The Brief

Now that there are no more World Cup games in L.A., the hottest ticket is about to be the Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts, which is opening this fall. The spaceship-like structure is in Expo Park (you can’t miss it), and they just announced that anyone who shares their South L.A. zip code will get in for free with a special pass. May the force be with you when the ticketing website opens.

Practice singing the La Marseillaise for when you cheer on Les Bleus in the semifinal World Cup game — on Bastille Day, no less — but for more music picks, Licorice Pizza suggests Grammy darling Olivia Dean’s two shows at the Crypto.com Arena Tuesday and Wednesday, and Ben Lapidus (aka the guy on America’s Got Talent who sang about Parmesan cheese) is at the Moroccan Lounge on Tuesday.

Bella Poarch will be at the Grammy Museum on Wednesday, and Slum Village is at the Blue Note on Wednesday and Thursday. Also on Thursday, Latin alternative sensations Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso take over the Greek, White Denim is at Sid The Cat and Eartheater plays the first of her two nights at Hollywood Forever.

Elsewhere on LAist, you can learn about the proposal to ban drive-thrus in Culver City (how very un-Californian of them!), read Libby Rainey’s ode to the USMNT and make your plans to catch the World Cup semifinal and final matches.

Events

New Moon Tea Meditation and Breathwork Journey

Tuesday, July 14, 6 p.m. 
The Black Lofts 
1901 Blake Ave., Frogtown 
COST: $20; MORE INFO

Welcome the new moon with a tea meditation and breathwork class with Frogtown Arts and Intrabreath. Isn’t it cool that each month we get a chance to start over? Breathe in the summer air and ignite your inner energy.

All Space Considered

Thursday, July 16, 7 p.m.
Griffith Observatory 
2800 E. Observatory Road, Los Feliz 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

The Griffith Observatory overlooks downtown Los Angeles at sunset on June 8, 2007, at Griffith Park in Los Angeles.

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Stephen Dunn

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If you’re more of a traditional moon kind of person, join the Griffith Observatory for its monthly program, All Space Considered. It’s free to attend in person and also broadcasts live from the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater. Check out previous All Space Considered programs on their YouTube playlist.

Dynaton: Convocation of Radiant Beings

Through Saturday, August 1 
Château Shatto
540 N. Western Ave., Melrose Hill
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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ALICE RAHON/WOLFGANG PAALEN

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Chateau Shatto

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I’m going to take my own advice and check out this highly recommended exhibit of the Dynaton — don’t call it a movement — movement (sorry) at the Château Shatto gallery on Western Ave., curated by Laura Whitcomb. A slice of California art history, Dynaton was first articulated in 1951, and its members staged a “decisive refusal of labels” like its predecessor, Dadaism. Dynaton looked at California “as a laboratory where Indigenous cosmologies, quantum physics, Jungian psychology, and extraterrestrial imaginaries could cohabit the same pictorial field.” I’m in. And also definitely in for lunch at Kuya Lord after.

France in LA x Grand Performances Bastille Day celebration 

Tuesday, July 14, 5 p.m.
California Plaza
250 S. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A.
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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This is either going to be the biggest celebration of Bastille Day in L.A. ever, as it coincides with France playing in the World Cup semifinal, or you’ll see a whole bunch of French folks and francophiles drowning their sorrows in vin rouge. Either way, there’ll be plenty of music, petit bonbons and joie de vivre. Vive la France!

Yoshiki 

Thursday and Friday, July 16 and 17
Disney Hall 
111 S. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. 
COST: FROM $56; MORE INFO

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Magnolia Pictures

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42West

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Yoshiki is by many accounts Japan's biggest rock star — he’s played with everyone from Bowie to Bono. A TIME100 honoree, he brings his inspiring life story through music, multimedia, lighting and fashion to Disney Hall for two nights.

The Odyssey in 70mm 

Opens Thursday, July 16
The Alex Theatre (and other local theaters)
316 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale 
COST: $27; MORE INFO

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Universal Pictures

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The historic Alex Theatre is a great place to check out the new Christopher Nolan epic, The Odyssey (OK, fine, it’s Homer’s epic). The Alex is showing it in 70mm, but of course it’s opening wide and available in various locations beginning on Thursday. Starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Lupita Nyong'o and Anne Hathaway, the Greek tale of survival and homecoming is one of the most anticipated films of the summer.

