It was the beginning of her first year at Hostos Community College, and Shannon needed help.
The Bronx mother of two was excited to be in school, but right as she started her public health classes, we was stunned by a notice alleging she owed nearly $50,000 in arrears on her apartment. Shannon, who’s been receiving public assistance since she was diagnosed with cancer in 2020, was on the verge of having to choose between higher education and keeping a roof over her family’s head.
That’s when the Hostos admissions office directed her to Lo Anderson, the community engagement coordinator for a new initiative run out of the City University of New York’s three Bronx campuses: Comprehensive Access to Resources for Essential Services, or CUNY CARES.
CUNY CARES focuses on helping Bronx students meet four essential needs in an era of skyrocketing rents and new SNAP and Medicaid restrictions: food, health care, housing and mental health. A 2022 survey by CUNY administrators found that 50% of students in The Bronx, about 12,000 students, have two or more unmet needs. Through the program, an estimated 7,500 students were connected to vital services in the 2026 fiscal year, CUNY says.
“The underlying premise of this whole initiative is that if we meet students’ needs more effectively, they will be more successful as students,” said Rachel Stephenson, CUNY’s chief transformation officer and one of the administrators most involved in founding the program. “They will have the energy and the resources that they need to thrive academically.
Finding a Way
Anderson couldn’t directly provide Shannon with cash assistance, but she helped the new student contest her rental arrears, and accompanied her to a hearing that led to the restoration of her city rental voucher.
“It wasn’t like I was talking to a boss or someone just trying to write everything down, and then I’ll see them next week,” Shannon, who agreed to be identified by her middle name, said. “It became more personal, where I started expressing a lot of the real grievances that I was having, and that’s how I was able to be forwarded to different places where I could get help with those.”
Most students in the program aren’t receiving the level of hands-on assistance that Shannon experienced.
The initiative’s backbone is virtual; students who opt into the CARES Benefits Hub are cross-checked for their eligibility for SNAP and the Fair Fares transit discount program. Through the hub, about 1,000 students have been re-enrolled in SNAP benefits, bringing nearly $3 million in benefits, said Jessica McKay, the hub’s director.
On Wednesday, the university announced an expansion of the program next year to Queensborough Community College, and to all seven CUNY community colleges by 2029, thanks in part to a $900,000 private grant.
CUNY is also working to advance the benefits hub to help enroll qualified students in Medicaid and health insurance, said Rachel Stehenson, the university’s chief transformation officer.
Fighting Evictions
The initiative has 10 full-time employees, including the university’s first-ever student housing coordinator, Arturo Ureña, an alumnus of Bronx Community College.
In a sign of the times, Ureña said the majority of the work he does is eviction prevention.
“We know that a lot of students want to move, but it’s not about just moving because you want to move to a different neighborhood,” he said. “It’s versus a legitimate emergency in the sense of safety, you are in a shelter, or are being evicted.”
By working with community based organizations, and helping students navigate and sometimes contest the loss or denial of state and city benefits, Ureña said his office has helped at least 300 students keep or find housing.
Along with full-time staff, CARES employs students as “navigators,” including three who focus on housing. Navigators help direct students to resources, including food pantries and support groups.
Nichelle Hemphill, a student at Lehman College who formerly attended Hostos, said the CARES offices have an “open door policy” that she and other students use regularly. Navigators helped her secure a reduced fare OMNY card, and directed her to other campus resources, like a community closet for interview-appropriate clothes.
Akalia Dixon, the student government president at Bronx Community College, said she’s used CARES and a number of her friends have too. The limits of the program, though, match the limits of New York’s safety net.
Shannon was able to restore her housing voucher, connect with childcare providers to watch her sons and received some small grants from the university to help with school supplies and overdue bills. She continues to wrestle with her rental arrears.
Anderson, who is also a mother, a Hostos graduate and a Bronx native, said she finds her work impactful and fulfilling, but she also has to manage the limits of the services CUNY CARES can provide.
“The most difficult days for me to come to work is when I’m meeting with a student and they tell me they have nowhere to stay tonight,” they said. “That is where our service sometimes stops, and we have to be the people who are telling students what the capacity of the university is.”
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