Stoneleigh’s 2019-2021 Emerging Leader Fellows recently hosted a virtual panel and authored an article for Youth Today reviewing ways the COVID-19 pandemic has impact families, communities, and systems of care.
Over the last eighteen months, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to tectonic shifts in the ways our families, communities, workplaces, and institutions operate. As Stoneleigh Foundation Emerging Leader Fellows, we have seen firsthand how the pandemic has amplified long-standing inequities in our systems of care, including youth justice, child welfare, physical and behavioral health, and violence prevention. At the same time, this crisis has led to unprecedented innovation in addressing how young people and families access services.
This past June, we participated in a virtual panel discussion (watch below) moderated by Stoneleigh Fellow and emergency pediatric physician Dr. Ruth Abaya, which focused on elevating equity and community voice in youth-serving systems. The following key takeaways from our discussion are aimed at practitioners, policymakers, and philanthropists working to advance systemic and social change beyond the pandemic.