Partnership with the city of Memphis, Tennessee, puts people to work while providing vital information to underserved populations
MEMPHIS, Tenn., and BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – April 9, 2020 – Vaco, a talent and solutions firm that provides consulting, contract and direct hire solutions to more than 40 markets around the globe, is partnering with the city of Memphis, Tennessee, to provide vital information on testing and other important outreach in the midst of the escalating coronavirus pandemic.
The remote COVID-19 response call center is staffed by individuals displaced from their work due to the virus and targets the city’s underserved and unemployed populations suffering through the crisis. The initiative is funded through a grant from the Community Foundation and helps educate residents on preventative measures, symptoms and free resources available.
Through the partnership with the City of Memphis, Memphis Tourism, Metropolitan Hotel & Lodging Association, Memphis Housing Authority and the Memphis Restaurant Association, 53 unemployed workers from the restaurant and tourism industries have been hired.
“Vaco is excited to partner with Mayor Jim Strickland and the Memphis Housing Authority to reach out to underserved areas and make them aware of all of the resources available to them around COVID-19,” said Kirk Johnson, managing partner of Vaco in Memphis. “The city has done a great job of partnering with local organizations to set up mobile testing centers and other resources that are so necessary right now given these unprecedented circumstances. The agents we hired to staff the remote call center were Memphians mainly from the hospitality and restaurant sector that had been affected by COVID-19. Helping that group out was also an important component to the mission of this project: Memphians giving back to their city.”
Vaco has launched a similar initiative in Birmingham, Alabama, and is also exploring additional partnerships in Nashville and other cities.
Vaco provides boutique-level service with global reach in the areas of consulting, consultative project resources, executive search, permanent placement, and strategic staffing. Areas of expertise include c-suite search, accounting, finance, technology, healthcare IT, operations, administration, and international managed services. Since its founding in 2002, Vaco has grown to serve more than 40 markets across the globe, with 1,200 employees, 5,500 consultants, and $750M in revenue. Vaco has been named to Inc. magazine’s list of the fastest-growing private companies for the past 13 years and was named to Forbes’ 2018 and 2019 lists of America’s Best Recruiting Firms.