Impact of COVID19 on Low to Moderate Income Communities in the United States

The current public health and economic crisis has had a disproportionate negative impact on historically underserved communities and communities of color. Stabilization and recovery are slowly happening, but to foster an inclusive recovery it is important to monitor the conditions and needs of the organizations serving the most severely impacted communities. The National COVID-19 Community Impact Survey was designed to track the significant impact the pandemic has had on Low to Moderate Income (LMI) communities in the United States. The survey was implemented four times in 2020 (April; n=3897, June; n=1869, August; n=1464, October; n=1127). Responses were collected through a convenience sampling method that relied on contact databases to identify representatives of nonprofit organizations, financial institutions, government agencies and other community organizations. These representatives were invited by email to participate in an online survey. In each round of the survey, most of the organizations reported that the disruption on the communities they serve had been significant with employment loss and effect on businesses as the top impact. The impacts were reported to have gotten worse throughout the survey period. Initially, organizations had an expectation for quicker recovery but with each iteration more respondents had a longer (>12 months) expected recovery time. Non-profit organizations were most likely to report significant disruption compared to financial institutions. Similarly organizations in urban areas reported more significant disruptions and difficulty in recovery than those in rural areas. Finally, organizations serving Black and Latino communities reported more significant disruption and difficulty in recovery compared to organizations serving white communities. Due to the differences in the composition of respondents we cannot compare the results however, each survey provides an insightful and informative snapshot into how COVID-19 was affecting people and organizations. These insights can inform policy and programmatic responses to an inclusive and equitable recovery to the pandemic.