Dear Community,
We hope that during this time of challenge and uncertainty you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy. As COVID-19 continues to impact schools, communities, and businesses globally, I want to provide an update on steps we are taking here at EcoRise to support our school partners and mitigate health risks to our team, families, teachers, students, and partners.
On Monday, March 9th we canceled all in-person teacher training and staff travel for the month of March, moved to webinars and phone as needed, and encouraged all staff to work remotely. Over the past week, we have been closely monitoring closures and contingency plans and reaching out to our school district partners to offer our support as the majority of our resources are available virtually.
Over the coming weeks, to support the health and education of our community, we will:
- Connect our partner school districts and teachers with resources and online training opportunities as they move to virtual learning experiences for students.
- Work with our stakeholders to determine how EcoRise can modify the growing list of Student Innovation Showcases and provide an authentic experience for students in a digital format, if necessary.
- Investigate opportunities to expand our library of free content to enable students anywhere in the world to take advantage of EcoRise resources.
- Continue to closely monitor development around COVID-19. I anticipate sending out more information about our Spring events sometime next week.
In the meantime, we encourage you to support the health of our global community by heeding the latest recommendations of the CDC including social distancing. We encourage you to practice loving-kindness and compassion for those around you and for yourself. And we invite you to consider how EcoRise might support those in our communities that are most at risk of health or economic hardship during this time. If you have any ideas for us, big or small, please let me know.
On a personal note, I have experienced waves of intense emotion over the past few days. Feelings of deep isolation followed by a sense of profound connection. Feelings of love and joy followed by anger and sadness. An obsessive focus on tracking the latest news story followed by a longing to escape it all. It helps me to remember that I’m not alone in this state of emotional intensity and confusion. As a people, we are sharing a common experience. And I believe we have the capacity to come together and find a way through this crisis.
Each of us at EcoRise is thinking of you during this stressful time. If you have any questions, concerns, or useful resources to share, please do not hesitate to reach out to us by emailing executive.director@ecorise.org.
Thank you for your continued support! Together, #WeRise.
Sincerely,
Jon Stott
Executive Director