Camélia Bastille Day specials

Monday, July 13 through Wednesday, July 15
Camélia 
1850 Industrial St.
Arts District
COST: VARIES; MORE INFO

... and ...

Yoonycat's Burger Pop-Up 

Monday July 13, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
OTOTO
1360 Allison Ave., Elysian Park 

Camélia is featuring Bastille Day specials this week, including plateau de fruits de mer, steak frites au poivre and by-the-glass bubbly (wine and sake).

Plus, its sister restaurant OTOTO in Elysian Park is hosting a one-night-only Yoonycat's Burger Pop-Up from 5 to 8 p.m. on Monday. The menu includes a burger (soy-braised short rib sugo, Gruyère, horseradish aioli), a corn fritter with charred scallion crème fraîche and pickled carrots/jalapeño/onion, and financier à la mode for dessert, with a sake pairing option. Walk-ins only — early arrival encouraged.

L.A. city leaders have pushed back the timeline to start prepping a plan to strip hundreds of millions of tax dollars from the region’s troubled homeless services agency and move it under different control.

For years, some members of the City Council’s homelessness committee have urged their colleagues to consider an exit, after major data accuracy issues and official reviews and audits that found serious oversight failures.

About three months ago, a City Council committee recommended a July 1 deadline to get an analysis on how to move parts of the money away from the L.A. Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA.

That work has yet to begin, according to city records and officials. The City Council has not approved starting the analysis nor funding for consultants to prepare it.

The backstory

Back in April, the City Council’s homelessness committee recommended the full council hire a consultant to deliver an analysis by July 1 on which city programs make sense to start transitioning the city away from the embattled L.A. Homeless Services Authority. The idea was to explore moving homelessness spending oversight away from LAHSA to the county, the city or another entity.

The recommendation came about a year after the L.A. County Board of Supervisors decided to pull county funds from LAHSA in the wake of back-to-back scathing audits in 2024 and March 2025, finding LAHSA failed to properly oversee the dollars it was entrusted with. The board's decision to move the funds to a new homeless services department took effect this month.

The city’s analysis is now expected to take much longer. The full City Council has not yet voted on whether to commission the analysis nor budgeted the expected $450,000 to hire a consultant for it.

And the recommended deadline for the analysis was pushed back nearly a year and a half to December 2027 by the most recent council committee to take up the item.

Timeline might change

A spokesperson for Katy Yaroslavsky, the councilmember who chairs the budget committee and suggested the later timeframe, said that deadline is likely to move up to a sooner date.

The idea was to update the deadline after “we had an idea of the process for hiring a consultant,” said the spokesperson, Leo Daube.

The timeline still needs to come to the full council for approval and is likely to be changed, he said.

Councilmember Nithya Raman, who chairs the homelessness committee and is running for mayor against Karen Bass, told LAist she will try to get the process fast-tracked.

“We will be working to push up the timeline,” Raman told LAist in a statement. “Preparing for the next step is urgent given the circumstances.”

Raman and other City Council members voted in May for a city budget that includes $358 million to LAHSA over the next 12 months, a 5% increase over the prior fiscal year’s $339 million. That budget, which 12 of the 15 councilmembers approved, doesn’t require an analysis of shifting dollars that Raman and her committee had recommended.

Raman defended her budget vote.

"As the city does not yet have an alternative system set up to directly manage its own contracts, we must continue to fund our current work,” Raman said in a written statement. “We have started the process to build that system through [a contract] and are continuing to build our capacity to manage in-house."

The office of Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson — which worked with Yaroslavsky on the revised recommendations that included the delayed timeline — did not respond to phone messages for comment.

A LAHSA Commission meeting April 25, 2025.

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LAHSA is governed by a 10-member commission that is appointed by city and county elected officials who can remove and replace commissioners. Half of the commissioners are appointed by Bass, and half are appointed by each of the five county supervisors. Bass has served on the commission since she appointed herself to it in fall 2023 and is the only elected official on the commission.

What the mayor says

As the council’s homelessness committee considered its recommendation this spring, Bass cautioned against shifting funds too quickly from LAHSA without a plan and capacity, issuing a statement in March warning that it would harm unhoused people.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass speaks at a press conference before LAHSA's annual homeless count Feb. 18, 2025, in Los Angeles.

