“we are exploring ways to serve our communities and lead with courage during this challenging time, because learning never closes”
This is an unprecedented time for our nation and for us at Saga Education. The worldwide pandemic has affected our students and their families, our schools and our communities, and each of you. Foremost, we hope that you and your family are well and safe and able to make the adjustments in your lives that are essential for the foreseeable future.
The health and protection of our staff, AmeriCorps members and those we serve are paramount. Organization-wide, we have ceased all travel and in-person meetings; and we are supporting team members most affected by the situation to the best of our ability.
Even while we are all facing a crisis at present, we need to keep an eye toward the future. We cannot allow the present crisis to paralyze us or our efforts to serve the students who need us. As a result, we are redoubling our efforts to recruit talent for the upcoming school year. We have redirected travel savings to the recruitment team, so they can expand their digital marketing for Fellows. Whenever students return to school in our three cities, they will need talented, caring, capable people more than ever. Students will arrive with a significant interruption in their formal education. They will have anxieties, questions, doubts, fears. Because at our heart we are relationship-driven, and we personalize and meet students where they are, we are one of the organizations best suited to help and to be in a position to offer strong support for our students.
Like most of the world, Saga is adapting. With schools closed, we are developing contingency plans for our AmeriCorps members so that they can meet their service hours requirements. In addition, we are exploring ways to serve our communities and lead with courage during this challenging time, because learning never closes. We are exploring a range of possibilities to support our District partners and students, including the possibility of virtual tutoring, which we have been developing with key partners (College Board & Woot Math) for over a year and a half. We will share more information as soon as possible.
Though the next months will be difficult, this will pass. Schools will open again and our students and schools will need us more than ever given the loss in academic time. You can support our mission and students by sharing the following link about the Saga Fellowship with your networks.
We will all be in touch again soon,
Alan Safran and AJ Gutierrez
