Emergent Strategy 1: Coronavirus protocols, practices, and policies

 

Emergent Strategy: Coronavirus protocols, practices, and policies

3/13/20

We hear ​survive the future,​ but at Place Corps we are not designing to only survive; rather we are learning to create a future where we thrive together. This we believe is possible through the actions of knowing, loving, and serving. We ​know​ that adaptability to emergence is a skill for thriving in rapidly changing times. We ​know ​that ​love​ is what motivates us to ​serve​. We ​know that ​serving​ is ​love​ in action. How are we serving ourselves, each other, and this place during this pandemic?

We are being tested in real time to align ourselves with the principles of the Place Corps mission and program values. We are being called to act with care-full social responsibility for the greatest good as we encounter the viral wave of Coronavirus. This means swift form changes that adapt to protect the infrastructure of our local health systems and the well-being of our vulnerable populations. This means decentering ourselves to consider the community we are a part of. This means a willingness to change our routine comforts to help others. How does this look in action at Place Corps?

Place Corps has implemented a programmatic protocol that is effective immediately and is outlined below. This plan follows CDC guidelines, and is informed by other local educational and affiliate institutions. It was created with support of Hawthorne Valley and guidance of the core education team. This plan is subject to change. This plan outlines a structure for participation at Place Corps but it does not include the entirety of tactics that will be co-created with Place Corps residents and educators.

Place Corps Coronavirus Plan 3/13/20--3/27/20

***Place Corps will revisit this plan and make any adjustments in two weeks if not earlier.

● Place Corps will practice radical care by social distancing

  • Place Corps education will move to digital communications with all educators and

    staff until April 6th

  • Workshops, Field Trips, and Seminars will be cancelled during this time

  • Work Study will move to work opportunities on campus and digitally

  • Residents may return home during this time recognizing they will not be able to

    return to campus before fourteen days of departure and possibly for the remainder of the semester. Residents electing to leave may determine with the Program Director to continue their studies with Place Corps remotely. Campus support (food and work study opportunities) apply to campus residents only.

  • Residents opting to stay on campus are asked to create a plan for self quarantine for these two weeks effective 3/14/20

  • Campus is restricted to only Place Corps residents, educators, and staff

  • Contact with the HV Farm Store is for essential groceries and supplies only

  • Contact with the HV Farm will only be related to Regen Ag curriculum and follow

    social distance protocol

If a resident demonstrates symptoms of Coronavirus, the Place Corps director is to be immediately notified as well as the family of the resident. All residents must follow mandatory state prescribed quarantine procedures including implementing a house hotspot for self-isolation.

The Place Corps team will act as a care circle around residents offering ongoing place support as needed.

Co-Created Tactics

  • We ask that Place Corps participants create a new and specific house accord and set of practices to support a self-elected quarantine during the Coronavirus pandemic with full participant consensus. This will be a public facing document authored by the cohort as part of a Place Corps published response to Coronavirus

  • We ask that Place Corps participants collaborate with primary educators to reimagine the curriculum and deliverables in: Regen Ag, Climate Solutions, Co-governance and Communications for this next month

  • We ask that Place Corps participants adjust their practicums with their advisors to support social distancing for a month

  • We ask that Place Corps participants support one another with loving kindness practices developed this year together

By 3/14/20 we need:

  • A resident created house accord and plan to support a 2-week self quarantine that is

    signed by all residents opting to stay on campus

  • Two weeks of food and supplies at Schack campus for residents

By 3/18/20 we need:

  • Curriculum Syllabi for four weeks of remote learning in Communications, Regen Ag, and

    Climate Solutions

  • Schedule of Week-in-review meetings

  • New Work Study Assignments

By 3/27/20 we need:

  • A review of protocol including a determination for changes to spring break

​**This may happen sooner depending on circumstances beyond the institute’s control

All residents must share their plans with the Program Director either to be staying on campus or leaving by March 14th in order for Place Corps to be able to continue to meet the obligations to our residents and ensure the continuity of learning. Place Corps recognizes residents may not be able to travel, or return to families, or have constraints and needs that are best served by staying on campus. “Schnack Shack” will be a home in Ghent for residents for the duration of the crisis and until the end of the semester. However, those who remain on campus must agree to follow guidelines and instructions issued by Place Corps as well as public health recommendations which will adapt to circumstances as they change. This will most likely include types of self-isolation/quarantine procedures. Residents can elect to leave at any point. However, residents who leave may not be able to return to campus for the entirety of the semester. Those who elect to leave at any point must also inform the Place Corps director immediately. Place Corps will support residents who elect to leave by continuing learning remotely in order to complete the program.

The Coronavirus illustrates our inherent global interconnectedness. It is asking us to live now purposefully aligned with love. When we created Place Corps, we designed the program for this imagined situation. We asked how we can create a Place Based learning program that equips young people with the skills we imagine are most needed for our future. They include: self-sufficiency and personal resilience while also recognizing interconnectedness to all life and the need for communities of radical care. So here we are in our final semester testing our learning together in the most experiential method imagined.

This is exciting. This is challenging. This is loving.

We ask everyone at Place Corps to step into this challenge as leaders of: Joy, Innovation, Care, Kindness, and Diligence. Please plan garden parties, hikes, house cook-offs, dance parties, make movies, read that book, have those conversations, write that poem, sing that song, make that medicine!

As always I am here to listen, I am here to support you, I am here to help you. Do not hesitate to contact me for anything.


With an overflowing heart of admiration,

Dawn Breeze, Co-founder and Director

 
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