Oral history interview with Julianne Pannelli, 2020
Abstract
In the first session, Julianne Pannelli speaks about her role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in her capacity as co-chair of New York City Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NYCVOAD). She compares response to the pandemic to responses to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and various hurricanes. She discusses the relationships between city-level and federal governm ent agencies and nonprofits. Some dimensions of this emergency that she addresses are information distribution, social distancing, Zoom communication, and food insecurity.
In the second session, Pannelli provides updates about workload, Zoom call volume, and returning to in-person work. She describes conversations at NYCVOAD in this period, including structural changes to the organization and discussions about racial justice following the murder of George Floyd. She discusses work logistics, inter-agency dynamics, the need for rental assistance, and the New York City Homebase program. She also describes the pandemic's impacts on her personally, including interpersonal dynamics, dining habits, and masking
Julianne Pannelli is the Director of Special Projects for a nonprofit agency and also the the co-chair of New York City Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NYCVOAD). At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pannelli had worked in disaster prepare dness and response recovery for seventeen years. She served as disaster case manager with people who were impacted by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and with Hurricane Katrina evacuees
Note
Interviewed by Ryan Hagen on April 10 and October 22, 2020
Note (Provenance)
Julianne Pannelli, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023