By River Shepherd
“When I first started in 2010, it was just a department of one. It was just me.” Rosa Lopez, Career Pathways faculty coordinator, said in a recent interview with The Torch.
While it may have started with a solo staff member under a different department’s umbrella, over time and with dedicated work, Career Pathways has branched into its own hub of student support, housing a variety of programs, grants and resources benefitting Lane students.
They include vital programs such as STEP (a program for those on SNAP benefits), ICAP (for those with disabilities working with vocational rehab), PASS Lane (for English language learners), Opening Doors (for immigrants and refugees), and CARE (Community Advocacy and Resource Education open to all LCC students), to name a few.
Career Pathways, now located in Building 4, Room 210, includes a lobby complete with tables and chairs, a free lunch pantry, and a snack table complete with coffee pot and tea kettle.
There are computers and a printer available for students, and a benefits navigator/coach available for drop-in appointments during open hours.
“My experience with Career Pathways coaching has been incredibly positive,” said STEP Program student Danielle Nyholm.
Nyholm also currently works as a peer support specialist at Career Pathways and is studying to be a chemical dependency counselor.
“The STEP program has been instrumental in helping me move closer to my goals,” Nyholm said. “It provided resources and guidance that made navigating my education and career path much clearer.”
Nyholm described how STEP supported her by providing funding for necessary coursework, along with the coaching required to participate in STEP and other grant-funded programs through Career Pathways. Describing the STEP Program as a “Godsend,” Nyholm said, “My coach Mike cheered me on the entire time I’ve been at Lane. He inspires me to be better every day.”
Growing the department
The team at Career Pathways has been applying for, facilitating and implementing various Workforce Development grants, eventually including the Career Pathways Alliance consortia grant, since 2010.
Some of these grants are funded through state legislation. Once a grant is awarded, if the grant has a continual source of funding such as coming from the state, it typically must be re-applied for regularly to show that the college is using the funds appropriately and still needs the grant.
Even though grant writing has never been an official part of her job description, “we just see the need, and it has to be filled,” Lopez said.
Since grants are often only for a set amount of money or a set time frame, “every time we get a new grant, we grow and we change a little bit because we adhere to the grant,” Lopez said. “We have several, there’s the Career Pathways funding through Future Ready, and then there’s also several of our training grants like STEP and ICAP.”
Marcia Koenig, who serves on the lead team for Career Pathways and coordinates the immigrant and refugee workforce services for Opening Doors said, “Once we secured the STEP grant, that enabled us to do a lot more because of the year-by-year effect that the funding has.”
Koenig joined forces with Lopez in 2016, and after “quickly hiring admin Tricia
Singleton,” together they began to ramp up the help available through grant funding to Lane students.
Soon, programs within Career Pathways were added serving English language learners, immigrants, and refugees, including PASS Lane and Opening Doors.
Koenig explained that the Refugee and Immigrant Services Program of Catholic Community Services of Lane County can now accept up to 75 refugees and asylum seekers each year.
“As a county, we’re just at the beginning of refugee resettlement work,” Koenig said.
Not every immigrant fleeing their home country can claim the political designation of “refugee” or apply for asylum. “And that’s a group of immigrants that we largely serve in Opening Doors,” Koenig said. “There’s a whole population of individuals who you might think of as refugees since they have fled because of uncertainty or fear for their life, and left their countries, who aren’t afforded the political label of refugee,” Koenig said.
Many immigrants and refugees come to the US with existing education and/or work experience, and through the Opening Doors program, “we help determine how international educational or work experience may apply in the US, helping them to continue within their field.” Koenig said.
By the 2019-2020 academic year, Career Pathways had grown into its own space in Building 4, hiring more staff and adding coaches.
CARE became established after House Bill 2835 passed in 2021, which added benefits navigators to the mix.
‘You don’t know what’s behind the door, but you have a key…’
“I sometimes think of us as keys to unlock doors,” Koenig said. “You don’t know what’s behind the door, but you have a key, and that can open up resources and possibilities that you didn’t know existed.”
The purpose of CARE is to help students apply for public benefits and get their basic needs met, like housing and food, while attending school. This helps ensure students can stay in school, complete their chosen programs, and achieve economic mobility.
“CARE is open to all LCC students, and it is resource education and benefits navigation,” Lopez said.
Resource and benefits navigation covers a wide range of needs, like helping students find housing or get on waitlists for housing, find childcare, resources available for disabled students, and much more.
Where the Community Advocacy part comes into play is in the relationships built between partner organizations in the community and CARE at LCC.
“CARE serves as a bridge between the student and the resources we identify that a student needs or qualifies for,” Benefits Navigator Rebecca Ramos said. “We depend on community partnerships to serve our students,” … “so we form strong relationships with each of these agencies and non-profit organizations, and when our students come up against barriers that prevent them from accessing the care and resources they need, we work together to identify barriers, discuss possible solutions, and streamline communication so our community is better served,” Ramos said.
“As Benefits Navigators we are all about breaking down barriers a student may be facing so that they can continue their education.” Ramos said. “We will advocate with these agencies and organizations on behalf of any student who is having difficulty accessing or continuing to access care.”
Ramos said that not only do they work with state and local agencies such as ODHS, CARE also partners with many local non-profit organizations including ones such as 15th Night and Volunteers in Medicine. “We had someone come in recently who was almost out of their medication which was essential to their health,” Ramos said, “We connected with Volunteers in Medicine, scheduled them an intake appointment, and the student was able to receive a 6 month supply of medication free of charge.”
There is a statewide network of Benefits Navigators at every state community college and public universities, and they are each dedicated to helping students overcome barriers that would otherwise prevent them from starting or continuing their educational journey. Each staff member interviewed for this article said that for any student facing a crisis and/or basic needs insecurity that is causing them to struggle at LCC, it is important to speak with a benefits navigator who can help you explore all available options for your specific situation.
‘we’re collective around here…’
Lopez notes that while there is a distinction between the two, CARE drop-in appointments or referrals are often the doorway for students into a Career Pathways program. “We get referrals for CARE, and then CARE provides resource navigation while also screening for Career Pathways programs the student may be eligible for,” Lopez said.
Regarding who does coaching for Career Pathways and who does CARE shifts for resource navigation, “Because we’re collective around here, everyone learns everyone else’s job,” Lopez explained.
“So the coaches are benefits navigators through their caseload, and they can contribute at least one shift to CARE,” Lopez said. “So that you don’t have one person trying to be the benefits navigator for the entire college.”
Whether providing CARE services during her weekly drop-in shift or interacting with coaching students, “what motivates me to do it is because I see the difference that it makes for students who receive the support,” Koenig said. “And you can show that in numbers, but really it’s always the stories that make the difference, and those stories that we see are all based on economic mobility.”
“It’s super inspiring to see students setting a goal themselves,” Koenig said, “and walking alongside somebody when they’re doing that.”
Nyholm’s final thoughts speak to her journey at Lane, and to the strength and persistence of so many past and present Titans who have come to college seeking to make major changes in their lives.
“Change doesn’t happen overnight, but every effort you make brings you closer to the life you deserve. Stay determined, and never underestimate the power of your resilience. You’ve got this!”
If you are a student experiencing challenges with access to food, paying rent or utility bills, healthcare/medical bills, childcare, transportation, or other basic needs emergencies, please visit the CARE team in the Career Pathways department. Students can meet with a coach to learn about resources related to needs during Drop-In hours Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM and Fridays from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the Main Campus in Building 4, Room 210, no appointment necessary, or call (541) 463-4701 if you prefer to schedule an appointment.
