In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many human services programs rapidly shifted their service delivery from primarily or exclusively in person to mostly or entirely virtual (via phone, video call, text, email, etc.) with varying degrees of perceived success. Some services (e.g., emergency shelter, distribution of food/diapers) simply must be administered in person. However, other human services can be offered either virtually or in person. Based on findings from interviews with 56 program administrators and frontline workers across a range of human services programs in summer 2020, this brief highlights tradeoffs and considerations in the relative ease or difficulty of delivering various types of human services virtually.
Return to Virtual Services landing page.