Many Solano students struggle with necessities like housing, access to food, and mental health. These things are called basic needs. They are things that you need to be at a fair starting level. To help these students, all California Community Colleges are required to have a basic needs program at their school. SCC’s basic needs program has leveled up in the past couple years, starting programs like the food pantry and the walk-in closet.
The person who really grew the program to what it is today is Christina Rodriguez, the Director of Student Support Services. Rodriguez previously worked in the housing industry as a property manager for 15 years, and was partly brought in to update and work on the housing resources on campus. Her expertise was needed because the college found that housing is the biggest problem Solano students are dealing with.
The basic needs programs are there for those who need it, free of charge. The philosophy of the programs has been to help those to succeed, regardless of financial status or background.
“It’s okay. Give yourself some grace and compassion, you don’t know what you don’t know… don’t be so hard on yourself.” says Rodriguez.
“When your basic needs are not met, how are you supposed to come to class and focus on school, how are you supposed to come every day and do assignments or learn, when you’re thinking about ‘when is my next meal?’” Rodriguez furthers.
A common opinion against the basic needs program is that students should focus on their needs first, and then come to class. Rodriguez and the college disagree, they think this is the exact place a resource like this should be.
Rodriguez adds “how is that equity? … You should come to college because your basic needs will be met.”
The food pantry is a place students can come get groceries for the week, or even just get a snack and water between classes. You get a bag and get to pick things like you would at a grocery store. The food pantry sort of became a destination on campus because of how fun the student staff made it. On any given day there’s party lights on the ceiling, student-requested music playing, and students hanging out. The food pantry is located in building 1400 room 1427, and is open Monday- Thursday 10am to 5pm.
The food pantry gets an average of 100 students a day just for snacks, and the food being almost equal to the amount for visitors. There were about 2,000 students that were served by the food pantry last semester, and prior to that there were about 3,000 a semester.
A similar yet vital need that students may struggle to meet is finding quality clothes. At the Walk-In Closet you can browse a couple rooms of clothes, including everything from regular shirts and pants, to professional clothing like suits and ties.
Just like the food pantry, they made it feel like real shopping by putting tags on all the clothes. This is also where you’d go to pick up personal hygiene items, which you can also hand pick or just grab a shower kit. You can even pick out clothes for children and breastfeed, with a room in the facility being dedicated to nursing parents. The Walk-in Closet is in building 1400, room 1409, and is open Monday-Thursday 10am to 3pm.
These programs are constantly evolving, and they always want feedback and ideas from students in order to help the community.
“I want the students to tell me what basic needs look like for them. Like what do you want to see different from what we don’t offer? Let’s think outside the box,” says Rodriguez. “The fact we have a basic needs program in itself shows that the need is there.”
