As the human services field continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, OPRE appreciates the flexibility, patience, and creativity of our contractors and grantees, and our programmatic partners at the federal, state, local, and tribal levels. In addition to working with our partners to make practical adjustments to preserve the progress and value of our ongoing work within the constraints imposed by the pandemic, OPRE has also been working to capture information on the pandemic-related experiences of ACF programs and the children and families they serve. In keeping with our mission of building knowledge to improve human services, three overarching questions have framed our pandemic-related learning:
- How do the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery efforts affect ACF programs and service delivery?
- How do current and potential recipients of ACF services experience the COVID-19 pandemic?
- How do OPRE technical assistance efforts contribute to evidence building and program improvement during the COVID-19 pandemic?
We wrote about OPRE’s approach to responding to challenges and embracing learning opportunities from COVID-19 in a July 2020 blog post, and shared examples of how our projects are answering these learning questions in a March 2021 update.
Resources and information for ACF mission-related issues and programs affected by COVID-19 can be found at /coronavirus.