COVID-19 Updates for BEAM Supporters
Current as of June 23, 2020
To our supporters,
In the past months, the lives of our students and their families have been deeply affected by COVID-19.
We are seeing first-hand the punishing effects of this pandemic. Many BEAM families have lost jobs and are struggling to pay for even the basics: food, utilities, and rent. BEAM college students have lost work-study jobs that helped pay for tuition and living expenses; some are returning to homes that are now struggling with food insecurity. Moreover, some families have been hit directly by the illness and costs for medicine.
On top of this, BEAM students have struggled to connect to online learning and to complete schoolwork in spaces that may be crowded and noisy. Many BEAM students are pitching in to help with younger siblings and older relatives who need additional assistance.
Knowing the hardships our students are facing, we are more committed than ever to supporting them and their families in whatever ways we can to help them through the immediate crisis, and to help them realize their dreams for the future when they have gotten through this moment.
We’d like to share the work we are doing now to address a range of needs for our students.
Here is a brief summary, with more details below:
We have established an Emergency Relief Fund to help with immediate needs such as food and housing for BEAM families that have been most affected by the pandemic. We have already processed over $40,000 in direct contributions to families who are struggling the most at this time. If you would like to make an additional donation at this time, you can do that here. Thanks!
We have moved many of our activities online. In the second week of March, we made the difficult decision to cancel in-person Saturday classes in New York City and Los Angeles. At that time, we moved NYC’s algebra class online. (Los Angeles students had largely reached the goals set out for their algebra class, which was nearing completion.) We are also offering virtual tutoring sessions, support groups, and outreach, and have secured other online learning resources to support our students.
Our summer programs are running online. We are committed to preserving what we see as they key elements of our summer programs: challenging and interesting classes that help our students see the beauty of math, the opportunity to build lasting friendships, and the chance to have fun as part of a community of mathy peers.
Fundraising remains a priority, but we are fortunate that our board has a conservative budgeting strategy and we are in a relatively stable position for the coming year with adequate reserves to cover our expenses. However, given the likely financial contraction, we have long-term concerns about sustaining our programming.
Here are some ways you can help BEAM now:
Help us connect our high school and college students to opportunities: If you know of internships, or summer and full-time employment opportunities, contact Ayinde Alleyne, BEAM College Support Coordinator, at ayinde@beammath.org.
Give to our Emergency Relief Fund: Please consider making an additional donation at this time to provide urgent assistance to BEAM families. Because we really know our students and their families, we’re able to distribute your contribution to those families most in need.
For those with interest, read on for more details about our plans. Thank you all for your support!
STUDENT IMPACT
We have established an Emergency Relief Fund to help with immediate needs such as food and housing for BEAM families most affected by COVID-19.
This is an incredibly difficult time for many BEAM families. They have lost their school’s support network just when they are most struggling with utilities, rent, or even food.
The response and need from families have been overwhelming. Families have been deeply appreciative, and the act of providing support has brought the community together in ways we hadn’t imagined before.
In-person Saturday classes have been cancelled.
To keep our students and their families as safe as possible, in the second week of March, we made the difficult decision to cancel in-person meetings of our Saturday classes. Luckily, the most critical periods for our students had mostly passed. High school and college applications were completed, and SAT/ACT prep was mostly done (and April and May test dates were cancelled, with indications that many colleges will make tests optional for current 11th graders). Our other classes were primarily focused on life skills, and while these are important, they aren’t as immediately urgent.
Algebra, calculus, and weekly office hours are taking place online.
The one class we feel is still critical is 8th-grade algebra. We want our students to pass algebra in 8th grade so they’re on track for calculus in high school. We moved this class online and reached out to students to ensure that they could access the class. (This class has since concluded.)
We have added a weekly calculus class (which will continue through August) to help prepare BEAM students for the new (online) AP Calculus exam and make sure students have a strong foundation for college calculus.
Weekly office hours and one-on-one tutoring have also moved online; BEAM staff are scheduling and monitoring virtual tutoring sessions with volunteers. We are extending this support to our 8th–12th grade students, who are transitioning to online learning, as well as to our college students.
