Yvette Walker
With KVCR News, I'm Yvette Walker. This is IE Latino Voices, where we invite representatives from Latino led and Latino serving organizations to share their stories and their impact in our region. Joining me today is Angel Rodriguez, Associate Vice Chancellor of Government Relations and Strategic Communications at San Bernardino Community College District. Thanks for being with us today, Angel.
Angel Rodriguez
Thank you for having me, Yvette.
Yvette Walker
Angel, please share a bit about your work at San Bernardino Community College District and organizations you're involved in, with similar programs aimed at uplifting the Latino community.
Angel Rodriguez
Thank you. Well, first and foremost, I see myself as an advocate for higher education, for families, for students here in the Inland Empire who want to go to college, who want to better themselves, who want to get career training, and my job is to make it a little bit easier for them. I have the pleasure of working for Chancellor Diana Rodriguez, working with our cabinet and our Board of Trustees, and for the past couple of years, we've made our mission surrounded around four pillars. One of them is eliminating barriers to educational access and success - so making it easy for students to go to college, stay in college, and then graduate. And the second one is belonging, making sure that students feel like they belong in the classroom, that they belong on campus, because we know that when students feel like they belong, they do better in school. The third one is being a regional leader and partner, and that means working with the community, addressing the local issues that are happening, whether it's on housing, whether it's food insecurity, we want to be a partner in solving those issues for the community. And then the last one, being fiscally responsible, making sure that we're good stewards of taxpayer dollars, because we do the work that we do thanks to the local support from taxpayers, people who are trusting us to really steward this public institution, to serve the public.
Yvette Walker
What are some of the top challenges faced by students today?
Angel Rodriguez
One of the biggest barriers that our students tell us all the time is that housing is unaffordable. We have found that about one in five students have reported that they have been homeless in the past year. So it's very critical, if people don't have a place to sleep, then they can't go to school and they can't learn. And same thing goes with food insecurity. We have found about 700,000 students across California are going hungry, and they could be eligible for CalFresh. CalFresh is a state program that gives financial assistance to students, and it could be about $200 per month so that they can buy groceries. Only one in six of students across California get CalFresh. Proud to say that the San Bernardino community college district partnered with a county San Bernardino where we have an agreement to share FAFSA data. The FAFSA has a lot of information about our students’ household, their income, how much they make. So with the student's permission, we are now able to give the county the FAFSA data so that the county can then take a look at our student population and say, these students from your student body could qualify for CalFresh. Now let's tell them.
Yvette Walker
Please share your goals for financial aid and education attainment in the 2025/26 school year at San Bernardino Community College District.
Angel Rodriguez
We have hardworking families who, again, they are just now feeling the pinch of inflation. They're feeling the economic shockwaves after the pandemic. And so we also want to give you these resources, like Cash for College, so that you can get your student to go to a four year university, a community college. And the way that you can access this Cash for College is with two applications. One is a FAFSA, which is a federal form for financial aid, and the other one is a California Dream Act application. The FAFSA is for students who are US citizens, who were born here. At the moment, there is no federal aid for undocumented students. In California, we do have that, and we believe that no matter where the student was born, we do think that every student deserves an equal, fair shot to achieve the California Dream. And so we do that with a California Dream Act application. These two applications are now open, so for any student who wants to go to college in the Fall of 2025 we encourage them to fill out the FAFSA, or the California Dream Act, by March 3, 2025. For students who want to go to a community college again next fall in 2025 they have until September 2. And we have more information at CSAC.ca.gov and we have workshops across the state. We have people who are dedicated again to facilitate the process and make it less confusing for families.
Yvette Walker
Please share the best way for the community to support you and connect with you.
Angel Rodriguez
There are two ways. If you are trying to get affordable, local career training and maybe you want to transfer to a four year, I invite families and students to consider San Bernardino Valley College and Crafton Hills College. The best way of finding that information is at sbccd.edu and for families who are thinking, okay, great, but I can't afford it, please help me out - I encourage them to visit the California Student Need Commission website. And again, that's CSAC.ca.gov.
Yvette Walker
Thank you so much for being here with us today, Angel.
Angel Rodriguez
Thanks for inviting me.
Yvette Walker
Angel Rodriguez is Associate Vice Chancellor of Government Relations and Strategic Communications at San Bernardino Community College District. Join us again next week for IE Latino Voices. You can find this story and others on our website at kvcrnews.org/IELatinoVoices. IE Latino Voices is produced by KVCR Public Media and is funded by generous support from the CIELO Fund at IECF, uplifting and investing in the IE’s Latino community. For KVCR News, I'm Yvette Walker.
