Almost four years ago, RHAP finally moved into our very first standalone office. This was big for us – we had been working out of a space in a community health center in New York City since our inception, but we had officially outgrown it!

Our move was a big deal – we had our own space, great light, and room for a larger team. It really felt like our space. But, like many people, when the pandemic reached New York City in early March 2020, we went from working at the office every day to full-time working from home. Our office looked as if it was frozen in time, as if we had all just gone out to lunch. The transition to remote work was an adjustment – we had to develop new systems and find new ways to stay connected as a team – but we found that it worked for us.

As our return-to-the-office plans kept shifting further back, we started to talk about it as an “if” instead of a “when.” Did we all need to work out of the same location every day? Did we have to be physically together to work successfully as a team? The answer was no. Our staff liked the flexibility that working remotely provided and having no office also gave us another strength – a national team. We could hire people in different parts of the country. We were already working across time zones with clinicians in other areas, so why not bring on a more geographically-diverse staff as well?

In January 2021, our first non-New York employee started in Massachusetts. In May, another one joined from California. We hired summer interns from Texas, Oregon, and Maryland. In September, our newest employee started in Georgia. Having folks from different parts of the country join us gave us even more insight into the local reproductive health realities across the country.

On August 31, 2021, we officially closed our in-person office. While we will always have fond memories of our very first office,  we’re now a 100% remote organization that is truly national – and we’re loving it.