For this week's Partner Spotlight, we're sharing some important updates from one of our incredible partners here in the United States: Springboard to Opportunities! Read on to learn how your support has been helping them reach families in Mississippi, Maryland, and Alabama through COVID and beyond.
Q: Tell us about this year and how the pandemic has affected your community?
Sarah Stripp
Sarah: The pandemic affected our community in very serious ways. Many people lost work, or had to make the difficult decision of whether to continue working to provide for their family or stay home and support their children's virtual learning.
Due to safety concerns, we haven’t been able to meet with other community members in-person.
This has caused a lot of isolation, and we've had to get very creative about how to connect our mentors with students to ensure that everyone gets the mental health support and care that they need during this time.
Q: How have you been running LitWorld's programs this year?
Sarah: We've been pushing out LitWorld's Virtual Programs to our families. These have been essential for families, and have allowed us to continue our work even without in-person programming. We've also sent books and tools to our student's homes, and adapted the curriculum to make it compatible with online programming. Additionally, mentors and students are now meeting virtually via Google Meet.
Q: Which of the 7 Strengths feels the closest to your community?
Sarah: The Strength I see as really present in our community is Courage. Many of the families that we work with have had to make very difficult choices—particularly in the midst of the pandemic—in order to make sure that everyone in their family has what they need. I am inspired every day by the courageous choices they make, and their persistence in working towards goals for their whole family.
Q: What does "serious joy" mean to you?
I think "serious joy" is when we are grounded in a deeper hope for ourselves and our communities, despite the circumstances around us. It comes from relationships with those who bring out the best in us, while we work to bring out the best in them. It is believing that we can—and should—celebrate with others as they thrive, because all of our joy is tied together.