Education Code § 66023.5 - California Law

(a)As used in this section:

(1)“Basic needs services and resources” includes, but is not limited to, housing, food, clothing, feminine hygiene, diapers, technology, childcare services and resources, and mental health services and resources.

(2)“Childcare services and resources” includes, but is not limited to, providing information on affordable childcare options on and near campus and information and

connections to local resource and referral agencies in order to obtain support in applying to state and federal childcare subsidies and programs and finding local childcare providers, including, but not limited to, the California state preschool program, Head Start, the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) childcare program, and general child care and development programs. Childcare services and resources may also include direct financial support or service support.

(3)“Coordinator” means a basic needs coordinator established pursuant to this section.

(b)Each campus of the California Community Colleges shall do all of the following:

(1)No later than July 1, 2022, establish the position of the Basic Needs Coordinator, and designate a staff person as the Basic Needs Coordinator to serve as the single point of contact for students experiencing basic needs insecurity related to basic needs services and resources. The coordinator shall act as a broker in identifying, supporting, and linking students to on- and off-campus housing, food, mental health, and other basic needs services and resources. To ensure the effectiveness and impact of this position, the coordinator shall be a dedicated position solely focused on addressing the basic needs of students and meet qualifications such as experience providing services to high-need and diverse populations. The coordinator shall oversee and coordinate with other staff tasked with addressing students’ basic needs, shall inform students of

on- and off-campus basic needs services and resources and how to access them, and shall develop on- and off-campus partnerships to provide basic needs services and resources to their students.

(2)(A) No later than July 1, 2022, establish a Basic Needs Center, which means a central location on campus where basic needs services, resources, and staff are made available to students. The Basic Needs Center is intended to be a one-stop, single location and point of contact for students to more easily access and gain awareness of basic needs services and resources. The campus shall make a reasonable effort to locate all on-campus basic needs services and resources at the Basic Needs Center. If the campus cannot reasonably locate all basic needs services or resources at the Basic Needs Center, the campus shall provide students with the location and contact information, including name, telephone number, and email address, for all

basic needs services and resources not located in the Basic Needs Center. The coordinator shall be housed in the Basic Needs Center.

(B)Each Basic Needs Center shall help ensure that students have the information they need to enroll in CalFresh, the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC), the Young Child Tax Credit (YCTC), the California Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and other relevant government benefits programs.

If a campus has an existing center or office that supports parenting students and a student may be better served by that center or office, the Basic Needs Center may direct that student to the student parent center or office. Each Basic Needs Center shall coordinate with their campus financial aid department or financial aid office. This section does not require nor encourage the Basic Needs Center to be combined or colocated with the financial aid department or financial aid office. The funding made available by the Budget Act of 2021 to implement this section, or any subsequent Budget Act or statute to implement this section, shall not be used to combine or colocate the Basic Needs Center with the financial aid department or financial aid office and shall not be used for the administration of student financial aid programs, including staffing. Each Basic Needs Center shall connect students to the financial aid department or financial aid

office, as

appropriate, to ensure that students are receiving all available financial aid, including supplemental awards such as the awards for students with dependent children established pursuant to Article 9 (commencing with Section 69465) of Chapter 1.7 of Part 42. Each Basic Needs Center shall coordinate with their local homelessness response system to refer students to community resources available to address homelessness in addition to services and resources provided by the campus. Basic Needs Centers may provide support to students who can be reasonably expected to enroll in the upcoming term and to provide support to students during summer and winter breaks who were previously enrolled or are enrolled for the upcoming fall or spring term.

(C)Campuses shall endeavor, to the extent feasible, to use a portion of any funds made available for basic needs support for providing funds directly to students to address urgent needs. To the extent that a Basic Needs Center is already in place, that center may be used to satisfy the requirements of this section. If the existing Basic Needs Center fulfills only part of the requirements of this section, basic needs services and resources shall be expanded as needed to satisfy all the requirements of this section.

(D)The childcare services and resources a Basic Needs Center may provide for parenting students includes, but is not limited to, direct financial or service support.

(3)(A) No

later than February 1, 2022, develop a document that shall be provided to students at the Basic Needs Center, once established pursuant to paragraph (2), in either electronic format or paper form, and that shall be made available to students online, that clearly lists on- and off-campus basic needs services and resources that includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:

(i)The description of the service or resource.

(ii) The location of where the service or resource is provided.

(iii) The point of contact for the service or resource, including a name, telephone number, and email address.

(iv) Any eligibility restrictions on accessing the service or resource.

