LBCC: LBCC Hold Virtual Townhall On Helping Homeless Students

Press release from Long Beach City College:

June 4, 2021

Long Beach Community College District Board of Trustees Dr.
Virginia Baxter and Sunny Zia, and Interim
Superintendent-President Dr. Mike Muñoz hosted a virtual event to launch
Long Beach City College’s Helping Homeless Students Fund website and to discuss the Helping the Homeless
Students Associate Group’s work on Tues., June 2.

Approximately one in six LBCC students experience homelessness or
housing insecurity.

Speakers also included Tamara Lincoln and Majeedah Wesley, two
LBCC alumni who also experienced housing insecurity. Lincoln now
works for LBCC and splits her time between the College’s Learning
and Academic Resources department and outreaching to LBCC’s
unhoused student population. Wesley is a staff auditor and
whistleblower investigator for the City and County of San
Francisco’s Office of the Controller.

Attendees were able to watch a brief documentary story about Josie, a former
student who spoke about her journey from sleeping by the Los
Angeles River, to taking classes at LBCC and then graduating with
a certificate and associate degree in Welding.

“Housing is a challenge in Long Beach and our surrounding cities.
It’s an even bigger challenge for community college students who
are often balancing school with multiple jobs and family,” said
Muñoz. “Today’s town hall brings this issue to light, and the new
website will make it easier for our community to help us in our
fight to help our most vulnerable students.”

The mission of the Long Beach City College Foundation’s Helping
the Homeless Students Associate Group is to assist housing and
food-insecure students with basic needs and other support so they
can focus on their academic success. This mission is undertaken
by achieving various goals including Identify students who are
food and housing insecure; Support identified students who are
food and housing insecure; support student recipients
academically; monitor the academic success of student recipients,
and raise funds to continue implementing the Housing Committee
mission.

For more information on the Helping Homeless Students Fund, visit
www.LBCC.edu/hhs-fund.

The town hall can be viewed on LBCC’s YouTube channel at www.YouTube.com/LongBeachCityCollege.

This press release was produced by Long Beach City College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.