A message from us to you re: COVID-19:

Please remember to take care of yourself and each other. Right now, many of us are worried about COVID-19, known as the “Coronavirus”.  We may feel helpless about what will happen or what we can do to prevent further stress. We need comfort where we can get it right now. The last few weeks have been dark for nearly everyone. Travel plans are canceled, conferences and concerts have been put on hiatus, people are getting sick, and everyone’s worried about the most vulnerable people in their families.

 

Take care of your mental health: 

✔️ limit excessive exposure to media, set boundaries on the infodemic

✔️ connect, reach out for emotional support, isolation is detrimental

✔️do what helps you feel a sense of safety

✔️ challenge yourself to stay present; stretch, do a puzzle, sing, dance, draw, paint, exercise

 

Protective measures like these keep the coronavirus — now a global pandemic — from spreading fast and prevent hospitals from being inundated:

 

✔️ working from home

✔️ closing schools

✔️ self-quarantine

✔️ avoiding crowds

✔️ canceling mass gatherings

 

Prevention measures are clear: Wash hands for 20 seconds or more, stay home if sick, and limit exposure to other people. However, a person experiencing homelessness is unable to follow these recommendations without access to bathrooms, with no home to quarantine, and when often living in community settings. 

 

Learn more about organizations and ways you can support our houseless neighbors:

Simply the Basics 

SF Food Bank

Community Responses to COVID-19: As coronavirus continues to spread across the U.S. and globally, it’s clear that our current economic system and underlying structural inequalities are exacerbating this public health crisis. The disproportionate impact on immunocompromised, disabled, poor, and working-class people has spurred calls for immediate protections like mandatory sick pay, eviction moratoriums, and rent freezes — as well as increased protections for incarcerated and houseless people For community responses and resources please see:

To Bay Area community members: We are sharing a vetted and living document from the Freedom Community Clinic on mass resources available in the Bay Area during the COVID-19 pandemic. It covers an extremely broad range of resources - housing assistance, small business assistance, childcare programs, mental health care, volunteer & donation opportunities, free food programs, etc. Please share with your networks! https://lnkd.in/gN4bapi 

COVID - 19 Mutal Aid and Advocacy

COVID-19 Resources List (Bay Area CA)

(via Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality) 

Call for a Just Recovery Response to COVID-19 that Centers the Most Vulnerable

(via Climate Justice Alliance)

Preparing your Business for COVID-19

(via NEC member organization the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives)

Corona Virus Resources for Artists

and Principles for Ethical Cancellation

(via NEC member organization Springboard for the Arts)

Demands from Grassroots Organizers Concerning COVID-19

(via Transforming Spaces)

The Justice Collaborative: COVID response for Prisons 

Unemployment Insurance filing for a reduction in hours

SFUSD has announced that starting on March 17th, SFUSD will provide free breakfast and lunch to all children 18 and younger at 14 pick-up sites Monday through Friday. No identification or proof of school enrollment is required, but a child must be present. Link  of pick up sites here. 

Copy of Education Companies offering free subscriptions due to school resources

Here are some resources being shared that we thought are helpful around the social justice logic of canceling events right now:

How canceled events and self-quarantines save lives, in one chart

- Vox

Caring Across Distance: Some Things to Consider Before Movement Gatherings During COVID-19

- Maryse Mitchell-Brody (who I know personally and trust greatly)

Coronavirus Wisdom from a Social Justice Lens

- Healing Justice Podcast

The resources below are activities you can practice at home. They invite you to flex your physical and mental muscles.

Quarantine Reflection Questions: 

What am I grateful for today?

Who am I checking-in on or connecting with today?

What expectations of “normal” am I letting go of today?

How can I get outside today?

How am I moving my body today?

What beauty am I creating, cultivating, or inviting today?

Monterey Bay Aquarium Live Cams! 

Check out live cams 

Corepower Yoga has free online classes for everyone

Get your body movin’ and groovin’! Stretch your brain and muscles with these free online yoga mini lessons 

Ten free e-books from Haymarket

All politically and socially conscious books - for free! 

Ella Baker Center has put together a resource page  focused on fighting panic with power during the emergence of #coronavirus  and during this time that has so far been filled with anxiety, racism, xenophobia, and a lot of misinformation. The page has health and benefit eligibility resources for those who have been affected, actions you can take to help build power for our communities, and Ella Baker Center updates. Stay informed. 

 

As the community mobilizes to address the many challenges presented by COVID-19, the San Francisco Foundation has launched a new fund that is designed to help nonprofit organizations respond. The SFF COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund will make a limited number of one-time grants ($3,000 - $25,000) to nonprofits addressing the following four issue areas: racial bias, worker protection, homelessness and renter protection/housing security, and food security.

 

Read the Department of Public Health recommendations here. You can also sign up for the City’s new alert service for official updates: text COVID19SF to 888-777. You can also call 311 for updates.
 

As our public health officials are continuing to monitor the situation closely, keep in mind that this virus is NOT based on race, ethnicity, or culture.  Since the recent outbreaks of COVID-19, there has been a rise in discrimination against the Asian American community in the form of physical attacks, people denied service at hotels, and xenophobic messages coming from leaders in government. The dangerous assumption that people of or perceived Asian descent might be sick and carry COVID-19 is harming our communities. There has also been a negative impact on Asian American businesses. Wash your hands, practice physical distancing (Wakanda salute) not social distancing (check in on your folks), and don’t be racist.