Hello friends and supporters,

The safety of our community is always our priority and with the recent shelter in place taking effect here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we will be suspending our in-person programming. We will be working remotely until this is lifted on April 7, pending health official notices. We are also postponing our annual fundraiser, Looking Forward, Giving Back. More info to follow as we get it.As a mentoring program, we are rooted in the community and in human contact. Amidst the beauty of our still budding semester, from connecting with our new mentee cohort to growing our programming and securing our new permanent home for the first time in our history, growth continues at First Exposures. We have been digging deep to find ways we can keep our young people engaged with their mentors, their creative expression and with First Exposures as a whole during this challenging time. Given that we are unable to meet on Saturdays as we have been, our team is strategizing activities our mentors and mentees can do remotely including virtual hangouts, visiting museums online, and sharing artist resources with activities. Our mentees will also be doing Instagram takeovers on @firstexposures, so go on our Instagram feed and be sure to share loads of positivity with our mentees! It's times like these that we could all use a little more positivity. Maybe a lot more.

We also want to ensure our families are aware of the free food being provided by SFUSD and OUSD to those in need.

Lastly, please let us know how you are doing and if you have any cool activities we can share with our mentees and the rest of our broader First Exposures community.

Thank you for your continued support, Erik, Aneeta, Brianna, Jose, and Jenn