Community College Groups Work to Address Student Basic Needs Insecurity

A new collaboration between the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice and nonprofit JFF is setting out to address student basic needs and expand emergency student aid in 52 community colleges across five states. The goal: to "accelerate adoption of programs that can strengthen student financial success," according to a news announcement. The project is supported by a grant from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"Even as the country emerges into a state of recovery, hundreds of thousands of students from low-income backgrounds are still in a state of deep financial uncertainty and insecurity that threatens to disrupt their college aspirations for good. We can't allow that to happen," explained Sara Goldrick-Rab, president and founder of the Hope Center, in a statement. "This is about creating a community of practice focused on student basic needs security at a pivotal moment for students from low-income backgrounds."

The Hope Center and JFF will work with five statewide organizations within JFF's Student Success Center Network — The Student Success Center for California Community Colleges, The North Carolina Student Success Center, The New York Student Success Center, The Success Center for Ohio Community Colleges and The Texas Success Center — to "surface new insights into approaches that can address student basic needs insecurity on college campuses." Participating colleges will receive technical assistance, including help with data collection and assessment methods to inform policies and decision-making. They will also establish new outreach programs "to ensure that qualifying students can access existing public and campus-based benefits, such as federal nutrition programs, transportation subsidies, and affordable child care benefits," the announcement said.

"Addressing student basic needs is an investment in college completion," said Ashley Bliss Lima, associate director of community college success at JFF. "That was true before the pandemic, and it's even more clear now. As they look to the start of another fall term, community colleges are wisely doubling down on investments in emergency aid. This work is about scaling high-impact approaches to emergency student aid that will help extend much-needed relief to community college students across the country."

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • person signing a bill at a desk with a faint glow around the document. A tablet and laptop are subtly visible in the background, with soft colors and minimal digital elements

    California Governor Signs AI Content Safeguards into Law

    California Governor Gavin Newsom has officially signed off on a series of landmark artificial intelligence bills, signaling the state’s latest efforts to regulate the burgeoning technology, particularly in response to the misuse of sexually explicit deepfakes. The legislation is aimed at mitigating the risks posed by AI-generated content, as concerns grow over the technology's potential to manipulate images, videos, and voices in ways that could cause significant harm.

  • close-up illustration of a hand signing a legislative document

    California Passes AI Safety Legislation, Awaits Governor's Signature

    California lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved a bill that would impose new restrictions on AI technologies, potentially setting a national precedent for regulating the rapidly evolving field. The legislation, known as S.B. 1047, now heads to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk. He has until the end of September to decide whether to sign it into law.

  • illustration of a VPN network with interconnected nodes and lines forming a minimalist network structure

    Report: Increasing Number of Vulnerabilities in OpenVPN

    OpenVPN, a popular open source virtual private network (VPN) system integrated into millions of routers, firmware, PCs, mobile devices and other smart devices, is leaving users open to a growing list of threats, according to a new report from Microsoft.

  • interconnected cubes and circles arranged in a grid-like structure

    Hugging Face Gradio 5 Offers AI-Powered App Creation and Enhanced Security

    Hugging Face has released version 5 of its Gradio open source platform for building machine learning (ML) applications. The update introduces a suite of features focused on expanding access to AI, including a novel AI-powered app creation tool, enhanced web development capabilities, and bolstered security measures.