Shaivi Shah has rallied her fellow honor society students into helping her give away more than 250 low-cost “sanitation kits” to homeless shelters.
Finding help during the public health crisis
With the vast majority of America’s public schools now shuttered amid the coronavirus pandemic, more than 54 million children have been told that they won’t be attending class for the next several weeks. In many cases, students may be left learning from home through the end of the academic year.
People everywhere are coming together during this time of social distancing
The Nextdoor app, which connects people with others in their neighborhoods, is full of people offering to help higher-risk individuals with whatever they need as they self isolate. Whether it's picking up food, groceries, or medicine, there's a lot of kindness to be found on the app. What Americans Are Doing Now Is Beautiful. The public’s response to the coronavirus will stand as a remarkable moment of national mobilization.
"Caremongering" in the fight to stop COVID-19
How These Disabled Activists Are Taking Matters Into Their Own (Sanitized) Hands If you’re interested in donating to a food bank, Feeding America has a national database of centers you can support, and it has established the COVID-19 Response Fund to provide additional aid to their member food banks. If you’re interested in giving money to a food pantry in your community, check out FoodPantries.org for donation and contact information.
Not only alone together, but by showing compassion we stand together
Now, more than at any time in our history, we will be judged by our capacity for compassion. When this is over, and it will eventually be over, we want to remember the many acts of kindness done by us and for us. We want to remember how we first thought of the needs of others and acted with decency. In the face of this generation-defining moment we want to stand together while heeding the social-distancing rules. This collective crisis helps us see how our fates are linked. It helps us to reconsider who we are as a community and what we value, and, in the long run, we may rediscover a better version of ourselves.
Communities of Courage - How Our Humanity is Showing
Former President Barack Obama is urging Americans to stay hopeful amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak: "While we all face a long road ahead, and must continue to do our part to flatten the curve of COVID-19 transmission, I hope this collection of stories inspires you as it did me . I am never surprised by the power of our community to come together.”
Communities of Courage
Grassroots groups are springing up where people can offer and ask for help from their neighbors. This list includes groups by state in the U.S., as well as several in Canada, Britain, and Germany. Some call it “care-mongering” and people are giving away food, offering to foster animals, and picking up medication for others. Meanwhile, in the U.K., a woman designed a postcard that you can drop off with neighbors who are self-isolating, offering your help with shopping or a friendly phone call.
The State Department of Education is reimagining the student experience during the COVIS-19 pandemic
From creating virtual student communities to leveraging text reminders and video chat, digital engagement is top of mind as educators blaze a new trail in driving student success today.
Meanwhile, the Connecticut State Department of Education is seeking a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education for the standardized testing requirements each school is required to complete annually.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted classroom learning, the agency is continuing to develop resources that best meet the needs of school districts in their efforts to support student learning while schools are closed and home schooling gets underway.
The department is also engaging providers of content to obtain materials, utilizing RESC partners as repositories for resources, exemplars, and material that will be available to all districts.
Home schooling in the time of COVID-19
The mass exodus across the country from one of our most vivid and essential gathering places has resulted in a nation of home schoolers.
Here is an effective 11-second animation video to help explain to our young people the need for social distancing and consequently school closings.
School offers stability and predictability. This crisis will shine a new light on the many roles schools and after school programs provide beyond academics.
Love and Courage in the Face of COVID-19
While we correctly seek to achieve maximum social distancing and hygiene best practices, doctors and nurses and many other frontline workers are running into the fire to help treat an outbreak of an illness that none of them have seen before. People who work in clinics, hospitals, and care facilities are the courageous heroes of this historic moment in our nation’s life, knowingly putting themselves at risk to save lives.