Our Response To Covid-19 And The $250,000 Pursuit Emergency Relief Fund

Remarks from March 16, 2020

Dear Pursuit community,

I hope you are staying healthy and safe during this difficult period. These are unprecedented times—Covid-19 has the potential to profoundly impact our society. While the future is uncertain, we are taking proactive measures to protect the health of the Pursuit community and address potential hardships.

Our mission is to better the financial well-being of our Fellows. As the financial market responds to this global pandemic, the upcoming weeks and months present unexpected financial difficulties for many of our Fellows.

Proud of our achievements & the team

I am very proud of what we have achieved in this past week, and I am so thankful to the whole team. This past week speaks to our team’s deep and profound commitment and our ability to work collectively to achieve amazing things. Everyone took a deliberate and thoughtful approach to minimize disruption to learning, particularly considering the life circumstances of many of our Fellows.

Proactive action has been the priority. And we will continue with this approach.

Last Monday morning, we set a goal to be prepared to go remote by the end of the day Wednesday. We accomplished this as One Big Team. The programs team quickly came together and assessed our curriculum and programs to prepare. Along with the ops team, they conducted surveys of Fellows to gain an initial understanding of their needs in a remote world. Based on the results of those surveys, we provided Fellows who needed equipment such as wifi hotspots (in case they don't have good internet access at home) so that they would continue to have a quality learning experience. With feedback from different members of the team, we made a decision on Wednesday morning to proactively go fully remote at the start of the week. I’m glad that we visited every class at the start of the process to share the decision, our rationale and intent, and answer questions. We were proactive in taking these actions, and it was the right thing to do. Now we’re prepared today to be fully remote and fully operational.

Only a week ago, none of our Fellows were set up to be remote. Not only that, we completed this ahead of schedule. With everyone’s effort, we onboarded and trained 100% of our Fellows and staff on Zoom. On Saturday morning, we decided to accelerate going remote because of changing external conditions and we were prepared because of how well the team performed. Thanks to every one of you.

Thank you for our classroom teams for the hard work and flexibility that you have demonstrated. I thank you in advance for picking up new skills so that we can provide our Fellows high quality instruction and experience. I’m certain we will all learn a lot from you during this time.

Thank you to our Operations team for all your work to make this transition to remote as smooth as possible. Thank you to Daphne who ensured that our Fellows have wifi capabilities (she made numerous trips to the Verizon store), to Shopkins for onboarding all staff and Fellows onto Zoom pro (100% of our staff and Fellows are working on the platform), and Will for all his efforts in coordinating and executing on our plan.

Even in this uncertain time, our Fellows have remained incredibly engaged. I visited our classroom teams on Saturday, and I was glad to see everyone engaging and in good spirits. I saw Alejo leading a class onboarding to Zoom with Dessa and JR. Last night, I was glad to participate in 6.4’s first remote demo and see some of the projects that were presented. Corey, Jonathan, and Jhenya did a great job.

And so today is the first day we are all officially remote. Following CDC guidelines, we will be operating remotely for the next eight weeks, until at least April 20. However, we should all mentally prepare for being remote potentially longer than that. Based on the energy and leadership I’ve seen this past week, I’m confident we will do right by our Fellows and tackle whatever challenges may come.

I’m so proud of our team and how we continue to put the care of each other and our Fellows first.

Assessing the short-term and long-term impact of Covid-19

No one knows the ultimate impact of Covid-19. This will be different from the 2008 financial crisis where the first impact was felt on Wall Street. Covid-19 will have a very real impact on our community and those that we serve. Many restaurants and small businesses will close temporarily, and service jobs will be under duress. This means that many people will be without a stable source of income. This includes waiters, retail workers, and cooks—occupations held by many of our Fellows.

This will make our work more important than ever, particularly as the Covid-19 virus subsides.

Covid-19 will also impact the financial health of our organization. The financial market turmoil and the immediate slowdown of businesses could lead to a recession. We don’t know yet whether this will be a short, sharp shock that’s over in 2 months, or if it will have a more profound and lasting impact.

There is no reason for immediate alarm. I am personally optimistic about our long-term economic outlook and American ingenuity, but we must be prudent and prepare for the worst scenario. My goal is to ensure that Pursuit has the financial resources to weather any potential recession, and to best enable our organization to support our staff and Fellows. My current priorities are the following:

1. Our current 6.0 Fellows have a high quality experience in a remote environment

2. We can support all of our Fellows and alumni as best as we can with a Pursuit Emergency Relief Fund to mitigate the financial impact of Covid-19

3. Pursuit is on a sound financial footing for the future

Our mission remains the same but this will shift our priorities in the upcoming weeks. We need to all work to put Pursuit and our Fellows on the best possible path forward.

We are taking action to address the financial health of our Fellows and org

In light of this new reality, we conducted a fundraising picture analysis and a full examination of our finances. We have created an initial plan to address the financial reality, and we will continue to assess and make adjustments as the situation evolves.

As part of this plan, we decided to take the following immediate actions. Collectively they represent a 30% reduction in our original 2020 budget:

- Instituting a limited hiring freeze at Pursuit, with the exception for a handful of essential roles and with offers that are already in progress.

- Delaying our lease signing and planned move. Signing a new lease will add a significant expense and, practically, it would be almost impossible to move right now.

- Suspending non-essential expenses, with approval on a case by case basis from our VP of Finance.

To be clear, this is not meant to affect our current staff budget, nor will it impact planned raises and promotions. But being proactive is our priority. Our mission is to better the financial well-being and health of our Fellows. And this is particularly sharpened during this time of financial uncertainty. These actions are meant to continue our impact.

