These last few weeks have been different from any we experienced. We only have to watch the news, look at social media, or take a walk down our main streets, with all the temporarily shuttered businesses, to see how COVID-19 is affecting us.

We have come together as a community to slow the spread of a dangerous virus that could easily strain our local hospitals, first responders, and caregivers. I am proud that College of the Redwoods is stepping up and doing its part.

My CR colleagues and I understand how painful it has been. Like you, we cherish personal relationships and the satisfaction we experience when engaging in social and professional conversations in-person.

I understand the stress and anxiety many feel in this time of uncertainty.  Yet, I see great opportunities too. CR has an opportunity to reassert itself as an essential institution that will help the state rebuild its economy by continuing to educate, train, and retrain its citizenry. Even under these unprecedented circumstances, CR continues to operate and pursue its academic mission of offering high quality transfer, career education, adult, and community education courses.

We continue to hear that the measures implemented to protect the health and safety of our fellow Californians, along with the effects of the pandemic on the state’s economy, will have a negative effect on the college’s budget. Clearly, the fiscal uncertainty is a challenge. However, it is also an opportunity for us to reinforce to lawmakers the notion that CR must be sufficiently funded to support the upskilling and reemployment needs of members of our community who have been displaced by the health crisis, even as our faculty and staff do the vital work of preparing students for participation in our society and our economy.

We know that many people in our community have lost their jobs or want to change careers. We see an opportunity to recommit ourselves to complete open access, welcoming anyone who wishes to learn, and to be responsive to community needs. CR will continue the College Access Program, which offers free- tuition to help first-time students enrolled in 12 or more units to pursue their degree.

Additionally, the college wants to do all it can to help former CR students who may not have finished get back to school. We are working on a debt forgiveness program, that will offer them a way back in, even if they cannot afford to pay past debts.

Recognizing the economic hardship our current students face, we will provide immediate emergency financial aid grants to help them pay for expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to coronavirus such as food, housing, course materials, technology, health care, chrome books, and childcare. We hope that these small measures will give our students the extra support they need to be successful.

I want to close by saying how grateful I am that our community has come together and made sweeping changes to their lives to meet the challenge that COVID-19 poses. I am thankful that College of the Redwoods will continue to be an indispensable investment that provides an accessible path to a better life for generations of Humboldt, Del Norte, and Trinity county families.

I am very confident that our outstanding faculty and staff will help CR get back to normal, whatever that “new normal” turns out to be. College of the Redwoods will always be here to take care of our students and to help them and future students find success.