Press Release: Student Relief Fund

Within the coming months, more funding for emergency relief will become available. I'll be posting a compiled list of resources beginning of February when most become accessible to District 8 and City of Madison residents. See Press Release below. 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                      

DATE: January 15, 2020

CONTACT:

Max Prestigiacomo, district8@cityofmadison.com

Matthew Mitnick, chair@asm.wisc.edu

Lena Haasl, haasl.elena@countyofdane.com                               

COMMUNITY LEADERS PROPOSE COVID-19 STUDENT RELIEF FUND IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TENANT RESOURCE CENTER 

MADISON, WI -- The Associated Students of Madison (ASM) Student Council will be receiving a multi-million dollar proposal on January 26 to allocate unspent internal budget and Reserve Board funds towards a COVID-19 Student Relief Fund. This allocation will fund housing/rental assistance in partnership with the Tenant Resource Center (TRC).

Creating this proposal has been an ongoing effort with the help and leadership of ASM Chair Matthew Mitnick, Alder Max Prestigiacomo, and County Board Supervisor Elena Haasl. This work has been a joint effort through and through, with support from leaders across the community, including State Representative Hong and Madison Common Council Alders Heck, Bidar, Verveer, and Evers. 

Simultaneously, the UW-Madison Office of Financial Aid has been working on accepting incoming CARES Act funding from the federal government. Similar to Spring 2020, the University will use this funding to create emergency grants for enrolled students. Due to federal conditions, those who have not filled out FAFSA are not eligible for this University-sponsored program. This includes, but is not limited to, undocumented students, DACA recipients, and international students. Fortunately, these two funds will operate in conjunction. ASM funds will be used strictly on housing assistance and will be made available for populations not currently eligible under the CARES Act. 

ASM student leaders and co-sponsors of this fund, Chair Jorudd, Chair Owino, Representative Worms, Representative Rupnick, Representative Li, and Director Broehm, are encouraging all who share their support to sign this petition, speak at the upcoming Student Council meeting on January 26, and email the following Reserve Board members and Student Council representatives at: studentcouncilreps@asm.wisc.edu, ssfc@asm.wisc.edu, ssfc.vicechair@asm.wisc.edu, chair@asm.wisc.edu, vice.chair@asm.wisc.edu, grants@asm.wisc.edu.

Further, Community Leaders see it incumbent upon themselves to use these funds to address already increasing disparities on campus. While there can be no substitute for the inaction of our federal and state-level jurisdictions, there is a sincere hope that this will temporarily reduce harm for marginalized communities. That being said, priority status will be given to students who can prove recent unexpected losses of income, severe rent burden, participation in scholarship programs that serve underrepresented students, and those not covered under the CARES Act, including, but not limited to: undocumented students, DACA Recipients, and international students.

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