City Year San Antonio’s Response to COVID-19

As part of the City Year community, we wanted to reach out to provide an update on the impacts of COVID-19 on City Year San Antonio and how we are responding. We are working through what this means for our students, communities, AmeriCorps members and staff. The safety and well-being of our people and community remains our top priority during this uncertain and unprecedented time. 
 
As you probably know by now, the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) and surrounding school districts closed following spring break and will remain closed at least through April 24. As of March 16, City Year has paused in-person service for all AmeriCorps members. We are working closely with our school and district partners to identify strategies to support our students in a virtual capacity until school resumes. At the same time, we are continuing to provide our corps members with virtual content to support their learning and development and prepare them for their future. We will continue to pay our AmeriCorps members during this time and provide resources for them as they work to earn service hours remotely. 
 
We are cancelling or postponing all public events and gatherings for an indefinite period. This includes cancelling our signature Ripples of Hope Celebration, originally scheduled for April 1. Thanks to the generosity of this community, our Ripples of Hope Celebration generates close to $400,000 annually in support of our mission. This year’s event was in honor of Paula Gold-Williams, President and CEO of CPS Energy, and while we will not be celebrating her in person on April 1, in hopes of raising these same resources, we will celebrate her and our dedicated AmeriCorps members virtually. Stay tuned for your opportunity to participate. 
 
Our staff and corps are committed to working together in this new way. We are staying positive and leveraging all our resources, both nationally with City Year Headquarters and locally with our school partners, district leaders, board members and champions. 
 
A crisis of this magnitude has a disproportionate impact on the families we serve, who experience food and job insecurity and live in some of the most vulnerable and under-resourced parts of our city under normal circumstances. This disproportionate impact will certainly reach our students; now more than ever, City Year is steadfastly committed to our work supporting thousands of students in San Antonio. 
 
Many of you have already reached out to ask how we are doing and how you can help – we are so grateful to you. As we continue developing plans for the coming weeks and months, we will keep you closely in the loop. In the meantime, our greatest need is additional financial resources to ensure we have the funds to adequately support our AmeriCorps members through this unsettling period. These funds will support everything from food and personal supplies for Corps Members who are adhering to the city’s “Stay Home, Work Safe” orders, to expenses associated with deploying our Corps in new ways outside of physical school service in the coming weeks. 
 
If you would like to make a contribution, please click below.

We will get through this together. We sincerely hope you and your families are well and staying safe. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me or our Director of Development, Sandy Sullivan Gallagher (sgallagher@cityyear.org) with any questions you may have.

Yours in service,

Kelly Hughes Burton
Executive Director