Our Impact During the Pandemic

The last year has been extremely difficult on our community with many impacted by the economic hardships and tragedies of Covid-19. While many entities worked remotely from the safety of their homes, AccessCal kept its doors open to deliver critical programs in-person to the vulnerable individuals and families. We knew our community needed us most at this time and so we strategically pivoted our client service delivery model to stay safe during the pandemic. Our staff served on the frontlines providing services including case management, employment services, emergency financial assistance, immigration and citizenship, and much more.  We ensured both the safety of our staff and clients by implementing CDC safety guidelines.

Our large group workshops were conducted remotely via zoom to keep the community engaged. We held virtual sessions on a series of mental health topics. We hosted our first virtual conference “Peace of Mind,” which historically has been provided in person but was shifted to an online platform. Additionally, we conducted multiple drive-thru and curb-side pick-up distributions for basic necessities including food, diapers, school supplies and much more. 

Our team advocated for the community and worked tirelessly to prevent any member from being cut off from services and resources. We witnessed an increase in our clients during the pandemic as they were struggling from loss of employment, housing insecurity, food insecurity, and mental health challenges. We partnered with the United Way of Orange County and received CARES funding to deliver additional emergency financial assistance for rent/mortgage assistance. We also partnered with the Anaheim Community Foundation to provide grocery store food vouchers to clients in need. For our elderly clients, who suffered from intense loneliness, we provided chromebooks at no-cost. We served over 12,000 clients with 65,000 plus units of services.

With the vaccine roll-out this year, we helped our clients register for their vaccine appointment starting with the elderly. We also shared information about the benefits of the vaccine across our social media platforms. In partnership with United Way of Orange County, we hosted a pop-up Covid-19 vaccine drive at our office.

Each and every member of our team, whether it is our AmeriCorps members, therapists, or administrative staff, worked with passion and diligence to alleviate the stress caused by this pandemic. We are thankful to our supporters who stood by us as we served on the frontlines to support the most vulnerable members of our community.