Natali
A few years ago Natali tried to attend a four-year college and work fulltime; she couldn’t do it. At 25, she applied to Hostos Community College with music therapy as her career goal. But she struggled – in her first semester, she was lost. She was not passing her courses and she even had a “stop” on her registration account.
Then a poster for Single Stop USA caught her eye. She stepped into the Hostos Single Stop office, and her mind went blank.”I didn’t know what to ask for,” she says, “”all I knew was that I wanted to earn my college degree and I needed help to get back on track.”
Madeline Cruz, the Single Stop Hostos coordinator, turned out to be Natali’s lifesaver. Almost the first words out of her mouth were:”You are not dropping out of school and we’ll make sure of that.” She explained that Single Stop helped students meet basic needs –food, shelter, transportation, health insurance – so they could progress toward a degree or certificate without spending endless hour seeking support from one government office after another.
Madeline made it clear to Natali that she was not alone. The coordinator’s knowledge and her friendly demeanor gave Natali “freedom to talk about my situation over tears.”
Like so many students, Natali didn’t have enough money for food. Madeline helped her fill out an application for food stamps (SNAP). Doctor visits? She helped her enroll in Medicaid. Travel to school? Single Stop got her a Metro Card. Most of all, Madeline and the entire Single Stop crew helped lift the stress weighing on Natali’s shoulders.
Within the year, Natali grew into a new, confident person. She became a full-time scholar with a 3.42 average. This fall she registered for 14 credits and she hopes to school. graduate in June 2012. With Single Stop’s guidance, she had a tax preparer file her tax returns free so she had additional money to cover costs. This across-the-board help, coordinated by one office, allows Natali to concentrate on studying, staying in school and working toward making her life story a template for others.
Jacqueline
“’Food stamps’ doesn’t mean you’re broke; it means you’re smart,” says this poised working woman and mother of three. At 44, she lives in the Bronx, works at a university in Manhattan, and is still raising her children, the oldest of whom is 18.
After graduating from high school more than 20 years ago, she started a promising college career at an out-of-town state institution, majoring in dance. Although she was a terrific student, she decided to take a break to go for auditions back in New York City. That turned into “forever,” she laughs. Eventually she needed to work and to obtain food stamps to help feed her family. What made her decide to return to finish her degree while her children were still at home? “To break the cycle of poverty and frustration, I had to go back to school.”
Jacqueline learned about Single Stop when she was looking for someone to prepare her tax returns. She heard about commercial tax preparation services, but she said: “I didn’t need kind of free, I needed free.” She found help at Ariva.
After Ariva, a Single Stop partner, helped her file her taxes, she was screened for other benefits even though she was already enrolled in Medicaid and SNAP. But she learned she qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit. She also found out that a portion of her EITC funds could be used to automatically build a savings account.
Overall, Single Stop helped Jacqueline place herself on the path to economic security. “When you’re busy just trying to survive each day’s challenges, you need a place that you can trust,” she says. “Single Stop tax service was convenient, clean and conscientious in putting together my tax documents and allowing me to feel a sense of dignity, even though it is a free service.”
Julio
Julio, 23 years old, is a former construction surveyor . Currently he is working toward a degree in architectural design at Miami Dade College.
He lives with his father and step-mother (She is disabled.) Before he enrolled at MDC, he had a fulltime job. “I loved my job, but due to the slow down in the construction business, I got laid off. After that, we were barely able to pay our bills and cover my mother’s care. We were barely getting by paycheck to paycheck.”
Since going to college had always been his dream, he decided to turn adversity into opportunity by signing up for courses at MDC. But he was unsure that he would be able to afford staying in school long enough to get a degree.
Along with his father, Julio was referred to Single Stop through the MDC Financial Aid department when they noticed what the family economic situation was like.
At the Single Stop office at MDC’s Wolfson branch Jen and Barbara helped Julio and his father apply for food stamps, Medicaid and disability for his mother. “We received $367.00 a month in food stamps, and found out we were also eligible for $200.00 a month in energy assistance. And we are awaiting a decision from Social Security on my mother’s disability.”
But Julio and his father did not stop there. They also met with Armando, the Single Stop financial counselor. “Armando helped us budget our new income, while also saving for a rainy day.”
Now, there’s an ongoing relationship between Single Stop and the family. “Single Stop constantly checks in with my family and provides the support that is helping me stay in school. If it weren’t for Single Stop, I wouldn’t be in college any more. Thanks to them, I can focus on my studies rather than on how we’re going to be able to pay the rent this month, or whether we’ll have enough to care for my mom.”
Julio vows to “continue my education and maybe one day do for students what Single Stop has done for me… and for my family.”
