Message From Executive Director On COVID-19

 Dear Members and Friends,

As our community joins the worldwide effort to combat the dangers of the COVID-19 virus, we at the Colorado Springs World Affairs Council are also taking every precaution to ensure the safety and well-being of our members and participants. Accordingly, the following actions have been or will be implemented immediately:

Speaker Programs:
The March 17 event, China, Hong Kong, and the Asian Pacific has been cancelled, and all registration fees have been refunded. The April 8 event, Bipartisanship in Foreign Policy - The Conversation America Needs is being rescheduled to a later date.

Plans for all other public speaker events will be evaluated and announced on an ongoing basis. We are exploring alternate methods of educational program delivery during this interim time.

Members Only Groups: Great Decisions will move to an online discussion format. Plans for WAC Colleagues and the Book Club will be determined by member's feedback and, if necessary, adjustments to schedule made as needed.

International Visitors: As a partner of the International Visitors Leadership Program, we will temporarily pause our visitor programs in accordance with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs policy announced yesterday. International Visitor programs will pause for 60 days and this decision will be reviewed every 30 days thereafter.

High School Education: The National Academic WorldQuest Competition in Washington DC has been cancelled. Consequently, we will not be sending our regional competition winners to Washington this year. Plans for an virtual competition may replace and be announced in lieu of the planned national competition in April.

The effects of the COVID-19 virus are fast-moving and are changing daily, even hourly. As such, we will continue to evaluate our programming needs, keeping the safety of our members as our highest priority and making adjustments as needed. We are in communication with our sister councils and the World Affairs Councils of America regarding current events relating to COVID-19.

Please feel to contact us at info@csworldaffairs,org with questions and concerns.

In health and wellness,
Karen Burghart, Executive Director