When people ask me about our Shutaf pandemic year, I generally say, “It was amazing.” Sure, it was challenging. Sure, it was financially complicated. But it also impelled us to be creative, more than ever before. It pushed us to set manageable goals and find ways to meet them. While we’ve always prided ourselves on our versatility — it’s part of our inclusive mindset as an organization — we had no idea what really awaited us during a year of constant shift and change. We worked on connecting, as meaningfully as possible from afar, with each other as a staff, as well as with our participants and their families. We shared our pandemic stories with the extended Shutaf family — our friends and donors — helping shrink the distance felt during an isolating time. We focused on staying real and in the moment, aware that thinking and working flexibly was key to surviving a time of constant change and uncertainty. I’m so proud of that. We finished an important project, the Shutaf Inclusion Guide. The pandemic fueled and fed this important work, allowing us the time to polish and prepare it for educators — formal and informal — sharing with Shutaf the mission of making the world a more inclusive place for all people of all abilities. Connecting with that community helped reinvigorate needed inclusive partnerships as well as deepen important conversations we all need to have — ones that will lead to better work, and with more understanding and commitment, supporting people of diverse needs.

— Beth Steinberg
Founding Director, Shutaf

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