UCP of the North Bay
Community Outreach Update

May 29, 2020

Unprecedented, historic, uniquely challenging, none of these terms in popular use today can quite describe the last three months.  Many of you have been following these weekly Community Outreach Updates.  Our distance learning programs at Cypress School and our Outreach Programs at our Adult Day Programs have been going extraordinarily well.  We have had to cancel most of our summer recreation programs and camps, however, we are utilizing distance learning for our Cypress Summer Program.

We are in the process of planning for reopening our programs.  They will become a mix of continued distance learning; small community outings for work, work exploration, and recreation; and modified on-site learning and employment activities.  In every situation, we will make modifications recommended by the CDC and local health authorities.  We anticipate this gradual re-opening to begin to occur in late June through mid-July with additional modifications made in real time to keep our students and adult employees with disabilities as safe as possible.

The  advocacy work of United Cerebral Palsy and ANCOR nationally, accompanied by our work at the statewide level with the ARC/UCP California Statewide Collaboration has been crucial at this time with maintaining services and thus far avoiding devastating cuts to our service delivery system.  It has also resulted in getting nonprofits with fewer than 500 staff members included in the Payroll Protection Plan.  This has allowed UCP of the North Bay to continue employing all our staff members who contact our students and adult participants daily, provide online classes and activities, and work in our essential wine packaging and recycling businesses.  We are proud of their achievements and grateful for all the support that we have received from the community.

Public health organizations continue to make clear that we must continue to take preventive steps NOW to slow community spread.  In addition, please check the UCP of the North Bay website for weekly updates from the Adult Outreach Program and the Cypress School Distance Learning School.  Work hard, be kind, stay home and stay connected.

• Should you have any additional questions, please contact, via email or text, your Program Coordinator, Manager, Administrator or Director.
• We hope everyone’s attempts to slow the spread of the virus are effective and we can return to normal locations and hours as soon as possible.
  
  

RESOURCES

In addition to our internal response, we urge you to stay updated on the progression of the COVID-19 in the North Bay, California, and the United States and its impact on people with disabilities:

• People at Risk for Serious Illness from COVID-19 – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• 5 Things To Know About Coronavirus And People With Disabilities – Forbes
• Webinar on COVID-19 Update and Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention