COVID-19: Austin resources, information, and a note on how we make it through

If you’re just looking for links to resources and information about developments here in Austin, please scroll to the bottom (you won’t offend me). But first, a story.

As I walked into the office on campus at the The Walt Disney Company’s publishing division in Burbank, California, on Monday, September 8, 2008, I could already feel the weight of the conversations we were going to have that day.

The day before, on Sunday, September 7, the financial markets were down 20% from October and the United States government had announced it was taking over Fannie May and Freddie Mac after they had sustained major losses due to their ill-advised lending of subprime mortgages.

I wasn’t a student of politics or policy at the time, so I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant for the world, the country, The Walt Disney Company, my family or community, for me or my job, but whatever was coming was clearly terrible. As I walked in at 8:30am, people were already walking out of conference rooms crying, the air was stagnant, conversation in what was normally a fun environment was only happening in hushed tones and whispers.

Over the next few months the world continued to melt down.

Lehman Brothers collapsed a week later on September 14, 2008, Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch, AIG’s…