You are not alone. We're living in a rapidly changing landscape with the coronavirus outbreak. Some of you are working from home. Some of you are home and unable to work. Some of you might be at work. You might be dealing with kids home from school. You might be worried about parents, grandparents, friends, or neighbors. You might be thinking about the logistics of how this virus is going to impact your job or how it will impact your program and staff. You might be thinking how this will impact your organizations’ ability to work toward your educational mission.
Wherever you are, know you are not alone. The Environmental Educators of North Carolina, the N.C. Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs, and the North Carolina Association of Environmental Education Centers are here to support you as best we can.
Last week, we co-hosted our first call to provide people with a digital platform to connect with one another. You can view notes from that call here. There were requests to host additional conversations again in the future. The next call is scheduled for this Friday, March 27 at 1 pm.
We want to help you, but we want to make sure whatever we're doing actually meets your needs both as a person and as an environmental education professional. All responses to this survey are being collected anonymously. You can write as long or as short of a response to whichever questions you choose. As nonprofit writer Vu Le recently reminded us, it's OK to be not OK. Please tell us what's on your mind so we can try to help. Complete the online survey here.
Resources to help nonprofits/organizations
You can view the latest information on COVID-19 in North Carolina here
Governor Cooper issued an executive order that makes unemployment benefits more accessible to those who have lost wages or reduced hours due to COVID-19. Learn more here.
Resources for home activities for kids, online PD for educators
The Office of EE has an online resource collection (https://www.eenorthcarolina.org/educator-resources). They've added a tag for COVID-19 to help identify great resources for parents to use at home and to mark online professional development resources for you to build your knowledge while social distancing. Full directions on this are included below.
A collection of Home-Based & Distance Environmental Education from NAAEE
Resources to help hourly workers: Last week, Governor Cooper issued an executive order that makes unemployment benefits more accessible to those who have lost wages or reduced hours due to COVID-19. Learn more here.
While we don't know what the outcome of this situation will be, we urge you to stay positive. Just as an ecosystem can recover from a natural disaster, we can persevere. We’re stronger together. Share the good news in your world. Celebrate the everyday heroes you are seeing. Go outside on a spring flower search in your yard (I found 15 different types yesterday!). If you need support - whether it's faces to talk to online, resources, or other support, please don't hesitate to ask. Your networks are here to help.
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