JSA, like many other businesses, educational institutions, and public-serving entities has been in a period of reacting, reflecting, and strategizing to survive and remain relevant and impactful in the world that exists today and the world that will exist tomorrow.
With that in mind, we want to provide you with an overview of the changes we are rolling out in the coming months:
Fall 2020 Schedule
JSA will not host any face-to-face programming during fall 2020. All conventions, institutes, and other JSA sponsored activities will be web-based. We understand that this is a big change, but it is necessary to protect the health and safety of our staff, students, teachers, and stakeholders.
We will release the full fall schedule the week of July 20 and will invite stakeholders to live town halls to ask questions about the schedule.
JSA Staffing Model
JSA remains committed to our mission of preparing young people to lead and shape democracy. Over the past six months, JSA’s leadership and staff have been engaged in a strategic planning process to identify the most impactful methods for achieving our mission. Our staffing restructure aligns our talent with these strategic priorities. Our focus now is to work with our students to design activities, programs, and community spaces that will allow us to reach students at all JSA participation levels.
JSA sustained a near-critical loss in revenue as a result of COVID-19. We were forced to cancel all ten of our Spring Conventions and all of our in-person summer programming. This loss in revenue left us with no choice but to significantly downsize JSA’s staff. Five long-term JSA staff members will leave us as of July 1, 2020. We honor their commitment to JSA.
Opportunities to Engage
As we move forward, we want to provide opportunities to get feedback from you. “New” cannot and will not be designed without getting feedback, ideas, and questions from the participants who have shaped JSA for years. We will host town halls, focus groups, and send surveys soliciting your input. We ask that you take advantage of these opportunities to help us design the new JSA. It is our intention that the new programs JSA implements during the pandemic are not just interim fixes to the current situation, but rather strategically designed programs that can become a part of a newly imagined JSA over the long term.
Please feel free to send questions and concerns to programs@jsa.org. Thank you for your commitment and patience during this time.
TaKeisha S. Walker
Chief Program Officer