We will also be taking new actions to address the financial well-being of our Fellows:

- I am taking a 20% salary cut immediately. This is out of an abundance of caution and knowing that we are hunkering down in the organization. We will use this saving to help defray some of the additional costs of Pursuit going remote as well as to mitigate potential financial impact for Fellows.

- We are creating a Pursuit Emergency Relief fund from our operating budget to support our Fellows. We realize how difficult it may be for Fellows to pay for expenses that come up as a result of this situation. This is particularly true for Fellows who are not yet employed.

The Pursuit Emergency Relief Fund will have four components:

Emergency Cash Assistance: We are committing right now up to $100,000 for Fellows and alumni in hardship. We understand this is a time of uncertainty. Organizations that typically provide support may not be set up to provide immediate time-sensitive response right now. Our intent is to provide some emergency relief for Fellows who need support for immediate demands like food, shelter, or other critical needs. We also don't know how long this crisis will last and how far our resources will stretch. But we hope that this will provide some immediate support in this time.

One-time Emergency Pursuit Bond Payment. This means that for those currently making payments, the upcoming payment due the month of April will be directly paid for. We hope that this provides both time and finances to assess and prepare during this time of increased uncertainty.

Opt-in 3-Month Emergency Pause. We are adding 3 additional months to our existing Pursuit Bond Economic Hardship Policy for those in need.

Support for remote work and learning. We have Zoom pro accounts, internet hotspots, headphones, and other equipment available to help Fellows continue to work or learn.

This plan is very achievable and it would enable Pursuit to mostly maintain our current plans. We want to make sure that we can continue to provide a good learning environment and experience to our current 6.0 Fellows.

Working closely with our funders, supporters, and community

While the economic situation is uncertain, our funders and supporters continue to believe in us. We should all feel confident that our backers are on our side. We are making it our priority in these next three weeks to engage with all of our partners, communicate the actions we have taken, share our plan with them, and reaffirm their commitment to Pursuit. I have already seen some of our most important and long-standing partners such as Robin Hood and Salesforce reach out to see how they could support Pursuit in these times. I have been moved by the support of our backers—we could not get through this without them.

Finally, our volunteer community remains incredibly committed to our success and the success of our Fellows. They have been proactively reaching out to see how they can help. In this remote world, the services provided by volunteers will continue in a virtual setting. This includes certification interviews, office hours, capstone mentor meetings, and more. Thank you Alexis for leading this charge. We are also working to grow our volunteer services. It’s in times like these that the best of people comes through.

Learnings and appreciations from Sept 11

In these past few weeks, I have been reflecting on my personal experiences and learnings throughout my life. The closest analog to the current situation may be the aftermath of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks. I wanted to share my experience of what it felt like to be a New Yorker at that time and what it was like being a 17-year-old high school student on 9/11. I hope that I can relay the lessons I took from that experience and how they are relevant to this moment.

I was a senior in Stuyvesant high school during Sept 11. My high school was three blocks away from the World Trade Center. It was the start of the school year, just a few days in, and we were all in school that day as we saw the event unfold before us. After the first tower came crashing down, we were told to flee north from the school. As you can imagine, there was no plan because the attacks were unexpected. Many of my classmates had nowhere to go to immediately. It made life exceedingly difficult for many of my classmates who were dependent on the school for learning, stability, meals, and so many other important aspects of our lives.

I was a student leader at the time -- student body president at my high school and also led the American Red Cross youth group -- so I had a unique first-hand account into the decision-making over that year. My CFO was Jess Schumer (Jess remains a very close friend today) and we had direct insight with Senator Chuck Schumer and the City's leadership. There was a strong desire among students and even across New York City to see my high school and my classmates return to school. Although it may seem like just one high school, it was the closest site to the WTC and the closest building to ground zero. Returning to school was seen as a symbol of New York getting back on its feet. And so a decision was made to return to the school a couple of months later. The towers were still smoldering and relief efforts were still active. I still distinctly remember the smell to this day.

Even though our school and political leaders had the best intentions, there were very real health consequences for us kids and teachers in returning to school and being exposed to the daily fumes and debris. That was something the school stakeholders -- the Mayor, the Principal, the teachers union, and the students -- struggled with over the next year. Years later, many of my friends have had extremely serious health consequences. My best friend got cancer and another friend sadly passed away last year from health issues linked to this exposure.

The situation now with Covid-19 is obviously very different. I share this story with you to make clear that I understand the impact of Pursuit going remote and the impact that Covid-19 may have on you, and all of our current Fellows who are currently involved with Pursuit. I remember what it’s like to be a student who faced constrained circumstances at home. What it’s like to rely on an institution for stability and community. Despite all the challenges, I am so grateful to have had my fellow students, teachers, and the support we provided each other during September 11. I remember the incredible care we all had for each other. It is very special to this day. I have so much love for them, and I have so much love for all of you.

That experience also demonstrated to me the importance of being deliberate and thoughtful about decisions that affect learning, public health, and the impact on students. There are a lot of secondary and long-term effects. I take these considerations and our actions very seriously as I have witnessed them many times first hand. Your health is incredibly important to me. The importance of our actions isn’t just about this exact moment but about the days and months ahead. This is not just about now but about tomorrow.

One Big Team

I want to close with a few points of guidance for all of us. These are extraordinary times.

But the strongest companies were forged during difficult times. By moving with common purpose and believing in each other, we can emerge stronger and create a truly lasting organization.

All of us stepped up last week. We all worked together as One Big Team to make sure our Fellows and our staff were best prepared for this transition. That really shows how much we care about each other and our values.

I believe we will meet the magnitude of this moment with the commitment, empathy, and teamwork that we demonstrate every day. I believe in all of you and we should all believe in each other. This situation gives us an opportunity to double down on our values and really work to our strengths.

Let’s communicate, let’s lead with empathy and care, and let’s rely on each other as we build our future Pursuit.

Thank you.