28 May R.O.C.K.’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Part 2

May 28, 2020 – A message to our community from Curt Yagi, R.O.C.K.’s Executive Director

Plenty of Positives
As mentioned in my last update, we have been able to offer 100% of our staff 100% of their contracted hours since the COVID-19 pandemic started, and we continue to do so. We are grateful to be in a healthy financial position (we received Paycheck Protection Program funding) that has allowed us to provide our community with a host of meaningful activities (e.g. meal program distribution, virtual literacy intervention, teacher support during SFUSD virtual classes, etc.). With the landscape of our world changing on a consistent basis, we are proud to have made decisions that are in alignment with our three guiding priorities (in no particular order) during this time as follows:

• To ensure that R.O.C.K., as an organization, is in good health heading into 2020-21
• To take care of our staff, both at the managerial and line levels
• To provide our community with meaningful activities and support

As more decisions need to be made, we believe that keeping our guiding priorities at the top of our minds will set R.O.C.K. up to be a thriving organization once the pandemic has subsided.

This Summer
We are excited to continue our trend of meaningful work through the summer. Over the next couple of months, our staff will be working hard to provide the following direct services and virtual programs for our community:

• Meal program distribution
• Family wellness checks
• Virtual literacy support
• Virtual enrichment classes

Preparing for the New School Year
With many uncertainties for the start of the new school year, we are creating several different program scenarios that can be implemented pending answers to many outstanding questions. To provide insight into our thoughts about programs, here are examples of questions and how the answers can lead us in different directions:

• Will there be staggered starts to each school day? This could lead to an increased need for assistance in managing youth during the school day as they arrive and leave school.
• Will partial virtual learning be a part of school? There could be value in providing our staff as assistants to teachers during virtual classes.
• Will there be social distancing guidelines while on school grounds? We may have to reduce our adult to child ratios to stay in compliance.
• Will there be budget cuts to public funding? If our public funds are reduced, we may have to increase our private funding sources.

We have learned that constant communication and transparency have been key to our success during this challenging time and we will continue to keep our community informed. We are all in this together and we welcome any insight, suggestions and/or words of encouragement as we make it through this pandemic.

Sincerely,

Curt Yagi
Executive Director