WHDC encourages all to stay safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Check out this useful guide below from our friend Jose Ortiz, Jr., Executive Director of NYC Employment & Training Coalitions (NYCETC). Another excellent resource is the newsletter from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and other elected officials. We’ve added a few other resources and will continue to make updates as we receive them.
Below you will find Federal, State and Local Government Resources; Day-to-Day Tips; Support and Discussions for Human Services Organizations; and Small Business Support.
FEDERAL, STATE + LOCAL GOVERNMENT RESOURCES
Please take a look at the following Federal, State, and Local agencies links provided below. These are the main websites for an overview on COVID-19. They each contain information on the symptoms, prevention, testing, and precautions around travel, as well as other resources, guides, and answers to commonly asked questions.
Government Agencies
- NYC Vaccine Command Center
- NYC DOE School Re-opening 2020/2021 Family Guide
- NYC Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) – $420 for every NYC public school student
FAQ’s
- CDC Fact Sheet
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- NYC Department of Health Fact Sheet
- FAQ for Contracted Health and Human Service Providers from the Office of the NYC Mayor
- NYC Health Business and Employer Guidance
- NYC Comptroller’s COVID-19 Resource List
Additional Resources
- The Armory – Schedule your vaccine appointment
- Community Voices Heard’s Resource Map
- PA’LANTE’s COVID-19 Rental Assistance
- Advocates for Children’s Jill Chaifetz Education Helpline
- The Fortune Society’s Good Ship Fortune Kid and Teen Friendly Resource
- Manhattan Legal Services – if you are seeking legal assistance on a new matter, you can call the legal assistance hotline at 917-661-4500, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Staff can take calls in any language.
Below, are some day-to-day tools to prevent and/or manage the epidemic, including tips we have collected from a number of workforce development service providers. We’ve listed them into three broad categories: Personal Protective, Community Mitigation Strategies, and Environmental Measures
Personal Protective
- Ensure sufficient supply of personal hygiene products, especially hand soap and hand sanitizer.
- Wash hand frequently, cover coughs, and to stay home when sick through emails and flyers throughout your office and facilities.
- Wipe down surfaces, especially doorknobs and elevator buttons more regularly
Community & Social Distancing
- If traveling, stay informed of which areas are high-risk and the associated risk.
- Establish policies to ensure those returning from travel to high-risk areas self-quarantine for 14-days.
- Limit non-essential business travel.
- Limit large gatherings and large events.
- For employers, consider creating separate teams of employees working on essential business functions. Teams could then be located in separate areas and/or asked to rotate working from home.
- Consider staggering shifts for workers, as well as staggered one week quarantines if necessary.
- Institute policies to separate employees from being in close contact.
- Encourage and support telecommuting:
- Do an inventory of employees working with laptops that can be more easily asked to work from home.
- Ask staff and clients about computer and Internet access at home and set up policies for those without access.
- Investigate your organization’s IT capacity if the need arises to have all staff work remotely simultaneously and accessing your servers.
- Encouraging and supporting remote learning and training:
- Analyze and prepare what classroom content, if any, could be delivered remotely or via alternative methods.
- Prepare digital and distance learning tools and protocols.
- Digital tools to consider include Zoom and Google Hangouts
Environmental Measures
- Note: While COVID-19 can survive on surfaces for approximately 72 hours, the main method of transmission is from person-to-person.
- Clean surfaces regularly and increase cleaning of high touch surfaces.
