Notes From the Frontline

We hope this message finds you in the best of health. We are all navigating as best we can during an unprecedented time and our highest priority is the well-being of our staff, students and the communities we serve. We recognized immediately that the current pandemic and economic shutdown has heightened reliance on our program and will increase student demand in the months ahead. We want to share what we are learning and how we are caring for our students and staff.

Social and Emotional Support

In addition to health concerns, emotional well-being is surfacing as a critical need of our students. Through our two decades of work with vulnerable populations, we understand the impact of demanding schedules, instability at home and the need for community support services. The coronavirus poses new challenges leaving many students feeling lonely and missing their connection with other classmates.

Thanks to the NPower social support managers in each region, we are offering “quarantine support groups” as well as one-on-one virtual sessions to encourage students to share their feelings and find strength and support in their community. Other managers offer mindful meditation sessions to address anxiety and other effects of self-isolation.

Partners Step Up with Virtual Engagement

• A special thank you to Ernst & Young for providing our New Jersey and New York students, who lacked internet access, with wifi hotspots to ensure a seamless transition to their virtual learning environments.
• Astreya has been an employment partner of NPower for five years and has joined Box in their commitment to virtual hiring for tech jobs in the San Jose area.
• NPower Texas hosted their first virtual one-on-one mentorship workshop, pairing 35 veteran students with 35 corporate partners from companies like SIM-DFW, WWT, Palo Alto Networks, AT&T and many others. Thank you to HMG Strategy for their call to action at their recent conference for IT executives to volunteer for NPower.

A Great Loss

Emergency Fund for Students

This health pandemic is hitting home for everyone. While there are no known cases among students in the NPower program, we know many have family members who have been infected and require care and attention. Students report loss of their retail jobs, trouble paying rent and bills, and food insecurity. These needs are directly related to the COVID outbreak. NPower launched an emergency fund. We’d like to thank Citi Foundation, BlackRock and Stand Together Foundation for enabling us to access emergency funding quickly. But we need more help. Please consider a donation to NPower’s Emergency Fund today.

Bertina Ceccarelli
Chief Executive Officer