County, by supplementing and expanding the work of local social service organizations to assist people experiencing a severe economic crisis. Since its inception in 1983, EFSP has helped distribute over $200 million in funding to organizations serving vulnerable populations in L.A. A distribution nearly three times larger than the typical funding cycles from previous years. county, along with Santa Monica College (SMC) and Long Beach City College (LBCC), that were among the 190 nonprofit awardees that received part of the historic $30 million disbursed through the EFSP this current cycle. LACC is one of the three community college foundations in L.A. EFSP is overseen by a local board of nonprofits and government agencies and administered by the United Way of Greater Los Angeles. Thanks to a major disbursement, through the Los Angeles Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP), thousands of Los Angeles community college students in need of shelter and food will be receiving assistance this fall. And they’re coming to school to try picking things up,” said Justin Mendez, Basic Needs Program Manager at Long Beach City College (LBCC), who runs the Basic Needs Center, where he says many students make their first stop as they’re getting enrolled. “A big percentage of our students are parents, so they’re not only providing for themselves, but they’re providing for their children and their families. Financial aid typically covers less than 40% of the total cost which leaves students to pay about $12,000 out of pocket. This includes food, housing, supplies, books, and transportation. Lynne said LACC currently serves about 6,000 unhoused students. “It’s not due to college, but community college looks like a way out of that for them… We serve a community with a homeless rate five times higher than any other service provider.”įor Nigerian immigrant Samuel Emmanuel, a radiology student at Los Angeles Community College (LACC), staying in college, “would have been impossible” without the assistance he receives from the LACC Foundation. “It came to a point where I had to choose between staying in school or having something to eat,” he said.Īccording to the California Budget & Policy Center, the cost to attend a community college is about $20,000 a year. “They’re already making choices like ‘Do I get behind on rent this month and put gas in my car or buy a bus pass and a textbook? Or do I feed my family and let rent go, or do I let everything go and buy the necessary textbooks that I need?’ These are literally the decisions that 90% of our students are making,” said Daren Lynne, Director of Special Projects & Academic Support at the Los Angeles City College (LACC) Foundation. In 2020, Los Angeles Community College (LACC) had an enrollment of 19,000 students, nearly 65 percent of them cannot consistently afford adequate food, and as many as 20 percent had experienced homelessness while enrolled. The survey included more than 40,000 students across 57 campuses across the state. Getting food and shelter assistance it’s critical for them to stay in college.Īccording to the 2019 California Community Colleges Survey, #RealCollege, nearly 20% of California’s 2.1 million community college students had been homeless during the previous year, and 60% responded to having experienced housing insecurity. Some of them visit the food pantry or the shelter assistance office as their first stop on campus. Many disadvantaged community college students in Los Angeles choose going to college not just to get an education but also to be able to feed themselves and their families.
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