OUR RESPONSE TO COVID-19
At America On Tech (AOT), the safety of our students, families, volunteers and community of supporters are our top priority. As a response to COVID-19, we issued a letter in March sharing our organization's anticipated plan of action to ensure the continuity of our work under the global pandemic.
COVID-19 INFORMATION, TOOLS AND RESOURCES
AOT is actively tracking resources and tools in light of the ongoing COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak. Our primary concern is the health and well-being of our community. Aside from the health concern, we want to inform and provide resources to best equip our community as we transition virtually and exercise social distancing.
Adapted from: The Opportunity Network.
Adapted from: The Opportunity Network.
Links for Official Updates and Information:
Emergency Contacts and Resource Guides:
- Text COVID to 692-692 for NOTIFY NYC Emergency Updates
- Co-quarantined with an abuser? Worried about having to self-isolate in a dangerous home situation? Please reach out to the National Domestic Violence Hotline: CALL 1−800−799−7233 or TTY 1−800−787−3224 or CHAT at http://thehotline.org
- For medical emergencies, read One Medical’s ‘What You Should Know About Coronavirus’ for symptoms, plans of action and recommendations. Call 911 and alert them you may be showing Coronavirus symptoms, so they can come prepared.
- NYC Family Resource Guide
- NYC United Against Coronavirus
- Services for Those in Need
- Database of Localized Resources (includes more than NY)
- COVID-19 Resource Guide for Immigrants
- COVID-19 Nonprofit & Philanthropy Resources
Wellness Resources
- Surviving Social Distancing with Depression & Anxiety
- NYC Guide for Coping with Stress During Infectious Disease Outbreaks
- Dealing with Racism
- COVID-19/At-Home Mental Health Resource List
- Black Girl Magik’s Spreadsheet of Mental Health Resources and Support Funds
- Down Dog Yoga App (free until April 1st; students and teachers until July 1st)
- Free Online Exercise and Movement Classes
- Resources to Do Art at Home
- Headspace (free meditation and mindfulness resources for New Yorkers)
- Mental Health Resources: Resources available by contacting 1-888-NYC-WELL or Texting “WELL” to 65173.
- H+H visitor policy
- People with disabilities: reach out on Twitter to @NYCDisabilities, 311 or visit HERE or connect via video phone at 646-396-5830.
- Family Justice Centers: Centers are physically closed, but you can call for help with safety planning, mental health and planning, legal help, or help in connecting to law enforcement agencies. Call 24-hour Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-621-4673or go HERE.
- Domestic Violence
- Counseling & Mental Health
- CPNYC
- As always, NYC Well is available 24/7 to provide a range of mental health support for all New Yorkers and can be reached by calling 1-888-NYC-Well (692-9355), texting “Well” to 65173, or HERE.
- @MentalHealthNYC
- ThriveNYC's new guide to mental health services New Yorkers can access while staying home, by phone or online.
- Crisis Text Line
Economic Resources
- Coronavirus and Forbearance Info for Students, Borrowers, and Parents (includes information pertaining to student work study)
- Free 30-Day Self-Storage from UHaul
- Emergency Funds for NYC Undocumented Youth and Families
- Free Meals through NYC Department of Education (DOE)
- One Week of Free Groceries: Distribution of free food, available to any New Yorker who needs it.
- Grab and Go Meals for All New Yorkers: To find a location, text “NYCFOOD” or “COMIDA” to 877-877 or click the link.
- SNAP
- Use the site lookup tool to find a location near you.
- Scholly Student Relief Fund - resource for college students to apply for $200 in assistance
- Expensify's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Grocery Reimbursement. Get reimbursed for groceries bought with your SNAP (EBT) card (up to $50 per family).
- Click here for full instructions.
- Freelance Artist Resource
- Disaster Assistance Loans: These loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that can’t be paid because of the disaster’s impact. The interest rate is 3.75% for small businesses without credit available elsewhere; businesses with credit available elsewhere are not eligible. The interest rate for non-profits is 2.75%.
- NYC Employee Retention Grant Program: This grants offers small businesses and nonprofits with fewer than 5 employees a grant to cover 40% of payroll costs (up to $27,000) for two months to help retain employees.
- NYC Small Business Continuity Fund: This program is available to New York City businesses with fewer than 100 employees that can demonstrate at least a 25% decrease in revenue as a result of COVID-19.
- Free Financial Counseling from NYC Financial Empowerment Centers: Counselors can help you create a budget, manage bills, save for essentials, deal with student loans, and more.
- National Domestic Workers Alliance - The Coronavirus Care Fund (CCF): $400 in emergency assistance for qualifying home care workers, nannies, and house cleaners.
- One Fair Wage - Free, cash assistance to restaurant workers, delivery drivers and other tipped workers and service workers.
- SBA Grant & Loan Update: Application for Federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is now open for businesses and nonprofits under 500 people. It’s first-come, first-served. These are forgivable loans for payroll up to $100,000/employee, interest on mortgages, rent, and utility payments. Businesses are encouraged to visit HERE to learn more about grants and loans available.
- For Small Businesses - Grant and Loan INFO.