We are running our summer programs online.
While online programs will necessarily differ in many ways from in-person programs, we are committed to preserving key elements (like the friendships students form) that make our summer programs so special. BEAM year-round staff and summer faculty (many of whom were already teaching online) were actively involved in every aspect of planning for the summer.
We are addressing technology gaps that might prevent some students from participating. We are providing a computer, touchscreen pen, and directed headset (for clear audio communications even in noisy environments) to all students, which they will keep after the summer program is over. Additionally, for students without reliable at-home internet access, we are providing a mobile hot spot device. In addition, we plan two care packages to students this summer, which we hope will further a sense of community and add a specialness to the summer.
We are providing direct aid (gift cards) to all families to help ease food insecurity.
Family orientations, which are an important part of our outreach to families, were held online in May.
We have completed hiring faculty, counselors, and social workers for our summer programs.
While running the program online will certainly be challenging, we also see it as an opportunity to learn. We are developing a national program which is planned to have a significant online component, and we will use what we learn this summer to inform its design and implementation.
Update: BEAM Discovery and BEAM Summer Away in Los Angeles began on June 22. BEAM programs in New York City will begin on July 6.
We are making online STEM resources available to our students.
Brilliant.org, which provides interactive courses in math, science, and computer science, has donated Premium accounts to our students.
The Art of Problem Solving, which provides online classes and resources for students interested in advanced mathematics, is providing BEAM students access to their online classes tuition free.
We are supporting our students socially and emotionally.
We are holding weekly online support groups for our students to continue to connect with staff and one another.
We are actively maintaining web pages to connect our students to resources and community information.
We are keeping our alumni web pages for New York City and Los Angeles up to date with practical information about schools, community resources, health, and more.
We have created new pages with information about jobs, internships, and academic opportunities for our high school and college students, many of whom have seen their plans upended.
We are reaching out to our college students to offer support.
We helped our college students navigate both immediate challenges (like traveling home from long distances, or securing housing, food, and other necessities if they remain on campuses) and longer-term concerns as colleges move classes and activities online.
We have extended one-on-one tutoring to our college cohort.
We are working to connect our students to internships, jobs, summer learning opportunities, and volunteer opportunities as their previous summer plans are upended.
STAFF IMPACt
For summer staff: We are fully staffed for the summer.
For year-round staff: Our office is closed for the foreseeable future and all staff are working remotely. We will reopen when it is safe to do so.
For part-time staff: For part-time staff who lost work due to the closure of our office and/or the suspension of our Saturday classes, we are doing our best to offer remote work, including (for our class instructors) working on curriculum development.
NATIONAL PROGRAMS
We are supporting our partners at the Memphis Teacher Residency as they shift to an online program. Unfortunately, Albuquerque Public Schools was forced to cancel their program for this summer.
IMPACT ON FUNDRAISING
Fortunately, the majority of our fundraising happens in November and December to fund the following fiscal year (beginning in June). Nearly all funds are in place for fiscal year 2021, and we are committed to working at full capacity.
However, we are aware that fall/winter fundraising this year may be challenging, so we are planning conservatively. We’re working to communicate with our supporters so we can better understand our long-term funding stability.
Before closing, we would like to pass along a couple pieces of exciting (and really great) news:
We are pleased to announce that BEAM has received a $3.5 million grant to reach students from low-income and historically marginalized communities nationally. The BEAM National Initiative will work with local partners (school districts, community groups, and individuals) to reach students in 3rd-5th grades. The program will run as a pilot for the first three years to test what approaches work best and begin to scale-up successful models. We are incredibly excited about the possibilities of reaching more students and younger students nationwide. More details coming soon!
BEAM students have earned spots at great high schools and colleges this spring. More details are available in our spring newsletter and our upcoming summer newsletter. (If you don’t yet receive our newsletter, you can read past issues and sign up here.)
To all our supporters, thank you all for your continued support! Be well and stay safe.
This page is designed to provide COVID-19 updates to BEAM funders and supporters. Our website also has information for: