#collegesupports

[gradgpt]

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[latinachikaspeaksmagazine]

I am so happy to announce another amazing collaboration I did for our podcast @intersectionalconvos ❗ I had the pleasure of talking about mentorship in grad school with Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu from @gradschoolfemtoring podcast ❤ The episode will be released July 30th❗❗❗ This was my time doing a podcast that has a YouTube Channel, so check it out... or not because I was a nervous wreck🤣🤣🤣 #latinachikaspeaksmagazine #latinachikaspeakspodcasts #intersectionalconversations #latinamagazine #latinapodcast #latinassupportinglatinas #firstgenerationstudent #firstgen #firstgem #firstgeneration #firstgenerationcollegestudents #studentsofcolor #poc #woc #qpoc #mentorshipmatters #mentorship #mentors #collegesupport #graduateschool #gradstudent #gradschoolgrind #gradschoolproblems #latinacontentcreator https://www.instagram.com/p/CRg8ulogptr/?utm_medium=tumblr

[uncbears]

Midterms and Support

by Marissa Antola, UNC Undergraduate

We’re almost half-way through the semester which means we’re coming down to midterms. Many of the staff here at UNC are looking for ways to support student success outside the classroom and this blog is dedicated to talking about some of the different ways students can get help from peers and faculty outside of their professors. 

Academic Support and Advising (ASA) Location: Michener Library - L149

Academic Support and Advising has many resources available for students one service they offer is major exploration. This is specialized for students who are looking for help finding a major that best suits them. Whether you’re considering changing your major or you need help finding one, an academic advisor will be happy to sit down with you and explore some options best suited for you. ASA is also responsible for students who are on academic probation (Having less than a 2.0 cumulative GPA) they’ll give you advice on how to boost your GPA and connect you with resources to help you bring your GPA back up. 

Tutoring Center Location: Michener Library - L149

The Tutoring Center is a fantastic option for students struggling in their classes. Tutorial Services (TS) provides peer-led tutoring sessions to specific classes so you can get the help you need, and it’s free to students enrolled in undergrad courses. Along with the tutoring center, you can also check out the writing center. 

Writing Center Location: Ross Hall, Room 1230

The writing center is available to help students feel confident, and foster growth and self-sufficiency in their writing. The writing center will not edit your work for you, rather give you the skills you need to revise your own work and they’re willing to work with all levels of experience in writing. 

Center for Human Enrichment Location: Michener Library Room L116

The Center for Human Enrichment (CHE) provides first-generation college students with the care, and support they need to be successful here. CHE accepts about 70 new participants each year into their program. Students participating in CHE benefit from Outstanding academic support from our professional advising team and peer advising team, Ability to participate and further develop skills related to college success, financial literacy, internship and career opportunities through workshops series during the academic year, And more.  

UNC Health Center Location: Cassidy Hall

If you’re feeling a little under the weather you can always visit the UNC Health Center. The health center offers immunizations, health care, treatment of minor injuries and medication refills. You can visit them Monday-Friday 8am-5:00pm. But with the cold weather slowly drifting in they will begin opening on Saturdays in October as well.

The staff at UNC wants to provide a caring culture that helps all students boost their academic and mental performance. The resources available to students are there to help you succeed throughout your college career. Many of the staff here are willing to put in the extra effort to help you, as long as you put in the extra time too.  

[cahomelessyouth]

Acknowledging the Gaps: Examining California’s Campus Support of Homeless College Students

A new report released by the California Homeless Youth Project examines the extent to which resources exist at California’s public higher education institutions to assist undergraduate students experiencing homelessness.  The report, Resources Supporting Homeless Students at California’s Public Universities and Colleges, authored by Nancy Au and Shahera Hyatt, provides helpful practice and policy recommendations for academic institutions, governmental agencies, and communities.  The report also examines the supply of campus resources including mental health, child care, student programs, housing, food assistance, and transportation at the state’s 50 community colleges, 9 UC, and 23 CSU campuses. California’s public universities are in a unique position to assist homeless and unstably housed undergraduates as they strive to attend and complete college.    

Key Findings

The most commonly offered resources on California public campuses include mental health services, discounted/free child care, foster youth advisors, and discounted/free bus passes.

While advisors and programs for foster youth are prevalent across all three public higher education systems, advisors and programs for homeless youth are scarce.

California’s UCs and CSUs offer more resources for unstably housed and low-income students than the community college system.

All of California’s public universities offer student housing compared to only 20% of the 50 community colleges examined. Of the community colleges that do offer student housing, only half offer this resource year-round (including during breaks in the academic year).

“Young people experiencing homelessness encounter many obstacles to receiving an education,” said Shahera Hyatt, Director of the California Homeless Youth Project, “Moving from shelter to hotel or couch to car, lack of access to basic necessities such as showers, transportation, and food, family conflict, poverty, and stigma about their living situation—all can make it difficult to stay in school and thrive in an educational environment.”

This report also provides recommendations for improving higher education access for students experiencing homelessness and increasing capacity for data collection. California has made recent strides towards removing educational barriers, such as passing the Success for Homeless Youth in Higher Education Act that grants college students experiencing homelessness access to priority registration, Homeless/Foster Youth Liaisons, and a fee waiver for enrollment/units in CCC system.  However, there needs to be intentional movement toward implementation. Also recommended is the establishment of year-round housing, expansion of foster youth programs to include homeless students, promotion of student support programs to increase non-stigmatized visibility, increased state investment in higher education for students experiencing housing instability, and better data collection on the needs of this student community.

