“I am so grateful to have Launch Emergency Care for my children. Knowing that they’re being cared for by loving staff is beyond reassuring while I have been working as a healthcare provider during this pandemic. Launch is not just a place that has taken care of my kids during this time – the Launch staff have continued my kids’ academic education, nurtured their passions for social justice, and provided enriching and fun activities.” – Launch Parent
Like other essential services, Launch has worked hard to rise to the moment by shifting our core programs to meet community needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In late March, we quickly reopened 5 of our sites to provide emergency care for children of essential workers for free through June. We adapted our programs to support children and families by adding additional academic content to address COVID learning loss, supporting the social and emotional needs of children, and developing and implementing the strictest safety and health guidelines in close partnership with Seattle-King County Public Health and other emergency childcare providers. We’re proud to have been able to help frontline workers be able to do their jobs and support all of us while having the peace of mind of knowing their children are safe and cared for.
Currently our sites are providing 8 weeks of summer camp at 5 locations. While summer looks a little different this year with social distancing, masks, and health & safety protocols, campers are still having a blast! They’re making friends and participating in engaging activities like art, sports, science and more. We’ve adjusted our summer programming to include fun enrichment activities that help support academic and social-emotional skills development so children return to school in the fall ready to learn. And although COVID-19 health and safety precautions mean we can’t go on our usual in-person field trips, our teachers have created some great virtual field trips and experiences for our campers.
Launch COVID-19 Health & Safety Protocols
Launch has implemented strict health & safety measures to ensure the safety of our students, families and staff. The below COVID-19 protocols have been reviewed by our Public Health nurse consultant, and are in alignment with King County Public Health recommendations.
- Launch Health & Safety Letter to Families
- Daily Emergency Child Care Health & Safety Checklist
- Daily Cleaning, Sanitizing, Disinfecting Checklist
- Staff Health Screening Tool
- Public Health COVID-19 Fact Sheet for Families
- Public Health COVID-19 Guidance for Child Care Programs
- Public Health Guidance: When to Keep Children at Home
Want to help? Your donation to Launch today will support our COVID-19 response and help ensure children have access to high-quality programs that supports their academic and social-emotional skills development.
For more information about how Launch is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, please contact info@launchlearning.org.
Looking for care for your child for the 2020-21 school year? Please visit the Forms page of our website for more information about our school year programs, or contact registrationforms@launchlearning.org for space availability and information on the registration process.