Major/Minor: Human Development and Family Sciences with a pre-nursing focus.
Career Aspirations: My career goal is to become a registered nurse. I would like to one day work with either pediatrics, neonatal, or adults in the ICU.
Why did you want to work at the HSRC? I wanted to work at the HSRC because I want to help students that were going through the same thing I am going through. No one should feel like they have to skip a meal, not knowing where they are going to sleep, or whether they should continue their education because of the expenses. Working here allows me to reach out to more people about the resources that the HSRC has.
What will we be working on this year? I will be working on creating, as well as collaborating events with different clubs and organizations on campus. My goal to have meaningful events that will educate and promote what we do here at the HSRC.
What do you like to do in your free time? In my free time, I like to just relax with a face mask and watch puppy videos on YouTube!
What’s your favorite yummy and cheap meal to make? My go-to cheap meal is spring rolls with peanut sauce. It’s a quick, easily, AND healthy.
Do you have tips for students on how to save money? One thing that I would recommend is to not impulse buy. Really think through about whether or not you really need it or if that money could go towards something else. Another tip is to start a change jar. You’d be surprise about how fast it adds up!
What is your favorite thing to do in Corvallis? I really enjoy going to Benny’s Donut and trying trying their monthly flavors!
Students facing homelessness and/or housing insecurity is not something well known. We at the HSRC are able to offer temporary housing on campus, but this is not a permanent fix. The purpose of this blog post is to educate about emergency housing resources in Corvallis.
Please call/email/visit us to chat more about any of these:
This program is a Transitional Living Program that is available to anyone 18 years of age until their 21st birthday. The locations are confidential. Participants are offered up to 18 months of services. This includes a bed, case management, skill building, financial support, mental health services, and community building. Upon entering a person is obligated to be pursuing either: Employment or Education. While living there, a person is asked to pay a flat rate or percentage of their monthly income as a form of “rent”. This “rent” gets stored in a savings account and when a person exits the program, they are given the amount back to help with costs of moving into a new place.
The program currently offers 8 beds (with plans for more in the very near future). When those beds are already occupied a person applying can opt to be placed on a waitlist. A requirement of this waitlist is to engage with an Outreach Case Manager and attend a weekly skills workshop. This is to potentially find an alternative solution to their situation, thus opening up a spot for someone else.
The application for this program can be found through the link provided. Applications can be submitted to the Corvallis House at 555 NW Jackson Avenue.
This is the primary adult shelter in Benton County. It is located at 865 NW Reiman Avenue. They primarily provide services to families, women and children, and veterans. This includes housing, case management, guidance seeking employment, etc..
They have 70 beds available and are often at full occupancy, but a bed can become available at any minute. They do require sobriety.
Housing First is a national model for eliminating homelessness within a respective community. Corvallis offers two locations within the community that offer long term housing for those experiencing or at risk of chronic homelessness. The goal is to provide stability and structure for folks exiting the streets with the assistance of case management and accountability from a professional staff.
Willamette Neighborhood Housing Services is a private, nonprofit community development corporation committed to improving lives and strengthening communities through quality affordable housing, homeownership, economic opportunity, and community partnerships. They provide educational and financial services to secure your future.They are able to make referrals when necessary and help guide you through the process of finding stable housing.
Community Services Consortium offers a variety of programs. In regards to housing they offer rental assistance and utilities assistance programs to help alleviate costs of living.
It is important to keep in mind that just because you are not in need of these resources, someone you know might be. So pay attention to those around you and refer anyone you hear is struggling with this issue, so we can begin to get them the help they need.
On January 24, 2019 as part of OSU’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, students, faculty, staff and community members came together at the HSRC for Economic Justice: Carrying Forward Dr. Kings Poor People’s Campaign. In addition to providing access to basic needs resources, the HSRC also serves as a community space for dialogue around social justice issues such as class(ism), poverty, and food insecurity.
