services and activities across many sectors. Right now, our Fellows are dedicated to meeting the needs of our sponsors while working from home. We also have the unique ability to identify and create solutions across the region as we all encounter unique challenges. Fellows quickly become talent with new purpose that can provide key capacity for special projects to be completed for sponsors and new partners. As a result, there have been many examples of pivots across our projects to new activities and special initiatives developed working with leaders across the community.
The following are a few examples of Fellows assisting local organizations in meaningful ways to combat the effects of the crisis:
Assisting local government in developing an internet access map for public use in times of crisis
Supporting school systems by analyzing student eLearning outcomes
Assisting local social service providers in developing financial models for future scenarios
Connecting manufacturing companies with requests from economic development organizations for medical and other equipment
Assisting entrepreneurs and early stage companies in business planning after the pandemic ends
Developing a website with central information to help the public pursue assistance
We anticipate that our war with COVID-19 will persist for some time and we look forward to responding to the needs of organizations as they continue to arise and when the economy begins to recover. Our vision when we founded enFocus was to create an ecosystem of young professionals that would solve problems and create programs and startups across communities. We never imagined a global pandemic that would force our communities into shelter; but times of crisis make our mission and vision all the more important. Response, careful planning and strong leadership across communities is the only way we will achieve a stronger tomorrow.