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“Education is the most powerful weapon which you
can use to change the world.”
-Nelson Mandela

The Sara Holbrook Community Center and its programs work to prevent and address many problems and hardships within our community: the need for affordable child care, the struggles of the working poor and newly arrived families, child abuse, youth leadership, food security, and more. To learn more about these issues and the plight of refugees, the Center recommends the following literature and media.

Books:

A Framework for Understanding Poverty
Author: Ruby Payne, Ph.D.

Nickeled & Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
Author: Barbara Ehrenreich

Refugee: The Ugliest Word
Author/Poet: Aftaba Mezetovic

Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls
Author: Mary Pipher, Ph.D.

A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence
Author: Patricia Hersch

Websites:

SHCC COVID-19 Response

Sara Holbrook Community Center has always held the health, safety and well-being of all those we serve as a primary priority. Additionally, we pride ourselves on being conscientious and holding ourselves to the highest standards as stewards of the money entrusted to us. Our management team, staff and volunteers have applied these priorities everyday as we serve those in our programs, and with the advent of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), we have had to take additional specific actions to continue to do so.

Our actions to date have been taken within the timelines, directives, guidance and counsel from our Governor, the Vermont Department of Health and Agency of Education as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, we are taking actions to recognize our staff as our greatest assets and identifying the best ways to utilize their skills, and their loyalty to SHCC.

These actions include:

Closing programs to students and ultimately staff (starting with the March 18 ordered closing of Burlington School District Schools) including the:

Preschool Program
Elementary Afterschool Program
Middle School Afterschool Enrichment Program
Teen Drop-in Center
Food Shelf

Assessing and addressing technology needs to move to a work from home reality:

Ensuring staff have access to viable computers to be able to work from home, and in some cases locating technology that can be loaned to staff to meet this need.
Updating systems to allow for seamless interactions and access to files through Zoom, Google and other platforms.
Training staff on the access to and use of the aforementioned technology.

Developing comprehensive program specific work plans for staff to ensure that even through closure we are not resting on our laurels, but are taking the time as one for continuous improvement of our programming. Staff are currently:

Grant writing
Preparing for the pending transition to our new facility
Planning our expanded programs in the new facility
Finalizing plans for summer camp and school vacations
Engaging in online professional development opportunities

Ensuring ongoing support of the organization’s infrastructure:

Board and Board Committees continue to meet as scheduled with the use of audio and video conferencing.
All financial and bookkeeping processes have been moved to platforms that allow for secure, confidential, online access.
Our Board of Directors and Executive Director are working with our Human and Legal resources to ensure adherence to the rapidly changing expectations from the State and Federal Government.

Be assured that during these unprecedented times, we will stay informed about the virus and follow any additional guidance and directions from our state leaders and look forward to the time when it is safe for us to resume normal programs and services. Additional updates will be found here. At this time, in an effort to refrain from inundating people with emails and notices of how we are responding we invite you to return here when you are interested.

In the meantime we hope you and yours remain well.