Online COVID-19 guide
♦ Alli Mitchell will make daily calls to help coordinate Rome and Floyd County resources.
The United Way of Rome & Floyd County has posted an online coronavirus resource directory that can be updated in real time as the community adapts to its ever-changing new normal.
Accessed through the same URL — uwrome.org/guide — as its Resource & Information Directory and its Community Resource & Engagement Guide, the Coronavirus Response Resource & Information Directory provides information specific to the community’s response to COVID-19.
So far consisting of only one page listing free food distributions, it does provide a link to the Rome Floyd Chamber’s “COVID-19 Business Triangle” website. That site offers businesses information on protecting employees and applying for financial assistance or loans to keep the lights on.
“I keep seeing stuff on Facebook that people are sharing that is already outdated,” local United Way CEO Alli Mitchell said Wednesday. “It’s become toxic information because it’s not updated. So I thought providing the community with one place to get the latest information that can be updated whenever needed would be something useful.”
Mitchell said she’s already added four or five items and removed other bits of information that no longer exist since the directory went live Wednesday.
Anyone with information or valuable resources pertaining to the coronavirus that should be added to the directory can email it to info@uwrome.org, according to the directory’s online cover page.
In an effort to remain as proactive as possible as the resource landscape constantly changes, Mitchell also plans to start a daily, invitation-only conference call with local nonprofits, direct service providers, emergency response personnel and members of the Interagency Council on Poverty & Homelessness to get the latest updates for the good of the community.
“The goal of the daily call is to help prevent duplication of services and to make sure communication is happening between service providers,” Mitchell said. “It’s a great way to find out if there are any resources that need to be elevated and then attach a plan for that.”
Keeping track of those needs and possible solutions that can then be added to the online guides and directories is something Mitchell feels she’s uniquely qualified to do.
“I have a ton of experience with this sort of thing from when I worked for the Red Cross,” she said. “We want our agencies to be able to deliver their missions they’re tasked they the void.” are with not shouting and to know into Continuing for homelessness, to find solutions in particular, and trying to prevent more residents from becoming homeless due to the current economic crisis will remain a top priority, she said.
Which is why she’s excited about the chamber’s COVID-19: Business Triage website at www.romega. com/business-triage. “As we know, the majority of people out there are living paycheck to paycheck as it is,” she said. “The hope is that businesses have at least enough in their coffers to not leave employees destitute.” There also is a link on the Rome-floyd Coronavirus Response Resources page for displaced food service workers: https://thegivingkitchen.org/covid19.