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Dear NLC staff, participants, and families,

I hope this finds you well despite the very real challenges posed by the pandemic. If only COVID-19 were merely a hypothetical leadership scenario on the sand dunes. Sadly, it is not, and so we continue to navigate this serious situation together. Today, we want to update you on the status of 2021 NLC and gauge your interest and ability to attend conference in an altered form this summer.

Our programming abilities in 2021 will be seriously restricted by the current CDC, state, and licensing regulations. The American Youth Foundation Board and staff have determined we cannot offer the traditional eight-day, in-person conference at Miniwanca in June. The shorter program format, staffing model, and demands of travel do not align with current requirements placed upon us. Know that we have every intention to offer programming for the NLC community in mid to late summer 2021, but it is too soon to know when, where, and what it will be.

For these reasons, we will wait until March to announce the plan for the 2021 National Leadership Conference. If conditions improve, we will update you with good news of greater possibilities. We believe this is the most honest and transparent approach to take with our families and participants. After a year of so much disappointment, we do not want to overpromise and under-deliver. We wish more of this were in our control. But we intend to grab the variables we can control and make something powerful from them.

Despite this pandemic, we will continue our march toward a full return of the National Leadership Conference and to ultimately do more, not less, than ever before. We will work to ensure a strong finish for the khiyA and Connected in Compassion classes who started so strongly. This is AYF’s legacy program, and it will endure!

Never Give Up…

Anna Kay Vorsteg
AYF President