Together we Celebrate!

One Spirit is excited to announce that we will be returning to our hybrid model of concurrent in-person and online classes for our Seminary program. Both Seminary and The Emergence Leadership Academy will return to our in-person Intensives as well. Classes will be conveniently located at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan.

We are pleased to share our health policy created to keep both our students and our staff safe.

One Spirit Learning Alliance Public Health Policy 

COVID-19 posed serious threats to the health and welfare of our students and staff over the past 18 months. During that time One Spirit Learning Alliance instituted strong measures to ensure that the safety of our students was paramount in the decision-making for all One Spirit programs. Now that the possibility of meeting in person has emerged, it has become clear people wish to take advantage of the protection afforded them from vaccines in order to meet in person. Therefore, we have made arrangements for our seminary program to return to the hybrid model we used successfully before the pandemic. 

We contemplated our core values as we considered how to implement the safest return to in-person learning. 

• Lifelong learning: We have learned that the best scientific evidence shows that most vaccines have been proven to protect against serious illness from the novel coronavirus, lessen the rates of transmission and help prevent the creation of devastating new variants. We strongly encourage everyone who can to become vaccinated while understanding there are some circumstances which prevent some from doing so. 

• Sacred Service: Vaccines protect not only those who receive them but also everyone that vaccine recipients come into contact with. We view this as a compassionate act of service. 

• Authentic Community: We acknowledge that medical necessities, religious beliefs, the history of medical malpractice impacting BIPOC communities, and other challenges impact decisions some people make on whether or not to become vaccinated.

• Integrity: One Spirit stands for personal agency. Therefore, we will provide an opportunity for all to participate based on their choice. 

• Inclusivity: Considering the variety of reasons one might choose to become vaccinated or not, we will do everything we can to ensure a rich and diverse community of learning that balances personal autonomy with public health and safety. 

After considering many logistical concerns in the light of our values, we have decided on the following policies going forward: 

1. All students and staff who wish to attend our New York classroom must have proof of vaccination.

2. Students and staff who are not vaccinated are welcome to attend courses through our robust videoconference offering.

3. All students and staff attending our mandatory intensives at Stony Point Retreat Center, must either show proof of vaccination or present the results of a negative PCR Covid test taken within 72 hours of arrival. The current policy of Stony Point Retreat Center states that the entire group must wear masks unless everyone has proof of vaccination.

4. Any student or staff member who wishes to continue to wear a mask will be encouraged to do so. 

These guidelines will enable us to allow the maximum number of people to participate in person in the classroom. They will also allow presenters to teach without wearing a mask which will improve the experience for all students, whether in the classroom or online. We will continually evaluate these guidelines as the situation evolves and issue revisions when necessary.

Our programs will remain available to everyone no matter their vaccination status while, at the same time, we will institute protections that enable us to return to offering our programs in person as well as online.