In times of crisis, students turn to their schools for help.
That’s why case workers for Communities In Schools, a national nonprofit that coordinates wraparound services in more than 3,000 schools across the country, have seen a surge in requests for help since funding for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs, or SNAP, lapsed at the beginning of the month.
Requests for bags of groceries and supplies to help families through financial strain have challenged the organization’s local affiliates, which have coordinated with food banks and other community organizations to try to meet the need.
This week, Communities In Schools announced an emergency assistance fund to provide $5,000 in one-time funding to local affiliates that apply for the aid. Within six days, the organization had 33 requests, eating up most of the $200,000 it has raised so far.
Fundraising efforts continue, said Joaquín Tamayo, the organization’s acting vice president of policy, marketing, and communications.
Education Week spoke to Tamayo about the emergency fund and what it’s like for student support staff to see a surge in students’ needs amid a government shutdown. (The shutdown appears to be moving toward resolution in Congress, but residual affects of reduced or delayed SNAP benefit payments could linger.)
He spoke as schools face continued uncertainty about federal funding. President Donald Trump’s budget proposal for the 2026 fiscal year calls for cuts to programs schools rely on to provide wraparound services: Full Service Community Schools grants and Title IV, which funds a host of student support programs. The administration has also moved unilaterally to cut funding for some other education programs.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Where did the idea for the emergency fund come from?
We felt very strongly that we couldn’t wait to do whatever we could to support our communities on the ground because they have the relationships to understand what the needs are and what we could effectively do as quickly as possible, without any kind of bureaucracy getting in the way of getting our kids’ and our families’ needs met.
How might the fund be used? And what sorts of requests have you had so far?
The grants are $5,000 each, and we have 33 affiliates that have applied and have already received their money so far, so that’s $165,000.
We are really targeting basic needs. They need money to refill food pantries. They need money to provide families with VISA gift cards so they can buy gas. They need money for coats. The students that we may serve may be homeless or in foster care. Those are the folks that we’re really trying to target with this money.
We also prioritize our affiliates in rural areas where the Communities In Schools site coordinator really is the sole point of contact to any other system of support outside of the school.
I think some people might say $200,000 is not a lot of money given the level of need. How do you plan to replenish the fund?
I think what the shutdown has revealed is that, in this country, we do not have a national student support infrastructure. We have a patchwork of different access points. Given our infrastructure that we’ve built all across the country—it’s not a lot of money, but we’re able to deploy it really, really fast. What we do best is build those relationships and keep families connected and showing up every day, even when federal programs fail.
Our affiliates didn’t budget for this emergency overwhelm of needs. Well over 95% of our students are in Title I schools and many are receiving [nutrition assistance] and other federal resources. We felt very strongly that we needed to step up. Now we have data from 33 communities that we can leverage to show legislators and decisionmakers where those soft spots are.
We continue to fundraise. We want to grow that pot as much as we possibly can. We’re very cognizant that, even if the shutdown ends tomorrow, the damage has been done.
Schools are often one of the first places people turn to in times of crisis. What does that tell us?
The most important thing that it tells us is that Americans trust their schools. Americans trust the people who are charged with protecting, with educating, with serving their children. When you build that trust, you enable people to ask for help.
We need families to be able to ask for help. We don’t have time for [situations in which] children don’t go to school because they don’t have what they need to learn because they aren’t having their basic needs met.
Are you concerned about how potential cuts to federal funding will affect the schools you work with?
We are monitoring all of these developments. For far too long, our policymakers have treated student supports as a “nice to have.” But this is essential infrastructure that makes other investments in schools and school communities work that much better.
