Update: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Colleagues,
I wanted to provide you with a number of important updates related to the agency’s response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019, known as COVID-19.
Protecting the health and safety of our employees, members, volunteers, partners, grantees, and sponsors is our top priority. We know you are concerned about yourselves, family members, friends, and colleagues. This unique situation is posing challenges for many of us related to self-care, our care-giving responsibilities, and community leadership commitments.
We also know that this has required many of you to set aside your other critical work and focus on addressing this issue almost exclusively. We are aware of this pressure and working with the management team to identify ways to support you.
A large team including the CEO, Chief Program Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Program Directors, Office of General Counsel (OGC), Office of Human Capital, and Office of Government Relations and Strategic Engagement is meeting on a daily basis to coordinate our response. We are continuing to closely monitor the situation and follow the latest guidance from federal, state, and local health departments.
We are taking steps recommended by the Office of Personnel and Management and the White House Coronavirus Task Force to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
- Effective immediately, we are canceling all official staff travel through April 15. For example: No staff will be traveling for site visits, monitoring, or conferences. Office of Regional Operations Phase 2 staff will not be traveling to DC for the Start Up Institute. Office of Facilities and Support Services and Information Technology staff will not travel to regional offices. We will revisit this date regularly and may extend it as necessary.
- Out of an abundance of caution, we are postponing, canceling, or developing virtual alternatives for all CNCS-sponsored grantee training events or convenings through May 15. This includes:
- Several currently scheduled events, including: an NCCC graduation ceremony, a VISTA In-Service Training, a VISTA Sponsor Convening, the Senior Corps Convening, and Senior Corps Week.
- We are encouraging alternatives to in-person events to mark National Service Recognition Day.
- We are currently planning for a variety of scenarios, including the possibility that we would need to mandate telework for all CNCS employees. An employee at the Denver NCCC campus has reported possible exposure to COVID-19. All employees at this campus have been asked to telework for 14 days.
- We have set up an internal mailbox, coronavirus@cns.gov, for staff to forward questions they receive from grantees and sponsors. Each program has designated a point of contact to monitor the account and work with OGC to develop responses.
- As a follow-up to last Friday’s all-grantee message, each program director will send a message to their grantees and sponsors to share new, program-specific FAQs no later than tomorrow. The FAQs will be updated regularly and posted to NationalService.gov/coronavirus.
- Our staff FAQs were updated today. These will be updated regularly as new information is released by the Office of Personnel Management, Centers for Disease Control, and the White House.
We still plan to onboard new staff during this time. We are working closely with affected departments on this.
For specific telework guidance, go here. All employees should take their laptops home every night and be prepared to telework should the need arise. Management will respond to individual staff circumstances and requests.
As a reminder, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the best source for information on COVID-19 and what you can to do protect yourself and others. We ask that all employees follow CDC recommendations for preventing the spread of respiratory viruses, including staying home and notifying your supervisor if you are sick with relevant symptoms such as mild to severe respiratory illness with fever, cough, and difficulty breathing.
Thank you for all that you do,
 Lisa Guccione
Acting Chief of Staff
Corporation for National and Community Service
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