Unemployment Community and Regional Rapid Response Plan

August 2020

The Coronavirus has drastically, and possibly permanently, altered traditional economic systems as we know them - in the MAPC region and across the globe. In partnership with organizations across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, MAPC has worked to evaluate the immediate critical needs and options for unemployed individuals and to create an action framework for economic security. This action framework is structured around the concept of a networked response, one that distributes actions across a range of actors to collectively leverage available resources and tools, to the short- and long-term recovery efforts.

MAPC identified the following action steps to coordinate and leverage all possible resources:

• Formalize communication systems between intergovernmental departments and outside organizations through codified MOU/MOAs
• Identify and implement a shared technology that enabled quick and responsive inter-agency organization and communication
• Expand the network of stakeholders currently involved in this work to include representatives from community-based organizations (CBOs), businesses, anchor institutions, transportation providers, public health departments, and others as needed
• Create targeted outreach materials for residents seeking social services and businesses seeking reopening information
• Coordinate efforts between public health departments, inflectional services departments, workforce providers, employee advocacy organizations, businesses, and economic development actors to ensure that businesses can open safely and smoothly in line with the state's reopening plan
• Create a unified intake system for social service assistance that can be used to document trends in need and populations who may need additional outreach
• Continue to advocate for update municipal-level unemployment data