As part of the Giving Tuesday global movement on December 1st, the UCR School of Public Policy is raising funds in support of students impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.
The school established an emergency fund this summer to provide financial support to public policy students facing housing, health, and food challenges brought about by the pandemic.
Within days of announcing the fund in the fall quarter, the school received 74 applications from students in need. The school has so far been able to provide small awards to 32 students from the emergency fund.
“Reading the stories of students who applied for emergency support was very heartbreaking,” said director of development Kathy Kim. “Our hope is to be able to raise enough funds during this Giving Tuesday to cover financial assistance for all remaining public policy students still experiencing hardship.”
Donors can contribute via the SPP Giving Tuesday page any time until the end of December 1st. All funds go towards UCR public policy students.
In addition, the school’s student ambassadors will host an end-of-day online event on December 1st at 5 p.m. meant to spotlight students who are currently impacted by the pandemic as well as those who are conducting work to address the crisis. The event, titled “Live from SPP Giving Tuesday: Stories on the Impact of Giving,” is currently accepting registrations via Zoom. It will be livestreamed as well via Facebook.
“Support from the SPP helped me in a time when I was financially struggling after getting sick with COVID-19 and becoming unemployed,” said Andrea Rayas, third-year public policy student and recipient of an SPP Emergency Student Support Fund award. “Thankfully, the emergency fund helped me make ends meet.”
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Established in 2012, the UCR School of Public Policy is one of only four public policy schools in the 10-campus UC system. It is home to the only Master of Public Policy (MPP) program offered by a major research university in inland Southern California, as well as the only undergraduate public policy program in the ten-campus University of California system.