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“What we need is a serious, thoughtful transition plan — the last thing we need is a new department and more bureaucracy,” she said at the time.

The following month, she joined councilmembers Ysabel Jurado and Tim McOsker in a letter indicating support for moving away from LAHSA in the long term, while increasing city control of LAHSA in the short term.

“In the long term, the city must re-envision new systems to handle the responsibilities of homelessness services. We need to explore internalizing LAHSA’s functions,” the letter states. “Without taking steps to both clarify and assert the role of the city within what is left of LAHSA, we risk continuing to defer critical decisions and accountability.”

Her public tone further shifted last month, when her office reacted to the Trump Administration suspending all federal funding to LAHSA.

“Mayor Bass, too, has grave concerns about LAHSA and zero tolerance for mismanagement and negligence, which is why she previously directed the city to evaluate how to move away from the agency,” said the June 11 statement.

Kolby Lee, Bass’ communications director, confirmed Bass directed city departments to “develop options to transition away from LAHSA.”

Lee has not responded to a request from LAist asking when Bass gave that direction and whether the options have been presented to her.

Joel Ruano was raised by his grandparents in Lamont, a community made up of about 14,000 people, a few miles from Bakersfield.

Growing up, college was not in Ruano’s plans. And though he loved watching movies, he never envisioned a career in filmmaking.

After earning his diploma, Ruano worked at carrot factories. Then, he operated heavy machinery at a distribution center before landing a job at an electric vehicle company. For years, he believed his future lay at the industrial warehouses that surround his old neighborhood.

But when the company went bankrupt in 2023, Ruano decided he wanted a change. Encouraged by his loved ones, he enrolled in Glendale Community College’s film, television and media arts department, which now offers coursework in documentary filmmaking and the chance to study abroad.

For students like Ruano, these opportunities have been transformative.

Los Angeles is home to renowned film schools like USC, UCLA and the American Film Institute. But their cost of attendance can be an obstacle for some students. Community colleges offer affordable alternatives.

“This is my career path now,” Ruano told LAist. “I just love holding the camera and seeing through the monitor and getting the first taste of what the audience is going to see. And I get to control that vision.”

Making up for lost time  

At Glendale, department chair Geri Ulrey makes it a point to keep in touch with students after they graduate. She also hosts alumni mixers and pings former students when she has something to share that may be of interest.

That’s how Ben Do found his way back to Glendale. He earned his associate’s degree at the height of the COVID pandemic, so most of it was done on Zoom. As a result, Do graduated with no in-person film experience, something he always lamented.

Ulrey messaged him years later, inviting him to consider the school’s new documentary film production courses.

Soon, Do became part of Planet Story Lab, a course that provides mentorship from professionals and the chance to do fieldwork.

Do also appreciates the chance to hear directly from people in the field, who are often guest speakers. This includes documentary director Laura Nix.

“Just hearing how she approaches talking to people about the process of what a documentary is” has been helpful, Do said. “People think it's a very educational thing and very straightforward, but there's a lot more creative and emotional liberties that come with it as well.”

Glendale Community College students spend two weeks in Baja California. Their filmmaking work involves learning from and interviewing locals.

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Finding the 'freedom to be unsure'   

Redd Davis came of age in Burbank, with the Warner Bros. Studios looming in the background. Celebrities were a common sight. Still, even though Davis knew a career in film was possible, they were scared to take the leap. Their uncle is a screenwriter, and Davis knew how hard it was for him to break into the field.

“My grandma came here from Mexico when she was 13,” they said. “She had to build a life for herself and be able to support my mom.”

The way Davis saw it, they’d been given a “really rare opportunity to make a stable life.”

“And I was really nervous to mess with that,” they said.

Davis was determined to earn a living, but they were not sure how. After high school, they enrolled at Glendale and, as a treat, signed up for a course called “Beyond Hollywood: Race, Gender and Sex in Movies,” taught by Ulrey. Davis figured there was no harm in exploring film just a little, just for fun.

But the course drew them in.

“It felt almost like an English literature class,” they recalled. “It was a lot of conversation and writing and just dissecting ideas. I became very interested in anything that [Ulrey] was teaching, so I just kept taking classes with her."

Still, when Ulrey mentioned documentary filmmaking, Davis wasn’t very interested.