Christina
When Christina first visited the Single Stop USA office at LaGuardia Community College in Queens, NY, “The world felt like it was crashing down on me.” Both Christina and her 22-year old daughter Anna Maria are full-time students at LaGuardia. Christina also works part time as an assistant at the college. She expects to get a degree in public communications; Anna Maria seeks a degree in business administration.
Christina, a California native who moved to New York In 1976, is 44 years old and lives in an apartment in Elmhurst with her husband Antonio. Referred by a financial aid counselor, she came to Single Stop office after her husband was laid off his job in the food services industry in December and she had major surgery in January. The family also needed to move because its rent had become too expensive for them.
Since they were living paycheck-to-paycheck like so many U.S. families, their financial situation was deteriorating quickly. Suddenly they needed help in order to buy groceries and health insurance. They also had fallen behind on paying many bills.
LaGuardia’s Single Stop coordinator, David Croft, was aware he needed to act quickly on a number of issues at once. Christina and Antonio desperately needed food stamps, and Single Stop was able to help them with their SNAP (food stamps) application. David also was able to connect Christina with the Single Stop financial counselor Ilan Folman-Cohen of The Financial Clinic and legal adviser Evan Denerstein who prepared Christina to deal with a pressing personal matter.
Anna Maria, meanwhile, had moved out of her parents’ home. She was able to qualify on her own for full public assistance, food stamps and Medicaid.
In Christina’s own words, “David has been a lifeline in helping me hold on to my dreams. Single Stop has been great. The office assisted me when my daughter was living with me in receiving food stamps as well as with legal issues The Single Stop people don’t just answer my questions. They always do that with a smile. I knew that I needed my education as it is key in my future success. I don't know where I would have been if I did not receive the help and support from Single Stop."
Christina is attending LAGCC for her final semester and graduates at the end of the term. Next, she plans to transfer to a four-year college. She is a registered medical assistant and certified phlebotomist.
Bouazi is a vivacious young woman who graduated from Borough of Manhattan Community College last May – after a decade’s worth of trying. It was not her commitment to school or her grades that made the journey so long.
It was life – that is, life the way a native from the Ivory Coast experiences it in New York City. Hers is an amazing story.
Bouazi came to the United States at 17, after high school, in December 2000 to pursue her education. She was a very good student in Abidjan but her country was undergoing political turmoil. Her first career goal was to be a physician. She moved in with an aunt in the Bronx, aiming for a slot at a CUNY institution. But because of a mix-up back home, she didn’t have her high school diploma. By the time she cleared up GED issues needed to enroll in college, it was 2002. She started a two-year program at BMCC. Then, “life started to become very hard,” even at a public college, money was a problem. The tuition for an international student was higher than for New Yorkers. In order to work full time, she left BMCC for what she thought would be a semester.
Life had other plans for Bouazi. She worked as a baby sitter, got married, and had a son, Shawn Samuel, in 2004. She wound up responsible for her son all by herself. She did take correspondence courses and got a certificate in wedding planning and interior decoration. Six years flew by.
For others, that might have been the end of the story. Bouazi persisted. At last she re-enrolled in BMCC, got a part time job and a roommate to help meet the rent at her Bronx apartment. She decided to major in mass communications. She volunteered at a Web TV outfit in her community and she enjoyed being front of a camera. Despite BMCC financial aid and a scholarship, “my pocket was getting tight,” without a full time job, she recalled. She worked part time at BMCC, studying in the library in between work and classes. Finally, in 2010 she tried to apply for Medicaid at a neighborhood site. But she found herself in a double bind: If she spent the hours it took to apply for benefits she was eligible for, she would lose valuable class time and set herself up to flunk out of school.
She noticed the BMCC Single Stop sign and sought help from coordinator Deborah C. Harte, who told her she could do a Medicaid application right then and there. “Really? That’s unbelievable,” replied Bouazi. Next: food stamps. Single Stop helped her reactivate an old account in 20 minutes, Deborah Harte kept following up to make sure she got everything she needed.”Single Stop made it possible for me to stay in school,” Bouazi said. What lingers in her mind about the Single Stop experience is that “the second time I came to the office, Ms Deborah remembered my name. It’s something I will never forget because they see hundreds of students. It means a good heart and loving what you do.”
She now tries to debunk myths among her fellow students. Getting benefits does not jeopardize your immigration status, it simply gives you a boost, she tells them. Single Stop, she explains, finds a way past the paperwork and other barriers that discourage too many struggling students from staying in school. Single Stop staffers “write down the steps you have to steps one by one, they call you and ask if everything works out. They say ‘we are always here for you.’ Bouazi is 29 now, and on her way to a BA, thanks to the BMCC Single Stop team. Most of the stress she felt is past. :”Single Stop is so wonderful,” she says. “You can’t imagine the burden it took off my shoulders.”
