COVID-19 threatens to wipe out our state’s safety net

by Lintaro Donovan

Like millions of Americans, I remember my first day of swim lessons at the YMCA. As I left my grandfather’s grip and waded into the freezing-cold water, two hands gripping the tile sides of the pool, I began to cry. I felt like I would never learn to swim. But learn I did, and, although I am close to 18 now, I still consider myself a perpetual Y-Kid.

Like millions of Americans, I remember my first day of swim lessons at the YMCA. As I left my grandfather’s grip and waded into the freezing-cold water, two hands gripping the tile sides of the pool, I began to cry. I felt like I would never learn to swim. But learn I did, and, although I am close to 18 now, I still consider myself a perpetual Y-Kid.

Through the Y’s swim programs, I found confidence in water and discovered a lifelong, lifesaving skill. Through the Y’s Youth & Government program, I serve as Youth Governor of Maryland and find inspiration to enter public service at every program event. Through the Y’s diabetes prevention programming, I know I’ll find hope as the son and grandson of diabetics. But the COVID-19 Crisis threatens to topple the charity cornerstones of my life and our state.

The complete shutdown in economic activity over the next weeks will prevent many organizations, including my own Youth & Government program, from hosting the events they need to maintain revenue streams and program funding. An inevitable economic downturn will force many Americans to cut their charitable giving for the year short: punching charities in the gut when their services are needed most.

However, there is another staggering economic dimension to the challenge facing our charities. Payrolls in the independent sector are larger than those even in the construction, finance, and transportation industries. Nonprofits like the Y employ more than 12 million people who compose the fabric of their communities. Millions of livelihoods are now at risk of dying out.

Sooner than later, in just Montgomery County could lose their jobs. Maryland might find itself bereft of A Wider Circle, which provides homegoods, counseling, and antipoverty education to families in need. It is horrifying to imagine what my community would look like without the youth and family services provided by the Silver Spring Y or the lifesaving generosity of Manna Food Center.

I implore Congress. Just as our elected officials have stood up for their constituents and defended the common good on countless other occasions, they must fight the good fight now. Nationwide nonprofits have recently released a request for the legislature to allocate $60 billion in relief for organizations on the frontlines of the Battle Against Coronavirus. Congress must ensure that any stimulus package relieving corporations decimated by the current crisis also relieves the nonprofits whose work is so vitally important.

Congress must remember nonprofits when it comes time to vote.

Lintaro Donovan is a student at Montgomery Blair High School.