This month, instead of a typical community call, we took the opportunity to host a discussion with our members on moving forward with programs in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.

Going Virtual: First, we are encouraging all our members to switch to Zoom for virtual CO.STARTERS cohorts. Rebekah illustrated various relevant features of Zoom, including the breakout groups feature with which you can divide your virtual cohort into smaller chat rooms (this emulates splitting into small groups during the session). Since you won’t have a whiteboard, put your “as you arrive” instructions in the chat section of the call—just wait for all participants to join the call first! Or checkout Zoom’s new whiteboard feature.

Session Activities: The CO.STARTERS team, as you know, thinks drawing is one of the best methods for idea expression. You can still do these activities in the session! Just have participants hold their drawings up the camera or link an image url in the chat that best expresses their thoughts.

Wayfinding: We’re encouraging our members to set up a virtual wayfinding process for entrepreneurs in the community. If you aren’t familiar with this idea, check out our Wayfinding Guide and fillable digital CO.STARTERS Canvas. Many local entrepreneurs in your community are going to be hurt by this crisis—even if you only have one hour a day to spare, offer it as a free help desk session for connecting local businesses to resources, including these SBA loans.

Starter Roundtables: Finally, CO.STARTERS will be hosting online roundtables NEXT WEEK, called Straight Talk with Starters, for any and every entrepreneur who is interested. These sessions will be for collective brainstorming, commiserating, and cooperation. On Tuesday at 2pm, we invite food & beverage entrepreneurs to attend. On Wednesday at the same time, we will be welcoming artists, makers, and creatives. And on Thursday, the event will be for lifestyle businesses. These are not restricted to CO.STARTERS graduates. Any struggling entrepreneurs are welcome to attend, share, or just listen.

This crisis is going to be difficult for all of us, but especially for small businesses. The CO.STARTERS team is here to support all of you and your work. For now, we have curated this resource guide for ecosystem builders, starters, and anyone interested in supporting local businesses during this disaster.

We will be in touch as further resources and opportunities become available. You can also find all of these updates and links on the Member Center. Together, we can build community immunity.