This document discusses how communities have been impacted during the COVID-19 crisis and ways communities have supported each other. It notes high unemployment rates and job losses in many industries. It then provides examples of support from the government, tech companies, and Codesmith including economic impact payments, small business loans, free services, hiring initiatives, scholarships and adapting education to remote formats while maintaining community.

1. Community During
Times of Crisis

2. TABLE
OF
CONTENTS
ABOUT ME
01 02
WHAT IS
COMMUNITY?
03
COMMUNITY
DURING CRISIS
04
CARING FOR
COMMUNITIES

3. About Me
01

4. - Born & raised in Hollis, Queens and moved to
Denver in 2017 for two years after college.
- Graduated from Wesleyan University in 2017 with
a Psychology & Theater Degree. Worked for the
Wesleyan Admissions Office and served on the
Community Committee of the Wesleyan Student
Assembly for all four years.
- As an Eagle Scout, I had the opportunity to try
many things making me a lover of sports, tech,
nature, and the arts.
About Me

5. What is
Community?
02

6. Merriam-Webster Definition: “the people living in a
particular area”
-
Encyclopedia: “an interacting group of various species in
a common location.”
What
is
Community?

7. “Sometimes, a community is defined by place—where
people live, work, or play. Sometimes, a community is
defined by identity—which may be externally assigned (like
race) or internally defined (like religion). Sometimes by
affinity—something people like to do and do together.
Sometimes by affiliation—people you know, experiences
you’ve shared, values you hold in common” - Nina Simone,
The Art of Relevance
What
is
Community?

8. Pre-College Life
Pre-college, my sense of
community looked like the
image above. Seperate groups
that had some similarities but
didn’t all fit together.
College Life & Beyond
With community being an
aspect of my life I have always
performed, I turned to
fostering community for
others.

9. Community
During Crisis
03

10. 14.7%
Unemployment Rate
for United States1
The jobless rate is now worse than
any time since the Great
Depression of the 1930s.

11. NEW
YORK
IN
A
GLIMPSE
More Than 38 Million
Americans have filed
unemployment claims
across the country.1
Retail Industry
Lost 2.1 million jobs in
April, the majority of
which is from clothes
and accessories
businesses. 1
$20 Per Hour
Employees earning less
than this were 115%
more likely than those
making $30 an hour or
more to be laid off. 2
1 U.S Department of Labor Unemployment Statistics
2 “The Real-Time Impact of COVID-19 on Small Business Employees”

12. 14.5%
Unemployment Rate
for New York State3
The largest jobless claims are
coming from America’s largest city,
New York City, hard hit with
closures in the hotel, restaurant,
and entertainment industry.

13. NEW
YORK
IN
A
GLIMPSE
$1.6 Million
In new unemployment
insurance claims were
filed from March 8 to
April 25; only 96,080
claims were filed for the
same period in 2019.3
Long Island
The region with the
biggest percent change
in UI claims, which saw
a 2,141% increase in
initial claims from
March 8 to April 25.3
Accommodation &
Food Services
Filed the highest
number of
unemployment
insurance claims at
308,890 from March 8
to April 25.3
3 New York State Department of Labor Unemployment Statistics

14. Caring For
Communities
04

15. With all happening in the
world, we have seen our
communities receive support
from the Federal Government
in many different ways:
● Through Economic Impact Payments and other
means, the Treasury Department is ensuring
Americans are seeing direct and fast relief in the
wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
● The Paycheck Protection Program provides small
businesses with the resources they need to maintain
their payroll, hire back employees who may have
been laid off, and cover applicable overhead.
● Provided payments to State, Local, and Tribal
governments navigating the impact of the COVID-19
outbreak.
CARING
FOR
COMMUNITIES

16. EXAMPLES
OF
SUPPORT
Pandemic
Unemployment
Compensation
PUC is an extra $600/week that
will be paid to all workers
receiving state UI, PUA, or Short-
Time Compensation (work-
sharing benefits).
Pandemic Emergency
Unemployment
Compensation
Provides workers who have run
out of regular state UI benefits
with an extra 13 weeks of benefits.
Economic Impact
Payments
Most eligible recipients will
automatically receive an economic
impact payment of up to $1,200 for
individuals or $2,400 for married couples
plus an additional $500 per qualifying
child.
NYC COVID-19 Response
& Impact Fund
Was created to aid nonprofit
service providers struggling with
the health and economic effects
of the coronavirus.

17. TECH
COMPANIES
SUPPORTING
COMMUNITY
IBM Collaborating
with the White House Office of
Science and Technology and many
others to help launch the COVID-19
High-Performance Computing
Consortium.
Airbnb Announced
a global initiative to help connect
those responding to the COVID-19
pandemic. The company’s goal is to
help house 100,000 healthcare
professionals, relief workers, and
first responders around the world -
for free.
AT&T & Internet Companies
have opened up WiFi hotspots
across the country to help people
connect and kids attend online
classes.
Google Giving
each Googler an allowance of $1,000
USD, or the equivalent value in your
country, to expense necessary
equipment and office furniture.
Amazon Opened
100,000 new jobs and increasing the
pay of its employees by $2 per hour
from an hourly pay of $15 per hour.
Facebook Announced
$100M for it’s Small Business Grants
Program, for up to 30,000 businesses
in over 30 countries.

18. How Codesmith is Supporting
Communities
Additional Scholarships
Codesmith added additional scholarship funds
to help support students in need available for
all those from backgrounds underrepresented
in tech.
Free Workshops
Free weekly remote Node and React
workshops for the community in addition
to the existing free JavaScript workshops.
Remote
Learning
On March 12, all onsite events
transitioned to a remote setting,
including pair programming sessions,
info sessions, and JavaScript workshops.
$1,000 Remote
Stipend
To be used at student’s discretion, i.e.
iPad, Desk, WiFi, Co-working Space,
Microphone, iPencil.

19. Codesmith
Internal
Community
Support
Extra Mental
Health Sessions
Morning wellness meetings, spa evenings,
and adding additional Circles - these are
group chats with cohort mates and team
members about all and anything non-coding
related.
Help Desk in Slack
and Zoom
As in person, whenever a resident hits a block,
a team member joins the pair-programming
or project zoom room to work through the
problem with them focusing on their problem-
solving approach and technical
communication.
Immersive
Environment
Residents have structured hours for
their classes, interactive lectures,
and pair programming - all
happening live in a collaborative
group setting with an instructor.
Mentorship and Non-
coding Experiences
Students and mentors are able to
continue these moments which are
crucial to community by each
receiving a $10 Ubereats card to
coffee and continue this experience.
Empathetic
Engineering
To create a space dedicated to thoughtful
communication, collaboration coding has
been implemented. Two pair programming
groups work together at intervals to emulate
the ability to turn to your neighboring group
in-person.

20. CREDITS: This presentation template was created
by Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon, and
infographics & images by Freepik.
THANK YOU!