On March 16th, the LAYC Career Academy closed its physical school building and moved classes online as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
Sixty-two percent of our current students are homeless, so we are worried about their safety and welfare. We are also concerned about our working students because so many have lost their jobs at restaurants and retail businesses.
This is how we are currently helping our students:
- We have moved all of our classes online. Our medical assistant classes have had 100% online attendance! We are training new medical assistants to relieve over-worked healthcare professionals.
- We opened two food distribution centers where students can pick up care packages of food twice per week. The day we closed, we offered every student a laptop, a hot spot, a bag of groceries, hygiene items and condoms.
- We deployed our counselors and student support specialists to contact every student each day to check in on their personal and educational needs.
Going forward, we expect that the situation will worsen in our community. We are about to experience high levels of unemployment due to this crisis.
Those who will be hit the hardest are residents, like our current students, who are homeless, young parents and those who work in restaurants and retail establishments that are closing and may not open again.
We need your help to support our students immediately and the economy in the longer term.
Here are ways that you can support low-income young people during this crisis:
- Send us laptops that are in good shape and less than three years old. You can mail them directly to the school (LAYC Career Academy, 3224 16th Street, NW, Washington DC 20010).
- Make a donation to help us pay for food, computers, internet hotspots, and emergency provisions. You can donate online or send a check made out to LAYC Career Academy to the address listed above.
Help low-income and homeless students during the COVID-19 crisis: