Queens College CUNY Mutual Aid Student Support
Donation protected
The Queens College Mutual Aid group is raising money for students affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Queens College Mutual Aid group is an informal coalition of faculty members, students, and staff from Queens College CUNY, and is coordinated via CERRU (The Center for Ethnic, Racial and Religious Understanding at QC).
Our immediate, urgent needs include:
* Thank you to all who donated to this campaign in the past year. Unfortunately, with complication conditions still ongoing, there are multiple Queens College Students (and recent graduates) who require housing support immediately, as they have been asked to leave Queens College's dorms by TOMORROW 6.16.2021. We are asking for support.
Since our last fundraising effort, we spent $1800 over the past year giving out 20 direct aid grants to Queens College students, (many with caregiving or parenting responsibilities, people with disabilities, people who are undocumented, or people who are hungry and unemployed). The pandemic may be in brighter days, but people's needs are still extreme. To support students who need greater housing stability than the Queens College dorms can provide, we are looking to raise an additional $4,000 as soon as possible.
* $10,000 to support students who are unable to register for Fall 2021 classes due to outstanding "holds" on their school accounts. We are hoping to help alleviate portions of their debt. Without registering for classes, these students are ineligible for the aid they are already scheduled to receive from the school, but they cannot register without providing some form of payment towards what they owe.
* $1,500 to support students in need of food or medical supplies. We have a growing spreadsheet of needs, and have been unable to connect everyone to formal public support no matter how hard we try.
Ultimately, we are seeking to raise $30,000 in total. Additional funds will be distributed to students on the basis of need, with a particular focus on students from the most vulnerable populations who are likely to face discriminatory harm. As a public university in the most diverse area of the United States, we are particularly hoping to support our undocumented students, who are ineligible for forms of federal aid and other assistance via the CUNY system.
While it's true that as a public institution, Queens College (part of the City University of New York) has received monetary support through the CARES Act, as well as through private foundations including, most recently, the Mellon Foundation, Queens College Mutual Aid is in a unique position to nimbly provide immediate financial support, as well as non-monetary forms of aid, to our students in need. Our ability to operate within a Mutual Aid framework means that these larger donations to CUNY can go towards longer-term, strategic, and widespread support within the Queens College community and beyond.
But we can only do this with your help. Any donation will go directly towards students in need. We anticipate that needs will not only be ongoing, but growing.
If you are able to provide non-monetary forms of aid, such as buying a bag of groceries for someone who requires food support, or providing subsidized rooms for students facing unstable housing conditions, that's amazing, too. Please email Aysa Gray with your ability: agray [at] cerru [dot] org
Our immediate, urgent needs include:
* Thank you to all who donated to this campaign in the past year. Unfortunately, with complication conditions still ongoing, there are multiple Queens College Students (and recent graduates) who require housing support immediately, as they have been asked to leave Queens College's dorms by TOMORROW 6.16.2021. We are asking for support.
Since our last fundraising effort, we spent $1800 over the past year giving out 20 direct aid grants to Queens College students, (many with caregiving or parenting responsibilities, people with disabilities, people who are undocumented, or people who are hungry and unemployed). The pandemic may be in brighter days, but people's needs are still extreme. To support students who need greater housing stability than the Queens College dorms can provide, we are looking to raise an additional $4,000 as soon as possible.
* $10,000 to support students who are unable to register for Fall 2021 classes due to outstanding "holds" on their school accounts. We are hoping to help alleviate portions of their debt. Without registering for classes, these students are ineligible for the aid they are already scheduled to receive from the school, but they cannot register without providing some form of payment towards what they owe.
* $1,500 to support students in need of food or medical supplies. We have a growing spreadsheet of needs, and have been unable to connect everyone to formal public support no matter how hard we try.
Ultimately, we are seeking to raise $30,000 in total. Additional funds will be distributed to students on the basis of need, with a particular focus on students from the most vulnerable populations who are likely to face discriminatory harm. As a public university in the most diverse area of the United States, we are particularly hoping to support our undocumented students, who are ineligible for forms of federal aid and other assistance via the CUNY system.
While it's true that as a public institution, Queens College (part of the City University of New York) has received monetary support through the CARES Act, as well as through private foundations including, most recently, the Mellon Foundation, Queens College Mutual Aid is in a unique position to nimbly provide immediate financial support, as well as non-monetary forms of aid, to our students in need. Our ability to operate within a Mutual Aid framework means that these larger donations to CUNY can go towards longer-term, strategic, and widespread support within the Queens College community and beyond.
But we can only do this with your help. Any donation will go directly towards students in need. We anticipate that needs will not only be ongoing, but growing.
If you are able to provide non-monetary forms of aid, such as buying a bag of groceries for someone who requires food support, or providing subsidized rooms for students facing unstable housing conditions, that's amazing, too. Please email Aysa Gray with your ability: agray [at] cerru [dot] org
Organizer and beneficiary
Chloe Bass
Organizer
134th Street, NY
Qc Mutual Aid
Beneficiary
