Model Cities Response to COVID-19

Dear Friends and Supporters:

For the past several weeks Model Cities has been closely monitoring the information surrounding COVID-19 (commonly referred to as coronavirus). Our top priority is the safety and health of our employees, clients, and other stakeholders. We want to let you know some of the current actions we are taking to ensure the overall health and wellbeing of our employees and those we serve.

At this time, all of our offices will remain open during regular business hours; however, we have put policies into place to practice social distancing. Effective Tuesday, March 17, 2020, this includes:

• Instructing employees to not participate in any in person-to-person meetings. This includes meetings at our main office, home visits, or visits within the community;
• Canceling workshops, classes, and other gatherings;
• Connecting with residents by phone, text, or email instead of face-to-face visits; 
• Working with other shelter providers to develop a coordinated approach for shelter services provided at Safe Space;
• Keeping all of our multi-family properties open for the many adults and children who call them home; and ensuring maintenance requests are handled on an emergency basis;
• Moving all board and related meetings to telephone conference calls or virtual meeting options until further notice.

As this situation progresses, we are continuing to find and implement creative ways to minimize the impact of COVID-19 on our employees and those we serve. This includes making sure our staff can put their health first and foremost as we face this situation together. As many organizations have done, we plan to continue to pay our staff if they need time off due to illness or to care for a loved one as a result of COVID-19.

We know there is a lot of information out there; for the most current information on COVID-19, including government health guidelines, visit:

• www.cdc.gov
• www.health.state.mn.us

As you all know, this is a very fluid situation and we will continue to communicate as often as is necessary. Thank you in advance for supporting Model Cities and our work to continue strengthening our community through this challenging situation.

Kizzy L. Downie
Chief Executive Officer