The California Homeless Youth Project is a research and policy initiative of the California Research Bureau supported by funding from the California Wellness Foundation and The Walter S. Johnson Foundation, and is dedicated to educating local and state policymakers about young people experiencing homelessness. Learn more at https://www.library.ca.gov/crb/homeless-youth

[iamrenmilandavis-blog]

Hey go donate to my #roleMODELS brother Go Fund Me Acct. He was accepted to Morehouse which is a great opportunity. Any donation would be appreciated!! #Support LINK IN BIO #supportlocal #college #collegesupport #supportouryouth #phillysupportphilly #atlantasupport #atlanta #philly #gofundme #supportblackbusiness #supportsmallbusiness #blacklivesmatter #alllivesmatter #fundraiser #fundraising

[cahomelessyouth]

Bianca Bisi: College Homeless Liaison Superstar

Over the next several months, we’ll be profiling college liaisons working with students experiencing homelessness to highlight best practices and to learn from one another- sponsored by SchoolHouse Connection. CA Homeless Youth Project Director Shahera Hyatt was invited to present in a webinar hosted by School House Connection alongside three amazing college liaisons titled, “Learning from Higher Education Liaisons: Best Practices in Supporting Homeless College Students, Pt 1.” We had the pleasure of learning more about exactly what these liaisons are doing at their respective colleges and were blown away by all of their unique insights so we wanted to share the very important work they are doing. 

Today, we’ll begin with Bianca Bisi, Student Equity Coordinator & Homeless Liaison at Imperial Valley College in Southern California. Imperial Valley College is a community college with a student body of 8,530 in an agricultural rural and border town. She identifies and advocates for students experiencing homelessness at her campus to ensure their college success. Here are her insights into dignified ways to better serve college students experiencing homelessness.

In the quest to more effectively provide resources and assistance for unhoused college students, (whether you’re already a liaison, advocate or in the planning process of creating a program on campus,) there are three simple questions Bianca suggests other college homeless liaisons ask themselves:

What am I trying to track?

How are students going to find me?

Who (on campus) shares my vision?

Now, we know asking youth to rehash painful experiences around their homelessness can not only be counter-productive, but possibly even contribute to re-traumatization- especially without the appropriate supports to process such painful information, so consider what information is crucial for you, as the liaison, to know in order to connect them to resources. It can be very useful to have a data tracking system for students in order to analyze for trends to help shape school services or policy. So only ask students questions you can be accountable for. This might mean asking about barriers to basic needs like food and housing, (of which you could likely provide immediate referrals,) or which services they would like on campus to help them succeed throughout their academic career. This can be more helpful and productive than asking them to recount what led them to be homeless in the first place.

On her campus, they use a data-tracking spreadsheet as well as a system called ‘Banner’ and she works with contacts in the offices of Financial Aid and Admissions, along with their campus Foster Youth and Formerly Incarcerated Liaisons.

An ongoing challenge for unhoused students is not knowing what resources even exist, which ones they are eligible for, where to get those resources, and who to ask these questions in order to get started. While this systemic issue extends beyond the campus, school liaisons can, and should be, the point of contact for these issues for students experiencing homelessness. But how will these students find you when they need you? Are you listed in the school directory with a description of who you are and what you do? Bianca emphasizes thinking about this question: Do other departments or service providers on campus know who you are and what you do? Reach out to them so they know you’re the go-to person on campus for students experiencing homelessness. Most homeless services, in general, are found by word-of-mouth. Finding allies on your campus can be the most valuable tool you have for reaching these students.

Does your campus have a textbook lending library? In discovering resistance to book vouchers, she discovered an empowerment solution so students wouldn’t feel shame in taking what they maybe felt like a “handout.” A lending library also reduces funding necessity for textbook grants overall.

Bianca encourages liaisons to focus on basic needs for students! The USDA reports that the number one barrier to children attending school is their family worrying about getting their basic needs met. This is true for post-secondary education as well. In terms of helpful programs you can take part in, look into The USDA TEFAP Program to allow your school to become a distribution site for free groceries and begin a food pantry for students, find out who receives the local CalFresh Outreach Grant and invite them to your campus to screen students for program entry requirements. If you’re able to coordinate a food pantry for your campus with student involvement, these programs have been very helpful in providing supplemental groceries for food insecure students. If your budget won’t allow for it, try to connect with Americorp for volunteers to establish one.

More basic needs resources to consider:

DSS Mobile Unit- Invite one to campus

Hygiene Kits- host a campus drive to provide students with hygiene supplies (here’s a short how-to-organize-a-donation-drive example)

Housing referrals

We thank Bianca Bisi for allowing us to further share her insights and experiences as a student homeless liaison in order to help others in their work to support students on their campus.

> Next time we will highlight another college liaison from the CSU system to compare experiences and strategies for the student experiencing homelessness at a 4 year college. <

*** If you’d like to receive our monthly newsletter that gives you updates on research, collaborative projects or policy initiatives we are engaging in along with new resources available in the field, you can sign up here.