Institute for Nonprofit Innovation and Excellence hosts virtual town hall

April 3, 2020

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) -- The Institute for Nonprofit Innovation and Excellence hosted a virtual town hall on Friday morning for local non-profits, addressing challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Panelists included Tim Center (Capital Area Community Action Agency), Jim McShane (CareerSource Capital Region), Meg Baldwin (Refuge House) and Kathleen Spehar (Council on Culture & Arts.)

Mayor John Dailey was also at the Town Hall, urging listeners to stay home if possible.

Meg Baldwin of Reguge House explained that the pandemic has created new issues for domestic violence and sexual assault survivors.

She says abusers are likely now at home, and children could be in danger as well.

She says survivors or no longer able to call the Refuge House hotline as often.

Mondays are usually the busiest day; with an abuser away at work and children at school, survivors have alone time to make the call. Refuge House usually receives about 40 calls on Mondays; this past Monday they received only five.

"Right away, that moment we knew that we were in trouble and needed to quickly be thinking about how best to adapt access to our services to these very very different and dangerous circumstances," said Baldwin.

Other non-profits discussed their concerns and took questions from the audience of over 60 listeners.

The Institue for Nonprofit Innovation and Excellence has resources for non-profits on its website during the COVID-19 pandemic;