Intervention

Through our Community Response efforts and our series of empathy seminars and workshops, we not only put empathy into action, but also use the latest in research to teach and encourage it.

The Humankind Community Response addresses the double crises of displacement and disease, poverty and pandemic. We distribute medical supplies, educational materials, and alternative food sources to communities with greatest need with the aid of partner organizations and mutual aid groups. Our Response allows us to support marginalized populations through this exceptionally difficult era when existing inequalities have been made worse by the pandemic. 

COVID-19 has created an education crisis. Children across the country are experiencing interruptions in their access to essential resources like school meals and books, and the transition to online learning leaves students from low-income households particularly vulnerable to falling behind. At least 13 million children are enrolled in districts where children's reading materials circulation is less than 10 items per student, including 3.4 million students in poverty and 6.6 million students of color. The imbalance is even greater when it comes to access to children’s books at home.

Through our Intervention, we will deliver new books to children who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Our goal is to deliver 30,000 books by April 2021 in collaboration with DC-based nonprofit First Book. Your generous donation covers the cost of distribution of books to children served by schools, libraries, shelters, and foster homes across the country.

We also know that empathy is a learned behavior and a skill that can be honed over time. Our Humankind seminars and workshops will reach all ages and experiences in an effort to build empathy as life-long practice. We take inspiration from Danish classrooms, where children aged 6-16 all participate in “Klassens tid,” an hour dedicated to teaching empathy and collaboration every week. We know this concept can be adapted to teach conflict resolution and cross-group understanding in early education, a variety of workplaces, and community organizations.