On March 12, 2020, a Mayoral Proclamation of Civil Emergency and Order declared a state of emergency in the City of Yakima due to the Coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”), and subsequently proclamations have extended the civil emergency.  The Governor, in collaboration with the Washington State Department of Health, recently issued his phased plan for reopening.  Currently Yakima is at Phase 3, but in this phase there is still limited access to City Hall, and City Council meetings remain remote.  Yakima School District only recently began having in-person learning in the high schools and vaccinations just recently became widely available to adults.

The mentorship and internship program is part of the settlement in the case of Montes v. Arteaga v. City of Yakima et al., where the plaintiffs donated part of their fee award back to the City of Yakima for the mentorship and internship program.  There is a balance of $23,696.28 that remains for the internship program in 2021.  As a result of the continuing significant increase of COVID-19 cases, attached for Council’s consideration is a resolution deferring and continuing the mentorship and internship program to 2022.  Contact with the ACLU has not resulted in any response that objects to an additional deferral of the program due to COVID-19.