This November, Roosevelt was awarded a grant valued at over $182,000 from the Illinois Board of Higher Education to address housing insecurity. Titled RU ESHI (End Student Housing Insecurity), the project aims to address the systemic causes of homelessness and basic-needs insecurity amongst RU’s historically underrepresented students.
RU ESHI will be comprised of three objectives to support this goal: increasing student connections to basic need resources; increasing training and professional development for frontline staff; and establishing sustainable plans for student service delivery and program assessment. Each objective is supported by key activities implemented by RU’s student affairs support staff.
To better connect students with basic need resources, Roosevelt will create systems and ease access to basic needs such as emergency housing, food and technology access. The grant will contribute to housing vouchers, textbook scholarships and utility bill assistance. It will also establish and increase connections with community non-profits and other like-sized pantries to create shared training opportunities.
For additional information regarding the project, please contact Mike Maly at mmaly@roosevelt.edu or Erik Fagrelius at efagrelius@roosevelt.edu.