We provided financial assistance to a public school in East Harlem, New York, in order to help families of students facing financial insecurity during COVID-19. One of the elementary school teachers at the public school had made us aware of the situation through the following appeal to us:

“During this COVID-19 crisis, many individuals in this community have either lost their jobs, been unable to go into work and thus received decreased payments, or are undocumented and do not receive support from the government such as stimulus checks or unemployment. These 30 families that have self identified as being in dire need of financial support at this time all have students that are currently in a Dual Language program at a public school in East Harlem. A little over 1/3 of these families have a child who is diagnosed with autism. Many of the families are also supporting and caring for their parents, while many others are single parents themselves trying to support their students through this transition to remote learning. All of the families in this program were interviewed, and these 45 stated that they are having immediate difficulties either paying for rent, bills, food costs, or other essential living costs. As we are a group of educators in the Dual Language program, we know that education does not work as a silo. Our students can’t learn, especially given this new and challenging context, if they can see and sense the stress of their families to keep them afloat. We see the families’ needs as directly influential to our students’ progress and capabilities.”