14 | APRIL 2 • 2020 

SUDDENLY UNEMPLOYED
For many workers in the service 
industry, like Detroit Axe axe-
master Brad Bobkin, they’
re just 
“riding out the storm.
”
Bobkin, 31, was among a cou-
ple dozen people laid off at the 
axe-throwing venue in Ferndale. 
 
 
 
 
 
 “There’
s the assumption that 
when things get better, we’
ll 
be back to business as usual,
” 
Bobkin says.
He owns a house in Ferndale 
and lives with two housemates 
who pay him rent. Which is a 
problem when one of them is his 
co-worker. 
“He’
s also out of a job, and it 
would be ridiculous for me to be 
like, ‘
Man, pay rent.
’
 I know he 
can’
t,
” Bobkin says.
For workers who are sick, 
quarantined or have unexpected 
family care needs due to the 
coronavirus, the governor has 
ordered a temporary expansion 
of unemployment benefits. 
Over 108,000 unemployment 
claims were filed in Michigan 
the week of March 16, com-
pared to an average of around 
5,000 claims, according to the 
Michigan Department of Labor 
and Economic Opportunity.
JVS Human Services also 
reports an uptick in the Jewish 
community reaching out and 
seeking career or financial coun-
seling. They’
re seeing more traf-
fic to jhelpdetroit.org for corona-

virus-related resources.
“
A lot of it is (people asking), ‘
I 
don’
t know what’
s going to hap-
pen. What can I do?’
” says JVS 
Human Services CEO Paul Blatt. 
“It’
s about giving them some 
action to be able to help them 
ride this out.
” 
Blatt has flashbacks to the 
Great Recession, when certified 
JVS counselors worked with 
families to avoid foreclosures. 
“There is this enormous 
unknown that was similar in ’
08 
and ’
09,
” he says. “That fear of 
the unknown was what drove 
anxiety and depression in the 
people we were serving back 
then.
”
Once people had steps to take, 
that anxiety subsided, Blatt says. 
Today, JVS counselors are 
working remotely and available 
to talk to those unemployed or 
worried about bills. 
“(The counselors) work with 
families and households to talk 
about how to contact their lend-
ers and to make arrangements 
before they find themselves 
behind on bills, so that it doesn’
t 
totally impact their credit,
” Blatt 
says, “and that they’
re stable 
when this whole thing ends.
”
Ryan Landau, founder of 
the recruiting marketplace 
re:purpose, is connecting the 
unemployed with employers. 
On March 24, he hosted a 
virtual career fair with Jacob 

Smith, a partnership manager 
at the software collaboration 
hub Altimetrik. Up to 150 
attendees were forecast to attend 
Altimetrik’
s Detroit location. The 
virus changed that.
They switched to a virtual job 
fair where people could upload 
their resume and connect with 
21 companies hiring for technol-
ogy and startup positions. The 
virtual platform worked out even 
better, Landau says, as it allowed 
648 people to attend. 
Re:purpose works with 70 
Metro Detroit companies to con-
nect them with job seekers on 
its online platform. Landau says 
they’
re continuing “business as 
normal” and are creating more 
content for people out of work.
“We’
re in the process of devel-
oping webinars based on how 
to prep your resume in times 
like this or how to stand out on 
LinkedIn,
” he says. 
Yet many laid-off employees 
are hoping they won’
t have to 
dust off their resumes if they 
receive financial relief from the 
$2 trillion stimulus package 
signed last week by President 
Trump. It allocates $250 billion 
in direct payments for individu-
als and families and $350 billion 
in small business loans for those 
impacted by the virus. 
Ashley Goldberg, owner of 
Born Yoga in Birmingham, is 
just hoping the pandemic ends 

sooner than later so that she 
won’
t need loans.
Goldberg shut down her yoga 
studio for families and babies as 
young as 2 months old before 
the governor’
s order.
“We’
re known for our cleanli-
ness,
” says Goldberg, 35. “We use 
organic cleaners and everything 
we use is baby-safe to clean 
the studio, but even with that 
amount of cleaning, I just didn’
t 
feel like it was safe to stay open.
”
The decision wasn’
t easy.
“
Aside from being my busi-
ness, it’
s a safe space for so many 
families, and it’
s this wonderful 
place that we all come together 
to breathe and move and feel 
positive and good,
” Goldberg 
says. “To take that away from the 
community was obviously neces-
sary, but really hard for me.
”
Yet she made a promise to 
stay connected to her several 
hundred families. She closed on 
March 13 and told everyone to 
join a free yoga class virtually on 
Zoom the next morning. 
“The response was huge,
” 
she says. Every day since, she’
s 
offered free daily live yoga class-
es, and hundreds of people are 
tuning in across the world.
“We are accepting donations, 
but never asked for them,
” 
Goldberg says. She’
s using the 
donations to pay staff, but also 
giving a portion to Gleaners 
Community Food Bank.
“My heart is so full amongst 
all this craziness,
” she says. “It’
s 
making me feel really good that 
I can continue to spread what I 
love and do what I love, even if 
it’
s not directly face-to-face with 
my students at the studio.
” 
Goldberg and Lutz are ada-
mant they’
ll reopen their busi-
nesses when it’
s safe to do so. 
Yet Lutz is acutely aware things 
may be different, especially if the 
virus continues into the summer. 
“I think a question that busi-
ness owners need to ask them-
selves is, ‘
Yes, your business will 
reopen after this, but what will it 
look like?’
” 

continued from page 12
JVS Human 
Services Help 
Hotlines

EMPLOYMENT SERVICES
(248) 233-4245
employmenthelp@jvshumanservices.org
FINANCIAL EDUCATION
(248) 233-4299
financialhelp@jvshumanservices.org

LEFT: The online recruiting marketplace 
re:purporse held a virtual career fair March 24 
for job seekers to connect with Metro Detroit 
employers.

COURTESY RE:PURPOSE

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000_DJN040220_JD Unemployment Apr 2.indd 14
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