Fresno City College received millions to help students with basic needs. Where did the money go?
Since 2021, Fresno City College has received millions of dollars in state funds to provide basic resources — such as food, housing, transportation and health care — to its neediest students.
But, three years later, the college has yet to develop a plan for how to use the money, according to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. Nor has it spent most of the nearly $3.7 million it’s received from the state.
Fresno City College, which enrolls more than 35,000 students in one of the state’s poorest counties, is among the biggest beneficiaries of the state law, AB 132, aiming to tackle soaring poverty rates among college students.
The bill passed by the California Legislature has provided tens of millions in ongoing funding for community colleges and public universities to operate on-campus “basic needs centers” that serve as one-stop locations where students can “more easily access and gain awareness of basic needs services and resources.” Colleges also must designate at least one coordinator to operate these basic needs centers.
A general ledger of Fresno City College’s basic needs center program obtained by The Bee via public records request shows that more than $2.5 million of its $3.7 million in state funds remained unspent as of June 2024.
In response to questions from The Bee, Fresno City College did not specify the reason for the unspent funds and asked where the $2.5 million figure originated from.
Cris Monahan-Bremer, the college’s spokesperson, said in an email that the college has “budgeted to reconfigure and expand the Basic Needs Center, hire additional staff, and provide direct services to students.”
“At the Center, students are helped by dedicated staff who connect them to basic needs resources, both on and off campus,” Monahan-Bremer said. “Our campus resources include but are not limited to the Ram Food Pantry, Psychological and Health Services, housing assistance, transportation, childcare, and technology.”
A spokesperson for the state chancellor’s office told The Bee in February that Fresno City College had at least $2.1 million in unspent funds and that the state office was working with the college to develop a spending plan.
“Conversations around the spending plan are ongoing and at this time,” said spokesperson Melissa Villarin of the state chancellor’s office. “Fresno is not the only college we are working with regarding spending plans for basic needs funds.”
According to the state chancellor’s office, Fresno City College submitted a program plan in 2022 that reported to the state that it had established a basic needs center.
Debbie Raucher, former chief program officer at John Burton Advocates for Youth, which lobbied for the state funding, said the California’s basic needs funding program includes little state oversight and largely leaves it up to community colleges to decide how and when to use the money.
Roughly one-third of the state’s community colleges missed the required deadline to establish a basic needs center and hire a coordinator, according to a 2023 report by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.
Fresno City College hired its first basic needs director in September 2024, two years after the deadline, though the state chancellor’s office says the college reported it had appointed people to the role on a temporary basis.
“They’ve had that money for quite a few years, so it’s somewhat telling about how basic needs are prioritized by the institution,” said Raucher.
Fresno students in need
Fresno is the fourth most food insecure metropolitan area in the nation, with nearly 25% of city residents struggling to consistently put food on their tables, according to the college. Statistics show that the college’s food pantry has served an average of 740 daily visits this school year.
Located on the north end of campus, Ram Pantry occupies most of the first floor of the Student Center building. It operates like a supermarket, offering bread, fresh produce, canned foods, beverages, snacks, and packaged meat. Each student is allowed to choose up to eight items per day.
Ronald Colman, a student majoring in social work, and his wife, Sheila Stewart, also a student, were among those waiting in a long line to enter the Ram Pantry on the first morning of the spring semester. They left with bread, beans, bacon, meat, macaroni, diapers and some snacks. The couple has four children, including a newborn.
“It helps to take the edge off from a lot of things,” Colman said. “If this pantry wasn’t here, there would still be that little edge.”
The college launched the Ram Pantry in 2016 after some faculty staff noticed students coming to class hungry. The pantry served 3,214 visits in its first semester. Demand has skyrocketed since the pandemic. In recent years, the pantry distributes food more than 100,000 times per year.
According to college staff, 60% of the Ram Pantry’s food comes from donations. The rest is purchased using grants.
“We have tons of grants to support the Ram Pantry,” the college’s Interim President Kim Armstrong told The Bee during a recent tour of the pantry. “So we’ve not tapped into the basic needs dollars as far as purchasing food.”
