ARCHS staff started working from home on March 17, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We quickly adapted to virtual site visits, Zoom webinars, intensive communication through newsletters, and tracking data on Apricot 360 for two and a half months until the office reopened on June 1st.
Between March and June, ARCHS provided more than 2,700 hours of strategic technical assistance to support funded partners and internal operations, and it resulted in our partners accomplishing great things for St. Louis' youth, families, and workforce. Here are just a few of those stories. More stories are told in our COVID-19 Response video.
Annie Malone Children and Family Services connected families without technology to case managers to ensure infants and children had a safe living environment, which was especially important with the sharp decline in calls to Missouri's Child Abuse & Neglect Hotline.
Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis staff became amateur film producers to publish virtual programming including cooking tutorials, exercise routines, poetry exercises, and STEM projects.
Bridging Families to Communities and Beyond continued to utilize social distancing to teach classes and administer coursework to help clients kickstart careers in healthcare, construction, and urban agriculture.
Fathers & Families Support Center held virtual classes so mothers and fathers could build positive relationships with their children and lead productive lives.
Kids Vision for Life set up camp at the St. Louis Public Schools Headquarters to hand out more than 180 pairs of glasses so eyesight wasn't another obstacle in remote learning.
Midtown Community Services was able to secure car seats for expectant mothers and diapers for dozens of families.
The ARCHS office in the Humboldt Building will look different for a while, but ARCHS' dedication to funded partners remains the same. Click here to watch the full ARCHS COVID-19 Response Video.
