Jumping into Spring
Our RAs and residents had a Manicure Night this month to promote community bonding!
Dear Trojan Shelter community,
As we move into Spring, the end of our third season serving students experiencing homelessness comes near. Each season has come with new challenges, lessons, and victories; this year has been no exception. We've gained our footing in operating amidst the pandemic, explored ways to expand our reach, and grown closer to the Trojan Shelter community. However, we continue to improve our operations each week to make a greater impact on the issue of student homelessness. Looking to the upcoming academic year, we’ve begun transitioning into our next Executive Board through an internship program. Incoming E-board members have been working with their respective current E-board member each week to learn the ropes of their role and get a taste of what their position entails. The internship program began in February and will end in April when the 2021-2022 Executive Board fully transitions into their new roles. I look forward to introducing you all to our talented new E-board when they have fully transitioned!
In April-May 2020 -- after the onset of the pandemic -- USC conducted a Student Well-being Index Survey which recorded whether students' basic needs such as housing, food and financial security were being met. The results indicated that 17% of students at USC had experienced housing insecurity and 32.8% had experienced food insecurity in the past 12 months. These are astonishingly high numbers compared to nationwide estimates made by the Hope Center for Community, College, and Justice a couple years ago. Although the survey did not cover the entire USC population, this data provides a glimpse of how pressing the issue of student homelessness is and how devastating the pandemic has been on basic needs security in the USC community. You can read the USC report here.
Breakdown of the percent of unhoused students sleeping in various non-permanent areas provided by USC Student Well-being Index Survey.
We've entered the portion of the semester where shelter operations flow smoothly as our residents have settled into the Trojan Shelter routine. A new resident will be moving in during April, bringing us back to half capacity, our maximum during the pandemic. As we reach the end of the season, we are working closely with our caseworkers -- Master’s in Social Work student from the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work -- to ensure our students transition steadily into the summer with the resources they need to thrive over the school break. We are always impressed by and grateful for our caseworkers because their education and experience provide much needed support to our residents.
During March, Trojan Shelter's volunteers had a collaboration meeting with the USC club SCAPE (Student Coalition for Asian Pacific Empowerment) introducing Louis Tse, the founder of Bruin Shelter and Students 4 Students, as a guest speaker. Having a shared meeting allowed our club members to learn about the issues we each advocate for and meet peers with similar passions. Louis gave an incredibly sincere talk about why student homelessness is a pressing (and unfortunately, growing) issue around the country. He described his philosophy and journey when creating Bruin Shelter, as well as the projects he's currently working on. Louis originally inspired the creation of Trojan Shelter and hearing him speak this month has reinforced our commitment to advocating for students experiencing homelessness once again.
Louis Tse presenting on the power of student voices during our collaboration meeting with USC SCAPE.
Finally, our Director of Finance, Will Chen, and our Finance Committee have continued running a donation table every other Sunday in the USC Village near Trader Joe's and Dulce to collect food and monetary donations. Stop by our table this Sunday to chat with our volunteers and to see what groceries we need! Our Amazon Wishlist also has a list of items we'd like donated to make Trojan Shelter a comfortable home for our residents (linked below). We are eternally grateful for every member in our community for your support - whether it be through advocacy, donations, or staying informed - in serving our residents as they pursue their education and career goals.
I look forward to updating you on all things Trojan Shelter next month!
Best,
Navyada Koshatwar
Director of Media
media.trojanshelter@gmail.com