During the State of the College event in July Superintendent-President Reagan Romali announced the expansion of the Office of Basic Needs which will serve as a support system for homeless and food insecure students.
“How we are going to expand the program is with different food programs that we’re working with that will be delivering food by the way of food donations, like the LA Regional Food Bank,” said Dianka Lohay the manager of basic needs.
While partnerships with the LA Regional Foodbank and others is not final, they hope to expand the Viking Vaults by way of private donations, according to Long Beach City College Director of Student Health and Student Services, Deborah Miller-Calvert.
“So much of our donations right now are community partners, small clubs and organizations, as well as Long Beach City faculty and staff,” Miller-Calvert said.
The current Viking Vault is the size of a closet but with the new renovations, it will be bigger and provide extended services to students, which can be crucial to a student’s success.
“Step one of the Healthy Viking Initiative is security, right, and if our students don’t have food, they don’t have shelter, research shows that they are not going to be strong academically and they’re not going to be as successful as their peers that do have consistent access to food,” said Deborah Miller-Calvert, Director of Student Health and Student Services.
Lohay also mentioned that community college students are at a greater risk of being food insecure than students attending CSUs and UCs.
“A recent study found that about fifty two percent of community college students in Los Angeles County are food insecure,” Lohay said.
Even though the office of Basic needs was supposed to be open this Fall, it will be delayed due to a roof leak, according to Vice President of Student support services Mike Muñoz.
Even though the Offices are not completed the administration wants students to be aware that they are still able to receive help.
“We’re doing the work, so we don’t want anyone to think that they can’t come and talk. We don’t have the expanded services but we’re doing the work now. We don’t want anyone to think that they can’t receive the resources and support,” said Miller-Calvert.
Both the LAC and PCC Office of Basic Needs will see a grand opening which is set to be held in the Spring 2020.