[Updated 4/3/20] Effective March 16, Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara’s centers are temporarily closed and all regular programming canceled through June 15, in response to the COVID-19 crisis and the state-mandated Shelter at Home order.
Though our physical doors may be closed, Girls Inc. is still active behind the scenes. Our bi-lingual program team has sent out a parent survey to assess the greatest needs during this time. Staff are in contact with our families and have begun building out virtual activities and engagement opportunities for our youth and teens.
Our families are looking for some semblance of normalcy during this time of uncertainty. And we are, too. For now, we are continuing to actively plan for summer camps and are creating contingency plans for those programs. Until further notice, families can continue to enroll for our summer camps by downloading and completing the registration packets on each program page and sending them to info@girlsincsb.org with the center/program in the email subject line. Registration packets for our After-school Program 2020-2021 may also be submitted through this email address.
The safety and well-being of our staff, our girls and their families remains our top priority. While we know these actions are the right steps to take, we acknowledge the additional hardship this causes many of our families who rely upon Girls Inc. as an emotionally and physically safe space for their girls. And we acknowledge the severe financial hardship these actions place upon our staff, and upon our organization’s ability to continue serving girls in our community longer term.
Our second priority is to readily assist with our community’s greater relief efforts and we have begun lending our resources to other nonprofits to aid in their delivery of essential services during this time.
We are constantly evaluating this evolving situation and tracking guidance from local, state, and federal officials. We will continue to follow the actions of our school districts and will share updates on our website and on our social media channels (@girlsincsb) as they become available.
We believe in the resilience of our Girls Inc. community. Please continue to stay healthy and take care of yourselves and your families.
Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara