While many of our friends and followers know just how significantly the pandemic has affected New Hope’s operations and the individuals we serve, there is another part of our New Hope community who has suffered just as significantly – our associates. Just as many of our neighbors have faced additional hardship over the last several months, members of #TeamNewHope watched as their spouses, partners and other family members lost their jobs or saw reduced wages. Many of them lost reliable childcare or, at the least, faced major changes to their children’s education. Many of our caregivers have worried about the risk that they posed to their families after working a shift with an individual who had COVID-19. Despite all of these worries, concerns and hardships, our associates have persevered and remained committed to serving others despite the risk and sacrifice that it requires.

As we began to process the full effect of the pandemic on our teams, New Hope expanded our Associate Financial Assistance (AFA) program to remove some of the barriers to support. The AFA program offers interest-free emergency loans to associates in need to help pay for unexpected emergency expenses such as car repairs, utility assistance and more. The funds which provide these loans were generously given by our partners at Ascension St. Vincent, our Board members and our associates who are always willing to help each other out. Since removing some of the barriers to access these loans in the spring of 2020, New Hope has provided nearly 70 interest-free emergency loans to our associates as they work to support both the individuals they serve at work and the families that they love at home.

Learn more about how we support our associates and find browse our current openings to join #TeamNewHope in 2021.