(B) On or before

September 1, 2025, update the document developed pursuant to subparagraph (A) to include in the list of on- and off-campus basic needs services and resources the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service’s “SNAP Retail Locator” internet website link, which contains a map with locations that are authorized retail food stores under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and accept the use of electronic benefits transfer cards issued pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 10065) of Part 1 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

(D) Provide to faculty the online link to the electronic format of the document, the location of the Basic Needs Center, once established pursuant to paragraph (2), and the contact

information for the coordinator, once designated pursuant to paragraph (1), and encourage faculty to include the online link to the electronic format of the document, the location of the Basic Needs Center, and the contact information for the coordinator in their syllabi.

(E) To ensure that the document remains useful to students, the document shall be reviewed, updated, and made available online on both the internet website of the campus via the student basic needs tab and the internet website-based student account associated with a student’s attendance at the institution, as specified in paragraph (6), no later than the first day of every fall and spring semester or no later than the first day of every fall and spring quarter.

(4)No later than February 1, 2022, streamline the application and intake process for on-campus basic needs services and resources to minimize duplication

and eliminate barriers to access. If an application is required, develop and use a single application for students to receive on-campus basic needs services and resources.

(5)No later than February 1, 2022, develop and implement a plan to identify and provide outreach to students, including nontraditional students, who have basic needs insecurity related to housing, food, and mental health. Once the coordinator is designated pursuant to paragraph (1) and the Basic Needs Center is established pursuant to paragraph (2), the outreach shall include information about the coordinator and the Basic Needs Center.

(6)No later than February 1, 2022, provide a student basic needs tab that is clearly visible and easily accessible from a drop-down menu on the home page of the campus’ internet website and include the information described in paragraph (3) conspicuously on both the internet

website of the campus via the student basic needs tab and the internet website-based student account associated with a student’s attendance at the institution. Once the coordinator is designated pursuant to paragraph (1) and the Basic Needs Center is established pursuant to paragraph (2), information about the coordinator and Basic Needs Center shall also be included on both the internet website of the campus via the student basic needs tab and the internet website-based student account associated with a student’s attendance at the institution.

(7)(A) For the 2026–27 and 2027–28 fiscal years, provide classified employees with access to food pantry services offered by the Basic Needs Center.

(B)It is the intent of the Legislature to redirect funding in

the 2026–27 and 2027–28 fiscal years from the Classified Community College Employee Summer Assistance Program established pursuant to Article 11 (commencing with Section 88280) of Chapter 4 of Part 51 of Division 7 to support the activities described in subparagraph (A).

(c)(1) Each campus of the California Community Colleges shall report to the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges information that shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(A) The description and number of basic needs services and resources, broken down by category.

(B) The number of students served by the basic needs services and resources.

data regarding the socioeconomic and demographic backgrounds of these students.

(D) Challenges and best practices in the implementation of the basic needs services and resources.

(E) Whether students who used the basic needs services and resources remained enrolled or graduated from that campus.

(F) The number of students who first started receiving CalFresh benefits in the previous year and the total number of students in the previous year who received CalFresh benefits, as provided by the State Department of Social Services.

(G) Whether the campus has a data sharing agreement with the relevant county operating the CalFresh program for the purpose of identifying new, continuing, and returning students who are potentially eligible for CalFresh benefits,

or efforts underway to enact such an agreement.

(2)The data and information reported under this subdivision shall be disaggregated by each basic needs service and resource, where applicable.

(3)Campuses are encouraged to collaborate with the State Department of Social Services to obtain the data identified in paragraph (1), as applicable.

(4)The data and information reported by each campus of the California Community Colleges for the 2026–27 and 2027–28 fiscal years shall also include both of the following for the applicable reporting period:

(A)The number of classified employees served pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (7) of

subdivision (b).

(B)If appropriate, whether the use of food pantry services by classified employees pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) impacted resources available to students.

(d)(1) The office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges shall develop and submit to the Governor and the Legislature every year beginning on or before May 1, 2023, a report based on the data and information reported by campuses pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (c) and information on the use of funds made available from the Budget Act of 2022 to implement this section.

(2)A legislative report that includes the information required to be reported in this subdivision and submitted in

any of the years required by paragraph (1) shall fulfill the reporting requirement pursuant to this subdivision to reduce duplicative efforts.

(3)The reports submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) for the 2026–27 and 2027–28 fiscal years shall also include the data and information reported by campuses pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (c) for the appropriate reporting period.