Meet the Family: Claudia

Happy Meet the Family Friday! The Upward Scholars family helped us pilot our first-ever student Safety Net Fund two years ago. This Fund distributed over $300,000 directly to help our students most impacted by the pandemic meet their basic needs like rent, food, medical, and childcare expenses so they could remain focused on their academic and professional goals.

One student whose life the Safety Net Fund significantly impacted was Claudia. Claudia came to the United States to raise her daughter and to give her the life she always dreamed of. While finances were always tight as a single mother, Claudia worked hard at a beauty salon to support herself and her now 10-year-old daughter. While it was a struggle to make ends meet, she always paid the bills and saved money wherever possible for their future.

However, with the closure of all nonessential businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, Claudia found herself without income and accumulating rental debt. With the money she had saved, she contemplated two choices: move to Texas with her brother and his family or go back to Mexico. Both of those options meant she would have to stop out of college and abandon her dream of becoming a fashion designer.

While she decided what to do, Claudia applied to every COVID-19 relief fund she could, stayed on waitlists for weeks, and waited for callbacks that never came. Just when she thought she would have no other choice but to move and abandon her studies, the Upward Scholars family came to her aid with the launch of the student Safety Net Fund. "All you need comes to you exactly when you need it," Claudia affirms. "The Safety Net Fund has been a great help financially, but it also alleviated so much of my mental anguish and stress." Knowing she had the support of the Upward Scholars family helped Claudia "stay focused on my studies, on achieving my goals, and it allowed me to dream about what else could be possible for me."