Dear Blueprints Colleague and Conference Attendee,
We are writing to inform you that after much consideration and with public health safety as our top priority, we have decided to cancel the 2020 Blueprints Conference due to the Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Please know this decision was difficult and was made after thoughtful dialogue with our planning partners. While we have been monitoring this situation for several days, after the governor of Colorado issued a state of emergency yesterday, we knew it was imperative that we make a decision and inform our constituents.
For nearly two years, we have worked diligently with our planning committee and event planning team to create a conference where some 700 professionals within the field of serving and supporting at-risk youth and adults can connect, share ideas and learn from one another. We greatly value our face-to-face time together, however, given the recommendations from government and health officials, we recognize that convening a large group of people in one place is not the right or practical thing to do at this time.
Many of our attendees are residents of some of the areas where the coronavirus is most prevalent, as well as international attendees. With travel bans being instituted and employers asking employees to forego professional travel, we feel it is in the best interest of all attendees to cancel our event during this extraordinary circumstance. We will provide details in the days to come regarding how attendees who are already registered can receive a full refund and what to do for those who reserved a room at the Westin Westminster.
Please know it is our goal to regroup and reimagine the Blueprints Conference in the near future. At this time, we are focused on getting this announcement out to everyone who is already engaged with the 2020 Blueprints Conference to help with adjusting plans as needed. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience canceling the conference may cause.
This announcement comes with our sincerest thanks for your support of Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development. We wish you and yours healthy days ahead. Thank you for your patience as we provide follow-up details. At this time, our first priority is to let you know that we are canceling the event so you can plan accordingly.
Warm wishes and be well,
Pam Buckley, PhD
Blueprints Director
Karl Hill, PhD
Blueprints Principal Investigator