Participants of Economic Justice spent the afternoon sharing a meal while discussing the lasting relevance of the Poor People’s Campaign and its guiding values. The Poor People’s Campaign was a movement organized in 1968 by Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The campaign brought together multiracial poor and working class people to advocate for the “abolition of poverty” through the creation of an Economic Bill of Rights. The proposed Economic Bill of Rights included: a meaningful job and living wage for every employable citizen, a secure and adequate income for all who cannot find jobs or for whom employment is inappropriate, access to land and capital to secure full participation in the economic life of America, and for people to play a significant role in determining how government programs are designed and carried out. Source: https://www.crmvet.org/docs/68ebr.htm
Dr. King and campaign organizers called for a mass mobilization of an “army of the poor” to Washington D.C. to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience and petition the government to take action towards eradicating poverty. Tragically, Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, a day after he marched for economic justice with striking sanitation workers in Memphis. While Dr. King’s vision of “a radical redistribution of economic power” was not realized, 50 years after his assassination, the “evils of racism, poverty and militarism” remain as relevant today as they were then. Our group discussed the vision laid out in Dr. King’s Economic Bill of Rights, and updated it to reflect the needs of today.
Economic Bill of Rights for 2019
Free/Universal Education
No borders/requirement of citizenship to access rights
Universal healthcare
Access to mental health care and time to self-care
Give program power to people for whom the government is working for
Those most affected should have the right to determine how assistance programs are designed and administered
Votes for prisoners
Redistribution instead of “access”
Extra-low income housing/access to good housing
Meaningful jobs should be beneficial for humans and the ecosystem
Universal Basic Income
Political processes
Who determines what is “meaningful” and “adequate”?
Job should be expanded to calling/vocation/passion
Access to land as a means of livelihood=unplugging from capitalism
Specific to OSU
Increased funding for higher education from the state so students don’t feel the blunt of tuition
Lower tuition and book costs
Having accessible and environmentally friendly course materials
Universal meal plans
Free housing
Cap top administrators salary to a percentage of average employee salary
Students have a real seat at administration table
Freedom to teach/to express speech that critiques government and OSU
Livable wage for all faculty (specifically adjunct faculty)
Instructors treated like real employees-not second class
Unionization and organization beyond labor lines
More community gardens
In the poor people’s campaign, King advocated for nonviolent direct action that pushed America toward a social revival of morals grounded in love. He believed that systemic injustice and exploitation dehumanized people, both the oppressed and the oppressors, preventing them from truly loving each other. He understood that by expressing love through acts of nonviolent resistance to specific structural injustices–we are ultimately practicing love by eradicating systems that prevent people from seeing each other as fully human.
In order to realize our hopes and dreams for a more just future and society, our group discussed and shared actions we can take today to carry forward Dr. King’s values of racial and economic justice.
Actions for Carrying Forward the Poor People’s Campaign
Organize poor people as an equal partner in our community
Welcome folx into the womxn & gender space by putting on events about self-care and love
Engage more with others by talking, smiling, hugging, etc.
Keep an eye out for individual suffering & work to support the victim more
Vote in local elections
Choose a committee on campus to bring the voice of economic justice to the conversations
Focus research on equity concerns
Show up and lobby
Be brave in teaching–ask tough questions, paint the big picture, challenge students to reflect on how they are now part of the problem and can be part of the solutions–despite precarity of employment
Approach others with a mindset of charity (assume the best of others)
Go outside more–more face to face connections
#TrySocialism
Listen to others with non-judgement and an open mind
Share my wealth
Volunteer to help those in need
Be the change we want to see!
The issues of racism, poverty, economic inequality, and militarism are as much of an issue in 2019, as they were in 1968. An Economic Bill of Rights rooted in the values of Dr. King and the Poor People’s Campaign in needed now more than ever. Despite the injustice that persists today, people left feeling a sense of hope in what we can accomplish together as a collective.
Name: Vicky Nguyen
