Dear Friends,
Wow. What a difficult and uncertain time it has been and continues to be. We hope you and your loved ones are well.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced every one of us—individuals and organizations—to re-evaluate everything: how we rely on each other, where and how we work, and how our goals align with what is happening around and to us.
The health and safety of Schuyler Center’s staff and their families has been a priority. We moved to remote work in mid-March and are constantly improving our systems to work efficiently as a team.
We are extremely grateful to those who support us financially, many of whom have reached out to remind us Schuyler’s work is as important as ever. They have been flexible on grant reporting and timing, and continue to rely on us for insights and practical ways to reduce poverty and inequity in New York State.
Our funders are right—this work—shaping public policy to make it fairer and more focused on those in-need—is as important as ever! We are hopeful that much of the country is coming to acknowledge the same thing. As attention to systemic racism and police violence continues to grow, we are all called to re-examine our implicit biases. The coronavirus has made that abundantly clear over the last several months. The racial, social, and economic disparities evidenced by this deadly virus cannot be overlooked. Coronavirus does discriminate. A family’s neighborhood, income level, and race and ethnicity are all significant contributing factors to whether someone gets and dies from this deadly disease, and the extent to which their community is affected.
Schuyler Center continues to focus on income inequality and its ill effects on the health and well-being of New York families. We continue to examine and make concrete recommendations about strengthening New York’s public health infrastructure. New York has the resources to address these challenges, it needs the political leaders and will to do so. Governor Cuomo, in one of his daily news conferences recently said, “It always seems that the poorest people pay the highest price. Why is that?” Why indeed?
For almost 150 years, the Schuyler Center has advanced effective and inclusive public policies that put children and families first. We hope you will help us with this fight to shape policy so when COVID-19 returns or the next epidemic hits, we’re not again asking what we could have done differently.
Sincerely,
Kate Breslin
President & CEO
Read about the details and impact of our work: Focused on Strengthening Families and Enduring Hardship in 2020.
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