St. Louis leaders meet on Zoom

COVID-19 & St. Louis’ Kids: Resources for Children, Youth & Families

Deaconess Community,

On Friday, March 20th, Deaconess joined Incarnate Word Foundation to jointly host ‘COVID-19 & St. Louis’ Kids.’ It was one of many necessary attempts to share resources with and remind leaders of the thousands of children and youth in the St. Louis region wrestling with the impact of the novel coronavirus. We were pleased to be joined by leaders of various systems from different corners of our community.

To each of them, we express our thanks for their partnership in this trying time and extend our hands to be supportive in any way possible. The leaders who joined us for this critical conversation included:

  • Dr. Kelvin Adams, Superintendent, St. Louis Public Schools
  • Dr. Maureen Clancy-May, Area Supervisor for Quality Schools, Missouri Dept. of Elementary & Secondary Education (DESE)
  • The Honorable Steven R. Ohmer, Administrative Judge, Family Court, 22nd Judicial Circuit Court
  • Dr. Douglas Thaman, Executive Director, Missouri Charter Public School Association
  • Dr. Terry Harris, Executive Director of Student Services, Rockwood School District
  • Mr. Justen Hauser, Health Services Manager, City of St. Louis
  • The Honorable Cara Spencer, Education and Youth Matters Chair, St. Louis Board of Aldermen
  • The Honorable Shameem Clark-Hubbard, 26th Ward Alderwoman, St. Louis Board of Aldermen
  • The Honorable Lewis Reed, Aldermanic President, City of St. Louis
  • Mr. Robert Puricelli, Executive Director, Gene Slay’s Girls and Boys Club

At this critical time for our community, we are pleased to see the unprecedented level of collaboration among leaders across school or system types and geographic boundaries. It is extremely encouraging and necessary to meet our children’s needs. David Nehrt-Flores from the Deaconess team has been saying something over the last few weeks that I’ve taken to heart. “If it’s good policy now, it’s probably good policy all the time.”

With that said, I pray the exemplary collaborative care for kids demonstrated by school leaders in this time will be maintained after the pandemic and a model for leaders throughout the region.

Below, please find a list of resources and contacts provided by panelists in our virtual forum. If you were unable to attend the panel, a full recording is available here.

We hope the session and these resources are helpful to each of you. In this spirit, for the coming weeks, we are replacing our standard monthly newsletter with a weekly roundup of available resources in different areas. The next three will be:

  • Philanthropy – addressing where you can give or volunteer to help others during the pandemic;
  • U.S. Census – resources to assure an accurate count overcoming the challenge of COVID-19; and
  • Democracy – supports for ongoing civic engagement and democratic viability.

If you have access to resources to be shared with others or concerns for children that were not addressed in the virtual forum, please feel free to contact us at info@deaconess.org.

For our children,

Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson
President & CEO
Deaconess Foundation

Contacts for Resources & Information

City of St. Louis Health Department

St. Louis Public Schools

Family Courts – 22nd Judicial Circuit Court

Missouri Charter Public School Association

Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Social Service Resources for Families