“I thought that I just wanted to do narrative work,” they said.

But David trusted Ulrey. So when she brought up the opportunity to learn documentary production in Mexico — including underwater filming techniques — Davis thought it best not to forgo the opportunity.

And so, last summer, Davis became part of a camera crew at Bahía de los Ángeles, a coastal region in Baja California, with a population of almost 800.

After prepping on campus for two weeks, a small group of Glendale students set out to the field station in Mexico, accompanied by Ulrey and cinematographer Jerry Henry. Students majoring in biology, geology and oceanology also joined them.

In Bahía de los Ángeles, students use specialized cameras for underwater filmmaking.

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As soon as Davis stepped off the bus, the heat in Bahía de los Ángeles was overwhelming.

“We didn't sleep in rooms,” they said. “We pulled out cots and would lay down at the beach. We would literally sleep under the stars.”

Come morning, the film students would gather their gear, confer with Ulrey or Henry, plan out their day, then spend the bulk of the day filming.

On occasion, the students got to go on boat rides, hiking or swimming in the sea.

Davis had read about Mexico in their mom’s journals, but this was their first time in the country. “It was special,” they told LAist, a chance to create connections and memories of their own.

The trip also enabled Davis to cultivate a professional relationship with Henry, who’s provided opportunities for them to work on set as a production assistant. These experiences have helped Davis see that filmmaking involves a wide array of work, including — but not limited to — being an actor, writer or director. As an example, Davis noted that people who work in greenery departments devote themselves to providing plants for film sets.

Davis still doesn't know what they want to do once they graduate, but they are navigating the uncertainty with joy and confidence. “I feel more freedom to be unsure,” they said.

The trip to Baja, Davis added, “really shattered any doubt or hesitance I had left” about a future in filmmaking.

In the past, a voice inside would always ask: “How are you going to be able to afford a car, and then an apartment? Your groceries and your utilities?”

After Baja, Davis determined to figure it out. "I'm completely in love with this," they said.

Recovering a lost passion  

For 36-year-old David Shuck, the documentary filmmaking courses have enabled him to recoup and hone something he loves.

As an undergrad at Bowdoin College in Maine, he studied abroad at the Czech National Film Academy; but, at the time, “there was no practical film production offered at my college,” Shuck said. “I was pretty much all self-taught.”

Time passed. And life took Shuck in different directions. Still, the love of film remained.

To refresh his skills, learn new techniques and meet like-minded people, Shuck also enrolled at Glendale.

For one recent project, he created a documentary about his wife, who’s an immigration attorney.

“I wanted to be able to communicate the Kafka-esque nightmare of bureaucracy ... that [undocumented] people have to navigate once they've been abducted,” Shuck said.

The shooting took Shuck about about six weeks. During this time, he followed his wife to and from the Adelanto Immigrant Detention Center in the Mojave Desert, repeatedly. Shuck filmed her working later hours and captured her frustration. After one particularly hard day, he documented her treating herself to an ice cream sandwich and a few episodes of Malcolm in the Middle.

In his documentary class, Shuck learned that it's "more compelling to see what people are doing in the moment rather than rehashing what’s been done already.” Ultimately, he turned 13 hours of footage into a 15-minute video.

“It would be really nice to be able to earn a living doing this. But I am just excited at the prospect of being able to make the next project and being able to make it sustainably through the community college system,” he said.

He’s told Ulrey and his other professors: "I'm going to kick around until you kick me out of here."

Last summer, a group of students made a film about a local woman named Alejandrina Díaz Oleta, a restaurant owner and chef.

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Nurturing the next generation of filmmakers  

Currently, Ruano is part of a team of students working on a documentary about future firefighters in the L.A. area.

This work has enabled him to get hands-on training in every part of filmmaking, including pre-production, shooting and post-production, he said.

At Glendale, Ruano has learned that “being organized is very, very crucial.” He’s also learned that “having great communication” is key to creating something with a group of people.

Most importantly, he’s learned he’s capable of academic success.

“Coming back to school was very stressful for me,” he said, remembering the challenges he faced in high school. “This was sort of my moment to redeem myself.”

In June, Ruano became a first-generation college graduate. Come fall, he will continue to pursue filmmaking at Cal State Northridge — one of the many universities where he was admitted.

