Media

Hostos One Stop - Video


Single Stop at Hostos Community College. Starring Boris Compillo, Marleny Garcia, Alpha Barry, Jose Ramos, Carlos Baez, Safiya Solomon, Madeline Cruz.

Open/Close section Single Stop USA, Inc. Makes a Stop at Hostos (3/21/12)

SINGLE STOP USA, INC. MAKES A STOP AT HOSTOS

Single Stop USA logoWednesday, March 21, 2012 (Bronx, NY) – Single Stop USA, Inc. Board members visited the Single Stop site at Hostos Community College on March 6th to see the program in action. The visit, which took part in conjunction with the Board’s meeting on-campus, provided the attendees with a firsthand look at the Hostos Single Stop operations, which have been recognized for its excellence.

Hostos Vice President of Student Development and Enrollment Management (SDEM) Nathaniel Cruz led the tour of the Single Stop facilities. Board members spoke directly with students receiving tax preparation services and heard how the site has assisted them with other various needs.

Among the Single Stop Board members that participated in the visit were: Geoffrey Canada, President & CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone; John Kennedy, Partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf; Matthew Klein, Executive Director of the Blue Ridge Foundation of New York; Perri Peltz, distinguished television news journalist, public health advocate, and former anchor and reporter for WNBC-TV; Daniel Simkowitz, Managing Director at Morgan Stanley; Michael Weinstein, Director of Programs at the Robin Hood Foundation; and, Elisabeth Mason, CEO at Single Stop USA, Inc.

Following the tour, the Board members met with Hostos Community College President Félix Matos Rodríguez to discuss the College’s Single Stop operations and how it has helped their students. As part of the meeting, the members also had the opportunity to speak with two students, Fannie Gutiérrez from Hostos and Ty Leveridge from BMCC, who benefitted directly from the services provided by Single Stop.

“One of the main benefits of having a Single Stop program at a community college is that it serves as an extremely effective mechanism to connect students and their families to needed public benefits. Thanks to these benefits students can concentrate on their studies, make progress and stay on track to graduate,” said President Matos Rodríguez.

About Hostos Community College Single Stop
Single Stop connects students at Hostos with a variety of public benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, health insurance, free legal and financial counseling, and tax preparation. In as little as 15 to 20 minutes students can receive a free and confidential screening for up to 44 public benefits. Single Stop has also assisted students with housing, childcare, transportation, and tuition needs, amongst other things. The staff at Single Stop is prepared to help students identify how to best handle each individual situation.

Like many community college students, the students at Hostos are not “typical college students” – many are immigrants, single parents, blue collar workers and/or the first in their family to attend college. At Hostos, 76% of students speak a language other than English at home; 72% make less than $30,000 in household income annually; and 73% receive financial aid.

Open/Close section ACCT/Single Stop USA White Paper (6/19/13)
ACCT

http://www.acct.org/news/acct-single-stop-usa-release-white-paper-student-success-issue-educational-and-public-policy

ACCT, Single Stop USA Release White Paper on Student Success, Issue Educational and Public Policy Reform Recommendations

David Conner | 2013-06-19


Clearing the Path to a Brighter Future: Addressing Barriers to Community College Access and SuccessWASHINGTON—The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) and Single Stop USA today convened higher education leaders and federal officials on Capitol Hill to discuss findings of a white paper, “Clearing the Path to a Brighter Future: Addressing Barriers to Community College Access and Success.” The event, held in the Rayburn House Office Building, featured presentations by ACCT President and CEO J. Noah Brown, Single Stop USA CEO and Co-Founder Elisabeth Mason, Miami Dade College (MDC) President Eduardo Padron, the paper’s principal author and University of Wisconsin—Madison Associate Professor Sara Goldrick-Rab, Kresge Foundation Senior Program Officer Caroline Altman Smith, and community college students from the City University of New York (CUNY) and MDC.

“ACCT and Single Stop are excited to share a bold approach in assisting students to break through the barriers that many low-income and first-generation individuals at community colleges face in obtaining a degree,” said Brown.

“By providing a clear access point to federal tax credits and benefits, and additional community resources such as legal and financial counseling, this partnership has helped to redefine how participating students approach student support services,” Mason added.

Case studies from CUNY and MDC campuses are featured in the white paper. Padron expressed appreciation for the opportunity to take part in the Single Stop model, which seeks to decrease poverty by connecting low-income students with existing resources and services that help them become self-sufficient and achieve economic mobility. “Because of the Single Stop program,” Padron said, “there has been a real change in the cultures of how our participating campuses serve students—a change for the better. MDC’s mission is to change lives through the opportunity of education, and thanks to this program, we can offer more and better opportunities than ever before.”

