Like many companies, schools, and offices across the country, we’ve been operating this way ever since. What’s allowed us to persist is the grit and resilience of our community — the same qualities at the foundation of our Fellowship. Our Fellows are engaged in learning. They’re building capstone projects. They are searching for — and even securing — their first jobs in tech.
However, recently, as New York City’s schools and businesses started safely reopening, we wondered: could we do the same? And if so, what would that look like? While we are continuing to actively develop our plans this post outlines our strategy for our re-opening.
As we often do with community-centered projects, we listened to our Fellows first. We wanted to know: How many of them wanted to come back to our space? When and how often would they do so? And most importantly, did they feel safe coming back?
We sent them a survey to find out. The findings are clear: most of our Fellows want the option of using Pursuit HQ as a personal workspace.
Working remotely comes with challenges for anyone. Balancing work with childcare. Dealing with distractions and interruptions. But for many of our Fellows, all of whom come from low-income backgrounds, these challenges are particularly stark.
“Some or our Fellows live in small spaces, or may share their homes with many others. Wifi can be spotty. There's a lot of potential disruptions,” said Daphne Smirniotis, Pursuit’s Facilities and Office Manager. “What many of our Fellows told us is that they needed our space to do their best work.”
As for safety: our Fellows had no issues about returning to Pursuit HQ, just as long as we could figure out a way to significantly minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
For that part of our strategy, we turned to a panel of experts (connections brought to us by our partner, Gerson Lehrman Group) for guidance:
Regina Phelps, Founder, President and CEO at Emergency Management & Safety Solutions Inc.
Dean Seneca, former Director at Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Epidemiology Center
Mark Moran, President at OSHA Nation.
Next, we joined a meeting hosted by our long-time funding partner, Arbor Brothers. We gathered advice from professionals in education, nonprofit, and the workforce development space.
Finally, we consulted NYC Reopening Wizard’s Opening Guidelines for Educational Institutions and Johns Hopkins Risk Assessment — the gold standards for assessing operational models and risks for transmission.
Armed with Fellow feedback, expert advice, and extensive research, we came up with five principles to guide the reopening of our space:
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1.) Reopen as a Fellow-First Community Space. Reinvigorate our in-person community by creating opportunities for small, controlled gatherings at the Pursuit office; continue remote instruction, but give Fellows the option of coming to HQ to view Livestreams of classes.
2.) Remote First, In-Person Optional. Provide Fellows the flexibility of returning to the space or staying at home. Whichever works best for them.
3.) Put Safety First. Put new safety protocols in place, including, but not limited to: improving sanitization, installing touchless tech, issuing new cleaning protocols, creating a new socially distanced layout, and updating our HVAC system to optimize air quality.
4.) Stay Informed. Administer detailed training, community outreach, and a robust compliance structure from top to bottom to ensure safety and accountability.
5.) Embrace the Great Outdoors. Weather permitting, seek opportunities to gather outside (on our roof deck, for instance) for socially distanced community building.
We are already putting our first principle in practice: in the coming months, we are hoping to reopen the Pursuit office as a socially distanced community center. A full reopen remains a work in progress, and is dependent, in part, on the conditions on the ground.
However, as we continue to work on reopening our doors, Daphne is “confident that as long as we work together as a team, and adhere closely to our principles, we’ll be able to do so safely.”
Stay tuned for more on the official re-opening!