In the short term, Ruano is set on earning his bachelor’s degree and then maybe going into a master's program.

In the long term, he wants to find a way to bring art and filmmaking to Lamont, where he grew up.

“I'm only one of thousands of people who have really great stories to tell,” he said.

With a week left in the World Cup, fans may have noticed ads with soccer stars telling them they could win tickets to the final using their sports knowledge.

Those ads are for Kalshi, a prediction market that accounts for 90% of the U.S. market share. Right now, $1.1 billion worth of contracts are trading on who will win the World Cup. And it’s not just sports — Kalshi contracts can get as fine-grained as the exact margin of victory between Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman in the L.A. mayoral primary.

Jack Such, a spokesperson for the company, told LAist that the platform’s trading volume has skyrocketed over the past three months.

“It's just been going up and up and up,” he said.

Sports betting is illegal in California, but prediction markets like Kalshi aren’t. That’s because users buy and sell contracts among themselves, instead of placing bets against a house. The distinction allows platforms to operate under federal rules for financial exchanges, rather than state gambling laws.

Although other states have taken prediction markets to court, saying they should be held to state regulation, California hasn’t initiated legal action of its own.

Some L.A. gambling addiction clinicians say that they’re already seeing the consequences of what they call unregulated betting, especially among young people.

An uptick in patients dealing with gambling addiction

Dan Field, a licensed social worker and the clinical director of Westside Gambling Treatment in L.A., said he’s seeing “a lot more young sports bettors who are just going straight to Kalshi … and getting sucked in very easily.”

One of Field’s patients moved to California hoping the state’s sports betting laws would help him manage his recovery from gambling addiction.

“For almost two years, he was largely gambling free, and when Kalshi hit, he picked up right where he left off,” Field told LAist.

Dr. Timothy Fong, an addiction psychiatrist and co-director of UCLA’s Gambling Studies program, said that as prediction markets have taken off, his program has “definitely seen an increase in the number of folks coming into treatment.”

He told LAist that for many now seeking help, online prediction markets were their first experience with gambling behavior. They’d never set foot in a brick-and-mortar casino, and began using prediction markets because of their interest in sports and investing, not betting.

Why some are drawn to prediction markets

Yisroel Solomon, 32, said he began sports betting when he was 22 when he was living in New York. After he relocated to California, he told LAist that he started using prediction markets because they were the primary legal option.

But Solomon said prediction markets have the capacity to suck users in far beyond what traditional sports books, or even other apps, can do.

Because prices update almost instantaneously, in response to real-time information, "that gives an extra sense of dopamine, extra fear of missing out, extra sense of chasing,” he told LAist.

Field, the clinical director, noted that the constant price checking that comes with using prediction markets is “incredibly attention-grabbing and addictive.”

Jacob Hofflich, a San Diego resident and sophomore at the University of Michigan, began using Kalshi when he turned 18. He said the platform's visual design makes it hard to look away. Flashing green and red lines, and a running log of which bets are being placed, make the app appear “like the stock market,” he told LAist.

“It’s enticing you to get in on the action,” he explained.

“There’s always new opportunities to bet. [With] sportsbooks, you’re confined to just sports… But with futures markets, the market’s open 24/7,” Solomon said.

Both Solomon and Hofflich say they have stopped gambling, with Hofflich adding that he has been working with Field.

What does this have to do with young people?

Prediction markets are available to users as young as 18 because the platforms don’t have to follow the minimum gambling age set by the state.

Kalshi is growing access to the 18- to 20-year-old demographic through aggressive advertising, according to some experts.

“I've seen some of the ads, and there are scenarios where people are partying with friends in a bar in a college environment and betting,” Field said. He explained that this kind of advertising can help normalize using prediction markets and make the platforms seem less dangerous than they are to young people.

Such, the Kalshi spokesperson, said the company isn’t responsible for initiating young people into gambling.

“The idea that Kalshi is somehow the entity that is changing the availability from 21 to 18 is not true,” he said.

Such did not respond to a request for comment regarding the company’s advertising practices. 

Deborah Buhaj, a gambling addiction therapist based in L.A., said that recently, she's had parents reaching out to her who “suddenly don’t recognize their 22-year-old” after they started using Kalshi.

Some users are starting even younger.

