USG launches low-income benefits initiative

The Undergraduate Student Government launched an initiative on Monday designed to connect low-income and work study-eligible students to two government resources: the CalFresh food stamp program and the Safetynet Wireless phone plan.

“For the past year in the advocacy branch, we’ve really tried to focus on food accessibility and affordability,” said USG Director of Community and External Affairs Mai Mizuno. “We’re trying to push for resources that students can register for or apply for [on campus].”

Ellen Sloan, an assistant from the Department of Public Social Services, and two navigators from Safetynet Wireless were at Ronald Tutor Campus Center from 2 to 4 p.m. to help register students who qualified for the two programs.

Students were required to bring their government-issued ID or green card, verification for their low-income status or income tax ID and social security number to confirm their eligibility.

Mizuno worked alongside Alec Vandenberg, USG co-director of student support and advocacy, to bring these resources to students.

“We already know [with] different data, such as the virtual food pantry data, and from programs like the late night hot meals that there is a problem with hunger,” Vandenberg said. “We know that [some students] are on food stamps.”

CalFresh, California’s food subsidy program, provides U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents with monthly benefits available on an Electronic Benefit Transfer card at certain food stores and providers.

Sloan helps students input their personal information in a CalFresh online application, and within three days, a DPS official will call to formally confirm their application.

For the Safetynet Wireless plan, eligible students can receive discounted or free phone plans, and they are able to receive a cell phone or SIM card upon application at USC, Sloan said.

“This [Monday] is a training run,” Vandenberg said. “We really want to make sure this can be a weekly program … if we have the capacity to extend the program to make sure we reach the students we need to reach.”

Mizuno and Vandenberg were present during the two-hour registration period to advertise other University and local resources for students, such as USC’s virtual food pantry.

Students can visit this virtual pantry three times every semester to receive a $25 Trader Joe’s gift card. There are also three different physical food pantries at the Von KleinSmid Center, the Student Union building and Tutor Campus Center for student use.

Yet, around 20 percent of students at a four-year institution still experience food insecurity, according to a 2016 Hunger On Campus report. The initiative hopes to reduce students’ barriers to food and necessary resources, Vandenberg said.

“A big thing we’ve been hearing from students or people who apply for these programs is that it is a tedious and long process,” Mizuno said. “So to expedite that [process] for students is something that we’re really proud of doing.”