March 17, 2020 Our Commitment to our Youth and Families During the COVID-19 Outbreak A message from our Executive Director, Amanda Squibb. The COVID-19 developments have created anxiety and uncertainty for us all. In these times, we are more dedicated than ever to serving our youth and providing the consistency and stability they rely on from mentors. While we have not experienced any known direct exposure by our youth, families or staff at this point, we are actively planning for potential developments. We are also developing additional resources to help our youth maintain positive social connections, continue to explore personal growth and work toward academic success while the schools are closed. We are a no matter what organization! As part of our dedication to our children, despite any and all challenges, our local and national teams have carefully mapped out a path for our Friends to continue serving our kids and families now that schools are closed. This means: *Our Friends are communicating with each child’s caregiver(s) to assess basic needs and connect them with community resources to meet those needs whenever possible. *Friends are connecting with each child’s teacher to ensure continuity of academics. *We are creating support kits of books, crayons, academic activities and games for our children and their siblings to utilize at home in addition to providing online education resource links. *We are actively preparing creative solutions to serve children remotely using technology. We exist to walk alongside the children in our program with a professional, consistent, stable adult presence. We remain more committed than ever to ensuring that the relationships our Friends and youth have remained strong. We are in a unique position to support our youths’ families during good days and bad days, inside and outside of school and those efforts will never waiver. Thank you for your support, which enables our service and your continued commitment to our children and families! We will continue to communicate programmatic updates as they become available. Amanda Squibb, Executive Director