PEWL Offers Support to City and State Agencies During COVID-19 Transition
“During this most challenging and unparalleled time,” partners have been able to rely on our agility to support high-quality training in a virtual world.”
PEWL Offers Support
to City and State Agencies During COVID-19 Transition
Life changed drastically in March when New York City shut down in the wake of COVID-19. The pandemic spread rapidly through our city, closing businesses and schools, eliminating jobs for thousands, and forcing thousands more to figure out how to work from home. The city agencies that partner with CUNY SPS’s Office of Professional Education and Workplace Learning (PEWL) had to rapidly transition their organizations to an online environment and, in many cases, quickly redefine immediate priorities to ensure their clients and employees were supported in this new world.
Staff members from PEWL’s partnership with the NYC Department of Social Services and Office of Policy, Procedures and Training worked day and night to assist the Family Independence Administration Office (FIA). The FIA provides employment services, food stamps, cash assistance, and other income support services for City residents.
In the wake of the pandemic, PEWL staff not only assisted and moved its partners to exclusive online learning, but also supported the critical workflow shifts of its agency colleagues who needed to continue serving the city’s most vulnerable populations.
To keep up with the extraordinary increase in applications for cash assistance, food stamps, and Medicaid benefits, staff from other city agencies—employees not currently employed at FIA—were asked to halt their normal work and begin to interview New Yorkers in need. The PEWL team—Program Director Tanja Carter-Searls and
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developers/trainers Edie Young, Michelle Hulan, and Mylka Burgos— quickly marshaled resources to support this huge effort. Traditionally, this team has developed procedures and training materials to support employees at the Department of Homeless Services. At this critical time, in a matter of days, the group shifted priorities, learned the interview work of FIA, and created learning tools to support non-FIA employees. “We were flying the plane as we were building it,” Hulan said. “It was pretty intense. I would have to lock myself in a closet to get work done and sometimes my five-year-old would knock on the door and ask me for a snack.”