Little oversight of basic needs funds
Many students attending the state’s community colleges aren’t able to stay in school because of financial pressures. So, in 2021, California began allocating basic needs funds to community colleges and public universities in an effort to allow needy students to focus on their academics, said Raucher, who led the John Burton Advocates for Youth, a sponsor of AB 132.
Raucher said the funding’s intent is to enable colleges to explore approaches to better meet students’ needs. Supporters of the funding envisioned colleges establishing centers where students could not only access food, but seek help from counselors on securing housing and health services.
”A more robust Basic Needs Center may have established a direct partnership with various providers where they can call and say, ‘Hey, I’m sending Joe over this afternoon, here’s what he needs, can you circle back with me and let me know that he made it?’ And then if Joe doesn’t make it, the Basic Needs Center can follow up with Joe and make him another appointment,” said Raucher. “Obviously that takes staff time, it’s not free to do that.”
Some colleges have established robust basic needs center operations.
Colleges of the Sequoias in Visalia has a basic needs center that includes a food pantry, Giant Marketplace, and four full-time staff members. The college has also set up multiple snack stations on its three campuses. If students encounter needs other than food, the on-site coordinating team can connect them to on-and-off-campus resources, including emergency housing, health services, childcare, transportation and technology, according to the college.
Several Fresno City College students told The Bee they were unsure of how to seek similar assistance on their campus.
The college’s website includes a “Basic Needs” page that directs students who are seeking assistance to complete a “support request” form. According to the webpage, a counselor is expected to contact the student within two business days. The page also links to outside informational resources, though cautions students to “confirm the accuracy of the information with the agencies directly.”
Armstrong said the college has used some of its basic needs funds for personnel costs, including the newly appointed basic needs director.
Kizzy Lopez, who assumed the role in September, said her priority is to help “centralize and streamline services for students,” such as moving staff to the same building to promote collaboration. The second floor of the Student Center building provides “site services” and basic needs, she said, and the college is expanding its housing services for students.
Monahan-Bremer said Lopez is “carrying out the college’s vision of an equity-minded Basic Needs Center to increase the retention of students pursuing their educational goals,” and is in the process of growing the team.
Oftentimes, the effectiveness of the programs comes down to the level of motivation and drive of the staff and the campus administration. The bureaucracy and hiring process may also slow down the spending, said Raucher.
“There is a point of view that the chancellor’s office is a facilitator, not an accountability mechanism,” she said. “They would say they don’t have the authority to hold individual institutions accountable, that’s not in statute.”
After publication of this story, a spokesperson for the state chancellor’s office said it has the authority to withhold funds from colleges that aren’t spending them in a timely manner or as intended by the state Legislature.
However, the state chancellor’s office did not include this in its response to questions from The Bee prior to publication asking about the penalties colleges could face for not spending basic needs funds. The bill text of AB 132 does not address whether the state chancellor’s office can withhold basic needs funds from colleges.
“You’re ultimately hurting students, you don’t want to punish the students for the administration’s lack of capacity. Pulling the money back is not necessarily the right answer,” she said.
Fresno City College allocated about $100,000 of its basic needs funds to its housing program, formerly known as Housing Opportunities Promote Education, or HOPE. From 2020 to its sudden closure in June 2024, HOPE provided rental subsidies, move-in deposits, and counseling services for 350 students who were experiencing homelessness. The goal was to help students become desirable tenants and move to permanent housing after up to 12 months of extensive support.
In January 2023, HOPE’s former director Natalie Chavez originally requested $200,000 from the basic needs budget to assist 70 students moving into the new apartment conversion, the San Joaquin Hotel, according to emails reviewed by The Bee.
Chavez’s request was turned down by vice president of student services Lataria Hall, who wrote in an email that the college couldn’t sustain the $200,000 request because it had “other basic needs that need to be addressed.”
The college terminated the HOPE program and laid off Chavez in June, citing “lack of funding.” The college sent out eviction notices to students and suspended all counseling services along with the program, including drug and alcohol therapy for students.
When The Bee reported the story over the summer, outgoing Fresno City College President Robert Pimentel said the college planned to combine the state’s housing grant, $620,976 for 2024-25 school year, with basic needs funding and provide a new housing program under the basic needs center program.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include additional information from the state chancellor’s office.
This story was originally published March 17, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
