Dear New Door Community,
I sincerely hope this message finds you and your loved ones well. Our thoughts are with you and everyone whose lives are being impacted by COVID-19.
Over recent days and weeks, New Door Ventures has been closely monitoring COVID-19 and looking to the CDC and local public health officials for guidance on keeping our young people, staff and broader community safe, and for how we can do our part in critical containment efforts.
How New Door is Responding
In accordance with this afternoon’s shelter-in-place mandate affecting six Northern California counties, New Door is temporarily pausing in-person programming for both our Employment and Education Programs as of Monday, March 16. It is our plan to resume full programming upon receiving the green light from local officials.
These are difficult decisions to make and the well-being of our young people is paramount as we respond. This is why we are continuing to pay wages to our active interns over the next three weeks of limited, remote programming. We are working quickly to modify our model temporarily and will continue to host case management and skill-building learning opportunities for youth remotely.
How You Can Help
We are so grateful to have you as part of our community and hope that you are taking steps to ensure your safety and those around you. We encourage you to stay informed by visiting the Center for Disease Control’s website for regular updates.
We know these are uncertain times for everyone, and vulnerable communities like the young people New Door serves are being hit particularly hard.
Also hit hard are New Door’s Ally partners, the small businesses that commit to hosting our youth. We are aware of and concerned about the burden to our small business partners and plan to keep you updated on how you can support them.
Please reach out if you have any questions about New Door’s response plans. We appreciate your understanding and support as we navigate this rapidly evolving situation.
In Community,
Omar Butler
CEO, New Door Ventures