SUNY Empire receives $154K grant to help students with basic needs
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » The SUNY Empire State College Foundation has been awarded a two-year $154,255 grant from the Ichigo Foundation to conduct a Basic Needs Intervention Pilot. The project will provide emergency grants for students who experience a basic-needs crisis and help the college determine best ways to help.
The grant funding will enable SUNY Empire to gather data on students’ current needs, create intervention techniques, and test interventions for effectiveness. The techniques will be used with currently enrolled students who meet the threshold for intervention as determined by the data collected in phase one of the grant.
Ichigo Foundation is a charity of Ichigo Asset Management, an independent investment manager specializing in Japanese equities.
During the first phase, SUNY Empire will offer a basic needs emergency grant of up to $250 to each eligible student. As a requirement of the grant, students will be asked the best time to intervene during a crisis and the factors that led them to request an emergency grant. The grants will be given to students who exhibit the most need.
All students will be given an account on Single Stop, an online benefit screener that links users with local community resources. Single Stop will provide valuable data on the kinds of resources SUNY Empire students need most. The data will also help determine the risk factors that lead to a basic-needs crisis.
In addition, students will be enrolled in an online financial education course designed to teach them alternative ways to pay for a college education, as well as strategies for saving, investing, and borrowing.
“Our ultimate goal is to find a way to anticipate which students are most likely to require basic-needs assistance before the need arises. We want to begin working with them before anything happens so they experience the least disruption in their lives and their studies. The generosity of the Ichigo Foundation has given us a wonderful opportunity to do a deeper dive into this issue, and we thank them for this grant,” SUNY Empire Officer in Charge Nathan Gonyea said.
“At Ichigo Foundation, we’re committed to ensuring access to higher education for first-generation and lowincome students, who are often among the most vulnerable. We strongly believe in education, opportunity, justice, and inclusion, and strive to partner with student-centered institutions that are committed to providing a full and enriching academic experience for all. SUNY Empire embodies those values. We’re honored to support the college as it explores interventions that will best protect and support their neediest students,” Janel Callon, co-founder, and CEO of the Ichigo Foundation noted.
“We’re so grateful to the Ichigo Foundation for this funding, which will help students address basic needs while pursuing their academic dreams. It’s incumbent upon us to find a way to help struggling students who are suddenly forced to decide between paying tuition or affording food or rent. These funds will help us determine the best way to intervene,” Sue Epstein, interim executive director of the SUNY Empire State College Foundation explained.
“Students will be at the center of everything we do with this grant. We anticipate these emergency grants will benefit as many as 300 students during the first year. We’re confident that with the appropriate interventions, delivered at precisely the right time, we’ll improve student retention and degree completion,” Joshua Boardman, basic needs coordinator for SUNY Empire added.
Tai Arnold, acting provost and executive vice president at SUNY Empire said, “Through our research, SUNY Empire will develop a better understanding of how best to serve our most vulnerable students so they don’t have to sacrifice basic needs at the expense of their education. We hope SUNY Empire can become a model for other higher-ed institutions that want to achieve the same goals.”