It's such a joy to once again hear the voices and laughter of children at the YWCA!
From all our staff who are working from home and those who are back in the classroom supporting our client families during this difficult time - THANK YOU! All our work to support families and children, empower women and eliminate racism is all thanks to the incredible support we have received from our YWCA community.
Thank you for standing with us!
As part of our phased reopening, this week our Preschool Room reopened in a limited capacity to comply with Boulder County Public Health. Next week the Toddler Room will also open in a limited capacity. The health and safety of our children, families and teacher is our first priority.
We are working with Boulder County Public Health on a daily basis to ensure we are aligning with the highest level of recommendations, including:
- A daily health screening will be completed for each child and staff entering the YWCA.
- We are adjusting our hours from 8am - 5pm, Monday through Friday (no Saturday hours), during this first phase to allow for stable staff scheduling and extra time for daily disinfecting.
- Classrooms will be thoroughly disinfected and cleaned at the end of each day for the foreseeable future.
- Classrooms will follow social distancing and facial covering/mask requirements from Boulder County Public Health. All staff are required to wear facial coverings, and it is recommended for children 5 and older.
- Classroom ratios and group sizes will be adjusted to align with the Public Health guidelines for maintaining social distancing.
We appreciate everyone's support and patience as we implement these new guidelines.
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Congratulations LAS Graduates!
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A huge CONGRATULATIONS to the 11 amazing young women from our Latina Achievement Support (LAS) program who are graduating from high school this month. We are SO PROUD of you and look forward to watching you continue to follow your dreams and accomplish your goals!
We are also thrilled to report that 100% - all 11 graduates - are pursuing post-secondary education and will be going on to college in the Fall.
Especially as COVID-19 upended their last year of high school and their personal lives, these amazing young women have continued to relentlessly pursue their dreams.
A huge THANK YOU also to our amazing LAS Advocates, who have remained in regular, personal contact with our LAS participants throughout the shutdown, providing them with support, mentoring, encouragement and even tutoring during this challenging time.
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Virtual STEM E3 Program Begins
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Last week we were thrilled to kick off our newly virtual 7-week STEM E3 coding cohort in partnership with YWCA Silicon Valley and their online Curated Pathways program.
26 students of color from 5-8th grade from Boulder Valley School District and St. Vrain School District came together online to pick up where they left off from our Coding Jam Sessions last year. Of the 26 students, there were 23 girls and 3 boys in attendance. YWCA Boulder County has provided internet hot spots and Chromebooks to ensure that all can participate.
Transforming this program into an online program has gone well and we are so happy to continue helping these bright young people pursue their interests in STEM careers and learn the building blocks of those careers early.
Plans are coming together to offer a STEM E3 Coding Summer camp this summer and continue the program in the Fall. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as details are finalized!
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Take Action with Advocacy
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Members of Congress and their staff are currently finalizing a draft for the next COVID-19 relief package. The decisions made in the next stimulus package will directly affect the immediate response and long-term recovery of nonprofits, their staff, and individuals across the country during and after COVID-19.
We are grateful for the initial steps Congress took to pass the CARES Act and provide emergency funding for the nonprofit sector, and include additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program.
However, more must be done to meet the significantly increasing child care, housing, and domestic violence community needs— both now and in the future.
If you have two minutes, join us and write your Members of Congress before it’s too late! We need your help and personal stories to support child care, housing, domestic violence service providers, and the nonprofit sector in the next COVID-19 stimulus relief package.
Time is of the essence to ensure our priorities are heard.
Join us today
!
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RER Literary Book Club - May 26
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We had a great kick-off for our next Reading to End Racism Literary Book Club book,
The Newcomers
by Helen Thorpe, last week. It's not too late to join!
Synopsis
- "The Newcomers follows the lives of 22 refugee and immigrant teens through the course of one school year as they land at South High School in Denver, CO, in a beginner-level English Language Acquisition class."
Our next Book Club meetings will be:
- Tuesday, May 26 at 7 PM - Please read up to Part 3 Spring Well-taped boxes, page 183
- Tuesday, June 9 at 7 PM - Please read up to Summer, Heal Africa, page 326
- Tuesday, June 23 at 7 PM - Please read the remainder of the book
All are welcome!
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YWCA Boulder County is dedicated to supporting parents and families during this crisis. As we all deal with the Coronavirus pandemic, the
YWCA is providing virtual activities and learning opportunities from our Children's Alley teachers
.
- Sign up for our Parent Resource emails for tips and activities for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. You can also read our past Parent Resource emails on our blog.
- Like our Facebook page and stay tuned for more resources and more videos from our Children's Alley teaching staff!
- Visit our YWCA Pre-K Virtual Classroom: A website designed with the intention of keeping our families and children involved in our classroom curriculum and with our teachers! We will be posting videos, resources, activity ideas, as well as sharing lessons, ideas, tips, and general conversations that we hope will help you navigate this time at home with your child.
If you would like to receive the Parent Resource eNews, please sign up
here
or by clicking the button below.
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- Early Childhood Education Teachers
- Part-time Development Administrator
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What we are reading from across the web:
Plus - Special Update from our friends at Women's Wilderness!
- Women's Wilderness is excited to announce that, starting in July, our summer backpacking, rock climbing and hiking COURSES FOR GIRLS ARE ON! We have never been more ready to get outside together...carefully. We’ve significantly adapted our programs in collaboration with our course physician to mitigate risks associated with COVID-19. To learn more about how we’re addressing health, from both a physical and mental perspective, read our COVID-19 Guidelines for Families and Participants. We will be updating this to adhere to all CDC, State and local requirements.
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