Dear helprs,
We reach you to make our position crystal clear that we support the protest of Black Lives Matter and denounce white supremacy, racism, and a militarized police force that terrorizes families. We are and have been concerned for the safety of the protestors, as well as those in the childcare community already hurting from the changes to our industry due to COVID-19. The small team here at Helpr has been hard at work to figure out how to be most helpful as the ground moves beneath us. We first shared a similar message to our team directly with feedback welcome, now we’re happy to share our message outwardly.
We want real justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Ahmad Aubrey, Tony McDade, and all those violently harmed in the protests or for simply being the target of law enforcement. We want justice everywhere else that upholds an oppressive system rigged in favor of the oppressor.
In the days ahead, at HQ our focus is our sitters and our Helpr families. Safety and justice in protest, on the job, and in community.
We know income and wealth creation is part of our power as individuals and it’s our job to support our childcare providers in that pursuit. Our industry has been ravaged by the coronavirus and we’re doing what we can to visualize care for the future and bring more volume of dignified work.
In Protest. Becka and I have made personal donations to the following funds: Reclaim The Block, National Bailout, Minneapolis Freedom Fund, NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, The Bail Project, We Love Lake Street, Black Voters Matter, and Noname’s Book Club. We have also put in a request to our Helprs and will allocate funds if they are in need.
During the job. As a commitment to safety, we will support learning and protection for families and our helprs. For parents, there are resources here at Center for Racial Justice on how to talk to kids about racism. For books to buy the kiddos, check out these options from Eye See Me, separated by age group. Books should center Black heroes and teach us about American history.
For sitters, Helpr has a policy that takes a family off platform for racism. For families, we screen our sitters via comprehensive social media review for red flags around racism. Hate has no place in our family. We are always learning and growing.
As a result of our collective experience of the past couple weeks, we have also extended our sick policy for sitters to cover mental health breaks, with the acknowledgement that racism whether active or passive has an exhausting effect. We honor the need to preserve wellbeing and income for our care providers. Additionally, if sitters experience racism on the job but have multiple shifts with that family, they’ll be paid in full for those shifts without having to return.
Our customer support team is always available to field your calls and emails. We are listening and here to maintain mutual respect and opportunity for all folks involved on the platform.
In Community. For our sitters and their families, we are have extended an open invite for those with little ones to join our group Helpr Online sessions for interactive play including yoga, science, music and more at no cost. We have interactive playtime for children 6 months - 12 years old. They’re very cute and especially for our mothers, will give them a solid 30 minutes of solo time for R&R.
What else can we do? We’re here to co-create with our community. We love and honor you all and thank you for being a part of the Helpr community and for shaping a new future.
In service,
Kasey + Becka
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