- Helping Tenants: 311 hotline for NYC tenants For those tenants struggling to pay rent during coronavirus
- Unemployment Benefits and Health Insurance FAQ
- Guidance or Employers and Employees about COVID-19 Mandates
- NYC List of Essential Business/Services
- Desai Sethi Foundation: a Community Resilience Prize program where local individuals or groups can apply for grants up to $5000 to fund community driven solutions to issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. You can find more information on the program HERE.
Internet Access & Phone Service
- 60 Days of Free Broadband Service From Comcast for Low-Income Communities:
- Sign up for 60 days of no-cost service, with the opportunity to sign up after for $9.95 per month or cancel service at no cost.
- Support is available in Spanish and ASL as well as other languages at www.internetessentials.com.
- People can sign up by phone at 1-855-846-8376 for English and 1-855-765-6995 for Spanish.
- 60 Days of Free Broadband Service for New K-12 and College Students From Charter:
- Free Spectrum broadband and Wi-Fi access for 60 days to households with K-12 and/or college students who do not already have a Spectrum broadband subscription at any service level up to 100 Mbps.
- To enroll call 1-844-488-8395.
- For eligible low-income households without school-aged children, Charter continues to offer Spectrum Internet Assist, a low-cost broadband program delivering speeds of 30 Mbps
- Charter will open its Wi-Fi hotspots across our footprint for public use.
- Xfinity is offering free Wi-Fi/Hotspot access when you download their free app. The app connects to available hotspots in your area. No requirements for this service.
- AT&T is waiving data overage fees to all customers so that families and students can stay connected during the pandemic.
- T-Mobile is providing unlimited data on all mobile plans for the next 60 days and an additional 20GB of mobile hotspot
- Verizon is opening their hotspots to all Americans for 60 days
- Sprint will offer unlimited data for 60 days starting March 19
Academic and Work from Home Resources
- Remote Learning Device Rental - NYCDOE
- Microsoft is offering a six month free trial of Office 365 and the premium plan for its Teams chat app allowing users to record meetings and take advantage of 1TB of storage, neither of which are available on the normal free version.
- Google is providing free access to the enterprise version of Hangouts Meet to all G Suite and G Suite for Education users. That plan includes up to 250 users per call, the ability to record meetings, and livestream capabilities for up to 100,000 viewers until July 1, 2020.
- LogMeIn is making "Emergency Remote Work Kits" available for free for three months. Those kits are designed for nonprofits, schools, and health care organizations that aren't already customers. The kits include GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar—where users can host presentations for up to 3,000 users—and LogMeIn, which provides remote desktop access from numerous devices.
- Cisco is offering the free version of its Webex service with no time restrictions. In addition, it will allow up to 100 meeting participants and has added toll-free dial-in features with a 90-day license for businesses that are not already customers.
- Cox is offering the first month free of Connect2Compete which is normally $9.95 per month plus free remote desktop support.
- Adobe at-home access to Creative Cloud is available until May 31, 2020 for schools and universities who currently only have lab access for students and educators, at no additional cost.
- Signal.org and Doxy.me (tools that are HIPAA compliant and maintain confidentiality when communicating with young people)
- Education Companies Offering Free Subscriptions
- COVID-19 Curriculum Guide (created by Harvard Medical students including diagnosis, treatment, prevention, epidemiological principles, and how to communicate your newfound understanding of COVID-19 to others)
- NYPL Free One-On-One Tutors: Get free online homework help from one-on-one tutors. For older students, study materials and practice tests for PSAT, SAT, ACT, AP, and GED exams, and state-standardized tests.
- Information about school meals and remote learning
- NYC Health and Hospitals needs workers to help transport patients, clerical staff and cleaning staff. You can apply today HERE.
- TLC Driver Jobs
- Jobs through SBS Virtual Workforce One Center (or call 718-960-2458)
- Virtual Town Hall: Bridging the Digital Divide during COVID-19
Other Resources:
- Twitter thread of free coding and tech resources here
- 500 Free Computer Science Courses linked here
- Food Safety Zine
- Coronavirus Resources for Parents
- Netflix Party (host virtual watch parties with friends; works with Google Chrome only)
- Skribbl.io (multi-player drawing and guessing game to play with friends)
- Hoopla (instantly borrow digital movies, music, eBooks and more, 24/7 with your library card)
- The Metropolitan Opera Live Streams (each day, a different encore presentation from the company’s Live in HD series is being made available for free streaming)
- Virtual Museum Visits from Google Arts & Culture (peruse glimpses of everything from Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, Seoul’s National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, The British Museum of London to Guggenheim Museum in New York)
- General Assembly - Learn to Code for Free
- How to Sew a Face Mask
- Statistical "Which Character" Personality Quiz
- If you're facing nonpayment issues, file a complaint
- Face Covering Guidance: Advising New Yorkers to wear face covering when outside and near people to prevent spreading COVID - INFO.
- Blood Donations: New York Blood Center is seeking donations of plasma from those who have recovered from COVID-19.
- For DACA Recipients: Call ActionNYC at 1-800-354-0365