Thanks to the office of County Supervisor Janice Hahn and the ELAC Foundation, East L.A. College will have $40,000 to put towards helping students who need a hand getting by.
The money will go toward the college's Basic Needs Center and keep their food pantry, the 'Husky Snack Shack' stocked with essentials.
Dean of Student Services Dr. Sonia Lopez told KNX News reporter Margaret Carrero, "This is a major, major game changer for not only the students who will receive the benefits directly but for their families."
The college's basic needs center is currently at the Monterey Park campus, open five days a week, "So we have students coming in on walk in basis...We have students coming in with pre-appointments to pick up gift cards, transportation, things like that," Lopez said, and "The last thing we want to tell a student is we're out of snacks for you or we're out of small meals for them."
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According to a recent survey, 65% of East L.A. College students answered 'Sometimes true' or 'Often true' when asked if they were concerned they would run out of food before they had enough money to buy more within the past 12 months.
"Too many students are struggling with poverty even as they are working as hard as they can to shape a better future for themselves...and it's hard to focus on your education when you don't know where your next meal is coming from or where you will sleep at night," said County Supervisor Janice Hahn.
When it comes to housing solutions for students in need, Lopez says they partner with three agencies, and there's a waiting list, so they hope to use some of the money for additional options.
"There are some legal things that we need to work out to see if we can have, through the foundation, be able to provide emergency vouchers for housing, which is something that our students need. We just need to figure out the logistics behind that," Lopez said.
Of the $40,000, half came from the foundation and the other from Hahn's office.
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