Update on City Year’s response to COVID-19

City Year Community,

The safety and well-being of the City Year community—our AmeriCorps members, students, staff members, partners and the broader communities we serve — is always our top priority.

As we seek to act with care for each other and our communities during this uncertain time, City Year has formed a cross-functional response team to monitor guidance from health officials, proactively prepare, and respond to the rapidly evolving situation related to COVID-19. Our goal is to make decisions that allow us to prioritize the safety of our people and reduce the likelihood of virus transmissions in our communities, while advancing our critical work to support the success of students and AmeriCorps members.

As conditions vary significantly across our 29 cities, we are working with local leadership teams to prepare and respond appropriately, adhering to guidance by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and local health departments. Please find below some general updates on City Year’s response plan.

Travel

City Year has suspended air travel requirements for all staff and AmeriCorps members through the end of March.

Local Operations

In each of our 29 communities, we are following the guidance of our local school and district partners related to school safety and closely monitoring advisories from local health departments to prioritize the safety and well-being of our corps and staff as we support students and schools. We have notified all staff and AmeriCorps members that anyone who is sick or exhibiting symptoms should stay home. We are offering remote working opportunities for staff as needed and providing increased flexibility for AmeriCorps members to take time off for illness.

Our local leaders are managing contingency plans if social distancing is required or if schools or offices need to close, and we are in close communication with the Corporation for National and Community Service to create options and scenarios for a variety of situations that may arise. These differ greatly location to location based on the magnitude of COVID-19 in that area. AmeriCorps members who are unable to serve in school during a closure will continue to receive their stipend, health benefits and continued educational loan deferral.

Events

City Year has developed new safety protocols for events, following the CDC guidance on large gatherings. We have already made decisions to cancel or shift some events to virtual gatherings and we are preparing local teams with support and contingency options for virtual gatherings. Decisions about postponing or cancelling local City Year events are being made by local leadership in consultation with partners and based on guidance from public health officials in that community. If you have a question about a specific event, please reach out to the event contact.

We will continue to monitor the situation and update our guidance and policies as we receive new information. If you have any questions about City Year’s response plans for COVID-19, please feel free to contact us.

In service,

Jim Balfanz
CEO