Workday 2020 Update: March 31, 2020

For the first time in our 17 years, we are canceling Workday. We invite you to stay home, stay well and continue to support our amazing community from afar. We are working on putting together a ‘Workday from Afar’ plan to help support community efforts such as blood drives and food banks. Stay tuned for more on that front!

The reality is that we are all feeling the stress of these uncharted waters. Yet we find joy in you and your commitment to being part of a day that empowers youth and transforms communities. We are hopeful that we will still be able to complete our 2020 projects when there is a safe time to reschedule with individual groups.

In the meantime, our communities, schools and students still need us to remember and support them. While you stay at home, here are a few things you can do to keep our students and community moving forward.

An article in the Los Angeles Times on Monday highlighted exactly why we want to continue to provide our students with support and mentorship in their distance learning environment. UC Berkeley education and African American studies professor Janelle Scott said, "This crisis has laid bare what we always knew — how equitable opportunities are so dependent on parental background and wealth and access to resources."

I also want to provide a brief organizational update. We depend on partners such as corporate sponsors, events and grants to fund our mission. So many of our partners have made difficult decisions to reduce their workforce and charitable contributions. As a result we’ve had to make the challenging choice to reduce the size of our team significantly in order to allow us to continue to provide services to our most vulnerable students for as long as we are able.

I don’t know what is to come, but I am deeply grateful to have people like you on the journey alongside us. If there is anything I can do to personally help you or yours during this time, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Humbly,

Chad Mayer
Executive Director