Happy New Year!
Mouth-watering meals made by our winter RAs!
Dear Trojan Shelter Community,
The start of 2021 brings opportunity for new beginnings, visions, and goals. In accordance with the spirit of January, our executive board held a vision meeting last week to set goals for Trojan Shelter for the next semester, year, 3 years, and 5 years. Our big-picture goals focused on growth and proactivity to ensure that we increase our impact on student homelessness in the coming years. Some specific goals we set were to become a bigger presence at USC and in LA, improve our living space, and strengthen our networks. Whether you've joined us recently or have known us from the start, we are excited and grateful to bring you, the Trojan Shelter community and supporters, along on this bright journey.
Trojan Shelter operations stayed open through winter break. In December, each resident received a gift bag to celebrate the holidays and the end of the semester. Our Directors of Staff worked with USC Wellness Office to decorate the space with plants and make Trojan Shelter a more inviting home. One of Trojan Shelter's main goals is to transition our residents into stable housing with help from our case managers. For this reason, I'm thrilled to announce that one of our residents was able to transition into stable, long-term housing, which is a wonderful accomplishment. In the past few weeks we held intake interviews and we will soon be moving in a new resident to take the vacant space for the upcoming semester. The Winter RAs have moved out earlier this month and Spring RAs have now taken over daily operations. In the upcoming week we will be holding Zoom informational sessions and accepting applications for new USC student volunteers. On the financial side, our Giving Tuesday fundraiser was successful, bringing the shelter highly needed supplies from our Amazon Wishlist, as well as much-appreciated monetary donations. Keep an eye out for our upcoming fundraiser, where we'll be selling Trojan Shelter and USC-specific merchandise!
With the pandemic continuing to rage on, student homelessness is a larger problem than ever, especially in California. This study conducted by UCLA does not have specific statistics on the effect of the pandemic on student homelessness, but predicts that Covid-19 has caused a significant rise in the issue. Distance learning and the Stay At Home order have created more challenges for students who are housing insecure, such as increased technology inaccessibility and unemployment. It is incredible to see the progress Trojan Shelter has made in the past year to provide relief to students experiencing homelessness. However, there is still a great deal of work to be done to support these students in earning these degrees and pursuing their own goals. As we embark upon this new year of progress, I look forward to updating you on Trojan Shelter's operations.
Trojan Shelter Media Recommendation of the Month:
We The Unhoused - a podcast that lifts the voices and struggles of the unhoused in LA and beyond.
If you would like to donate to Trojan Shelter, click the button below.
Best,
Navyada Koshatwar
Director of Media
media.trojanshelter@gmail.com