As she approached the final months of classes before earning a bachelor’s from Portland State University’s School of Social Work, Adrianna Davis had exhausted all student loans. Struggling to figure out a path forward as she navigated life during COVID-19, Davis came across an email mentioning a new program at PSU: SNAP Training and Education Program (STEP).
“It’s the best thing, I wish I would have had access to it earlier,” Davis says. “Not only do they help with monetary things — they were able to help me pay my rent, help me get job interview clothes and walk me through the process — but I feel like because of their support I was able to get my job.”
The STEP program is the result of a $277,000 federal grant from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Training and Education Program, designed to promote self-sufficiency for those who receive food stamp benefits. PSU was the first four-year institution to receive this grant in October 2019.
Through the STEP program, Program Manager Justin Barrieault is able to help mitigate financial challenges by offering funds for clothing, rent, text books, even utility bills — all to ensure students can financially afford to continue their education at PSU and successfully graduate.
The STEP program officially started recruiting students July 1, after several months of planning how to provide assistance to students remotely and access to services while managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Barrieault says the program is vital especially as PSU works to navigate high rates of housing and food insecurity, as highlighted in a report from the Homelessnss Research & Action Collaborative. The report sought to determine just how pervasive housing and food insecurity as well as homelessness is among PSU students and employees. The report, released in September, found 44.6% of students experienced housing insecurity, 47% experienced food insecurity and 16.1% experienced homelessness.
“We partner with students receiving food stamps to go over their goals, their career, map out a pathway to success and make them more competitive applicants in the long run, as well as connecting them with resources and networking opportunities,” Barrieault says. “While our end goal is to help students get into their career choice, we recognize that the biggest barrier to that is funding to finish their degree. Our model is to get students to graduation.”
Adrianna DavisAs a first-generation student, Davis says resources like the STEP program are vital.
“Justin definitely helped guide me to figure out, what am I doing? What are my goals? What do I want?” she says.
Barrieault also offers accountability, something Davis says she’s grateful for now that she’s wrapping up her degree and starting her career, she feels more confident and prepared. Barrieault even urged Davis to negotiate a higher salary with the Oregon Department of Human Services where she now works — a successful endeavor that she credits to Barrieault.
“He has just been a wealth of encouragement,” Davis adds.
Looking forward
As a pilot program, funding for STEP is only a year-long. Barrieault is looking toward 2021 and beginning fundraising efforts to ensure the program continues. Ideally, STEP could expand and hire another employee to work with students as well as enroll 75 students annually instead of 50. The program currently is only at half capacity, with room for about 25 additional applications as the academic year continues.
Barrieault is also still developing the curriculum and partnering with other resources on campus to build out the program. This curriculum would allow for students to not only gain a better understanding of their goals, and how it relates to possible future careers, but also provide the student with a guide which can be utilized to tailor their own personal pathways to success.
“We want to have a curriculum so when a student enters the program, we know exactly where to place them,” he says.
Developing more outreach and an equitable funding approach is also in progress, but he’s optimistic about where the program is headed.
“This is a great opportunity to help build out PSU’s insecurity initiatives and really make sure there’s a presence on campus around basic needs, something that is lacking at this point,” Barrieault says. “We want to have less barriers and we want to serve those underrepresented students the most.”