Although “Clearing the Path to a Brighter Future” assesses Single Stop operations at CUNY and MDC, the paper is intended to serve as a practical guide to improve and reform educational and social policy, explained Goldrick-Rab. “The research yielded important findings that will truly help more students from low-income families attain and complete their educational goals,” she said.

The paper offers 16 specific recommendations broken down under the following headings: Modernize Student Services; Reform Financial Aid in the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act; Coordinate Social Policy and Education Policy; and Evaluate the Evidence.

“Policy is at the heart of student success,” Brown said. “ACCT’s members—trustees throughout the United States and beyond—are strongly urged to read this report and heed its suggestions. It is incumbent upon community college boards to set policy that furthers student success and completion, and to support their presidents in executing those policies.”

Altman Smith lauded the report, saying that “the Kresge Foundation works to expand opportunities for low-income people—and this report highlights areas where we can have a significant and positive impact on the trajectory of community college students. We hope that both educational and political leaders will pay attention to this innovative model and the report’s recommendations for improving student success.” The Kresge Foundation, based in metropolitan Detroit, underwrote the report.

The white paper is available for download at www.acct.org and www.singlestop.org.

About the Association of Community College Trustees

The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) is a non-profit educational organization of governing boards, representing more than 6,500 elected and appointed trustees who govern over 1,200 community, technical, and junior colleges in the United States and beyond. For more information, go to www.acct.org. Follow ACCT on Twitter at twitter.com/CCTrustees.

About Single Stop USA

Single Stop USA is a national non-profit organization dedicated to helping low-income individuals achieve financial self-sufficiency and economic mobility through a unique “one-stop” program that combines benefits screening and application assistance and financial counseling. These resources promote health; help individuals to overcome barriers to attending school; help families to remain in their homes; and offer a path to economic stability. In 2012 Single Stop and its partners served over 157,000 families in seven states and 90 sites and connected them with over $470 million in existing benefits and services.

About the Kresge Foundation

Based in metropolitan Detroit, The Kresge Foundation is a $3.1 billion private foundation that seeks to influence the quality of life for future generations through its support of nonprofit organizations working in its seven program areas: Arts and Culture, Community Development, Detroit, Education, the Environment, Health, and Human Services. Fostering greater access to and success in postsecondary education for low-income, minority and first-generation college students is the focus of Kresge’s Education grantmaking. In 2012, Kresge awarded more than $22 million in grants to support higher education in the United States and South Africa, with half benefiting U.S. community colleges. For more information, please visit the Foundation website: www.kresge.org or follow @kresgedu.

# # #

Open/Close section El Diario NY: Single Stop USA ayudando a estudiantes (11/23/10)
El Diario

http://www.impre.com/contigola/comunidad/2010/11/23/single-stop-usa-ayudando-a-est-223984-1.html

Single Stop USA ayudando a estudiantes

JOSE ACOSTA/EDLP | 2010-11-23 | La Opinión Contigo

Dilenny BonifacioNUEVA YORK — Cuando la estudiante de CUNY, Dilenny Bonifacio, trajo a su hijo de 6 años de República Dominicana, tuvo que dejar su trabajo de cajera en un Burger King y por la falta de recursos económicos estuvo a punto de dejar la universidad, lo que pudo evitar gracias a los beneficios del gobierno que pudo conseguir a través de la organización Single Stop USA.

"Yo tuve que dejar mi trabajo porque salía a las 12 de la noche y para cuidar a mi hijo no podía continuar en ese horario", dijo Bonifacio. "Fui a la oficina de Single Stop y me ayudaron a obtener la ayuda que necesitaba para continuar mi carrera de Negocios en Hostos Community College", agregó la estudiante.

Single Stop es una organización nacional sin fines de lucro pionera en conectar a las personas de bajos ingresos con beneficios y recursos del gobierno. Con el objeto de ayudar a que estudiantes con problemas económicos no dejen la universidad, Single Stop se unió a seis universidades de CUNY, entre ellas Hostos, para ayudarlos a tener acceso a dichos beneficios.

Estudiantes elegibles, en menos de 15 minutos, pueden calificar para beneficios de dinero para comprar comida, pagar por el cuidado infantil y conseguir seguro médico.

