FTF’s Capacity Building Offerings going Virtual during COVID-19 Crisis

Forward Through Ferguson is taking COVID-19 precautions for our Racial Equity Capacity Offerings; activating our institutions to support the most vulnerable is more important than ever.

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Forward Through Ferguson

3 min readMar 13, 2020

FTF Supporters and Partners,

This past month, you were informed of our 2020 Racial Equity Capacity Offerings and upcoming dates for informational sessions and discussions.

As excited as we are to work with each of you — and the interest has been quite high (THANK YOU!) — given ongoing local and national developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are making adjustments to match our commitment to helping prevent the spread of the virus in the St. Louis region.

[Last week, we joined Arch City Defenders and other community organizations to urge local government leaders to take decisive action to protect marginalized residents. Sign the petition here.]

Takeaways:

Racial Equity Roundtable Informational Sessions will be virtual.
The two-part #STL2039 Workshop on March 25/April 1 will be cancelled. Current registrants will be encouraged to attend the next session in late May, which will occur virtually based on CDC guidance.
The Systems Change Primer on April 22 will occur and will be virtual.
Please advocate for your local, state, and federal government leaders to implement urgent measures in support of marginalized populations that will experience this crisis most acutely.

At Forward Through Ferguson, we are particularly attuned to the ways public health crises can be more deeply felt by marginalized people—including low-income communities, people with disabilities, and communities of color—who already experience economic and health inequities. Please advocate for your local, state, and federal government to take measures that support and protect marginalized populations that will experience this crisis most acutely.

After an assessment of the latest news and the public health requests of WHO and CDC, we are cancelling the upcoming two-part #STL2039 workshop on March 25/April 1. Our Racial Equity Roundtable Informational Sessions will still occur but will take place virtually. Our next offering — the Systems Change Primer — will still be held on April 22nd, but will also be on a virtual platform. Please see below for more details on these adjustments:

Roundtable Informational Sessions (March 27, April 3) — Virtual

This session will remain on the mornings Friday, March 27 and Friday, April 3 and will be virtual, using an online platform that allows for participant questions and discussion. Participants that register through the Eventbrite page will receive information on how to join the virtual information sessions.

Systems Change Primer (April 22) — Virtual

We are looking forward to still being able to share systems change methods, analysis, and learnings through an online version of this workshop. We’ll use an online platform that allows for participant questions and discussion. You can learn more and register for this upcoming offering on our website.

March #STL2039 Workshop — Cancelled. May Workshop—Virtual.

The two-part #STL2039 Workshop scheduled for March 25/April 1 will be cancelled. Current registrants will be encouraged to attend the next session in late May. We will plan to hold the May workshop virtually.

While our team at Forward Through Ferguson thrives off of human relations, we are temporarily shifting how we interact with our partners as a precautionary action to protect immune systems from this rapidly spreading illness.

We ask for your patience as we work to organize the logistics for the upcoming sessions and hope that you can understand our stance on this matter. Someone from our team will be in contact with you in the coming week to discuss the changes.

Stay up-to-date on the latest COVID-19 coronavirus news, at the CDC website.

Take care,