Sharon, Don, and the entire COABE/MAACE team -- I want to express publicly what I wrote to Sharon last night. Your decision was a fabulous pro-social act. We are all more safe and healthy because you made the tough decision to postpone, despite the challenges of running a small nonprofit and dealing with associated cash flow issues. The best available data right now is saying that we need to "flatten the curve" of the epidemic to slow down the flow of new infections so that we don't overwhelm our hospitals with too many people facing acute illness at the same time. Canceling large events is a crucially important part of flattening that curve. It's easy to say from the sidelines what folks "should" do. I'm very glad that you DID do what all of the best public health experts are telling us is important. On behalf of all of the vulnerable Americans -- which include many adult educators and adult learners -- THANK YOU. -Amanda -- *Amanda Bergson-Shilcock*, Senior Fellow *National Skills Coalition* Pronouns: she/her/hers 1250 Connecticut Ave, NW Suite 200 Washington, D.C. 20036 215-285-2860 (mobile) *www.nationalskillscoalition.org <http://www.nationalskillscoalition.org/>* [image: GuideStar Member]