Madeline Cruz, coordinadora administrativa de Single Stop en Hostos, dijo que la organización desde enero ha ayudado a cerca de 800 estudiantes, el 75% hispano, en la obtención de una variedad de beneficios, entre ellos cupones de alimento, seguro médico, asistencia pública, ayuda legal, transporte, solicitud de vivienda pública, preparación de planilla de impuesto, asesoría financiera, etc.

"Incluso, si aquí se presenta un estudiante y nos dice que no tiene dinero para dar de comer a su familia, le damos ese día de emergencia una bolsa llena de alimentos de un pequeño almacén que tenemos en la oficina", dijo Cruz.

"Hemos tenido estudiantes que se han quedado sin empleo y no saben que tienen derecho a beneficios de desempleo, y nosotros los hemos ayudado a llenar la solicitud de desempleo y han recibido los beneficios", explicó Cruz.

Si es estudiante de CUNY y está pasando por una situación difícil, puede acercarse a las oficinas de Single Stop, localizadas en los Community Colleges La Guardia, King, Bronx, Boro of Manhattan, Queens, y Hostos.

Para más información, visite Single Stop USA al: www.singlestopusa.org/ Teléfono (212) 480-2870.

Open/Close section The Bronx Times: Single Stop Helps Bronx College Students Stay in School (11/15/10)
El Diario

http://www.bronx.com/news/education/1241.html

Single Stop Helps Bronx College Students Stay In School

Peter Milosheff | 2010-11-15

Carlos Baez, Hostos studentCity University of New York (CUNY) community colleges now offer their students a unique antipoverty tool that can help them to remain in school.

Hostos and Bronx Community College, two branches of CUNY in the Bronx, have partnered with Single Stop USA, an innovative national nonprofit organization that is dedicated to helping people access billions of dollars in untapped government resources.

Eligible students can qualify for cash and noncash benefits to buy groceries, pay for child care and get health insurance – in as little as 15 minutes. Single Stop connects students with benefits counseling, legal and financial advice and tax preparation, all free and all in the same place.

Recent studies have shown that almost half of those who enroll in community colleges drop out because of the high financial barriers they face, often because they are older than traditional college students, work one or more jobs, and must support their entire families.

To surmount these hurdles, Single Stop provides its proven “one-stop-shop” approach that goes beyond tuition aid to deliver tax credits and refunds, food stamps and other vital support.

“Single Stop is right here for what you need to stay in school,” said Carlos B, a 32-year-old Hostos student studying forensic science. A father and a veteran, he received food stamps and other benefits through Single Stop’s Hostos officeosHH. “This is a beautiful thing. I love this program.”

In 2009, Hostos was one of three pilot sites that helped nearly 1,000 students access benefits and services valued at over $1 million. Roughly half of these students took advantage of Single Stop’s free tax preparation services and received federal refunds that averaged $1,500 –an amount equal to 15 percent of their average household income. Studies have shown that as little as $300 in benefits can permit a hard-working but financially strapped student to remain in school en route to an associate degree or certificate.

This summer, Single Stop opened an office at Bronx Community College along with all the other CUNY two-year schools.

During tax season, students and other low-income individuals can take advantage of free tax preparation from Single Stop volunteer financial advisers at numerous locations, including three offices of Ariva (CheckSpring on E. 167th St., NYC Small Business Services on E. 149th Street and University Neighborhood Housing Program in Refuge House on Bainbridge Ave.).

About Single Stop USA

Single Stop has been a pioneer in connecting low-income people with life-changing benefits and resources they may not have known existed. First, in a brief interview, a Single Stop counselor uses the organization’s cutting-edge software to determine a person’s eligibility for a wide range of basic benefits. Then, the counselor follows up by helping the client with the maze of applications.

An outgrowth of a New York City pilot program begun in 2001 with funding from the Robin Hood Foundation, Single Stop USA incorporated in 2007 in order to expand nationwide, and has grown 700 percent since then. In 2009, its sites in five states helped 120,000 families access roughly $320 million in benefits and services.

With national headquarters in East Harlem, Single Stop also offers low-income families the same vital benefits and services at 13 Bronx sites within neighborhood organizations, health clinics and other facilities, including BronxWorks on the Concourse and CUCS in Crotona.

“Single Stop gives families who juggle community college, work and kids the extra support they need before they have to choose between staying in school and making ends meet,” said Elisabeth Mason, CEO of Single Stop USA.

Open/Close section Photo Gallery

Single Stop USA Resource Center 2015 Photo Gallery