Fong, the co-director of UCLA’s Gambling Studies, told LAist that he has patients under 18, who get around prediction markets ID checks by using their parents’ credentials. He said he’s working with a 14-year-old whose mother created a Kalshi account for him thinking it was a video game.

Fong emphasized that although the platforms might appear harmless, allowing minors to use them is “no different than giving them access to where the gun is or where prescription drugs are or where the cannabis is.”

Kalshi did not immediately respond to requests for comment on additional features to prevent minors from using the platform.

A fanbase on college campuses

According to a recent UCLA Gambling Studies Program survey on gambling culture in Greek Life organizations at the university, 13% of respondents said they’d placed a bet on a prediction market site.

Over 90% of all respondents said they’d needed help with living expenses as a result of their gambling losses.

Fong told LAist that one of his patients rushed a fraternity his freshman year of college where members quickly taught him to use prediction markets. For the first few months, he made money, but things took a dramatic turn.

“A year and a half later … he ended up spending over $150,000 of his own college money,” Fong said.

Louie Latosquin, a senior at UCLA and president of the university's Interfraternity Council, said he notices UCLA’s gambling culture is mostly focused on card games like poker, baccarat and blackjack. He explained that prediction markets are more common in groups where “people already gamble pretty intensely.” Latosquin also helped conduct the Greek Life survey.

Outreach is changing 

L.A. clinicians say they’ve adjusted their outreach to deal with the popularity of prediction markets.

Stop Betting Sports, an organization that offers free resources and webinars for gambling addiction, has created material geared towards high school students.

Fong also encouraged anyone curious about gambling and prediction markets to speak with a licensed professional before they start.

“It is certainly worth meeting with a professional therapist to explore and make sure things don't get out of hand,” he said.

Fong also does outreach work at fraternities at UCLA. Recently, they’ve had special sessions about digital platforms.

Latosquin said they encourage students to think about more “economically reinforcing” places they can spend their money, like education, self-improvement and professional development.

Ten years ago, the California State University system launched a program to address food insecurity and provide housing support after research found around 1 in 4 students was going hungry.

Since its inception, through the Basic Needs Initiative, food pantries have served more than 77,000 students annually and referred over 5,000 students for housing resources. However, gaps have widened and student needs have expanded.

In the next 10 years, Dilcie Perez, vice chancellor for strategic enrollment management and student success at California State University, said the focus of the Basic Needs Initiative is “getting beyond basic.”

“ What that says to me is holistic support to students where we are sharing the responsibility of understanding what might be a barrier or hindrance to students and proactively putting those in place,” she said.

10 years of the Basic Needs Initiative

 Rashida Crutchfield, a professor and executive director at the Center for Equitable Higher Education at Cal State Long Beach, led the research in 2016. The study found that 24% of the CSU system’s 460,000 students could be going hungry. The report also found that as many as 12% of students suffer “housing displacement,” such as homelessness.

Crutchfield said having quantifiable data helped shift the narrative from a part-time job being the solution to fix the “starving student” perception to showing the problem was much bigger. And it “ generated evidence that helped policymakers and higher ed administrators act and invest,” Crutchfield said.

The research, Crutchfield said, showed that  the cost of higher education includes higher costs for food and housing, as well as things like childcare, transportation and computer services.

Following the research, CSU launched the Basic Needs Initiative and went from 11 campuses having programs for food insecure students to all campuses now having Basic Needs staff.

But the needs of students keep rising, with the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating their plight: In 2019, food pantries were serving more than 35,000 students annually. In the last year, that number was around 77,000. In 2019, CSU campuses assisted around 3,400 students with CalFresh applications; in the last academic year, campuses assisted around 16,000 students, according to data shared with LAist from CSU.

Gap widens and needs persist 

Speaking to a network of coordinators from CSU’s network of schools, Perez said the Basic Needs Initiative needs to go beyond being reactive to more proactive.

The CSU system, she said, is losing  between 25,000 to 29,000 students a year in their second or third year, with a significant number of them identifying as Latino.

“ Friends, we have a leak in the system that we have to close because we are doing a social injustice to our students,” she said. “When we invite you in, say we want you here, we believe in you, and then all of a sudden they go away without any acknowledgement, no one contacts them, no one comes with a plan to bring them back.”

The institutions, she said, were not set up to serve students who benefit from Basic Needs programs. For example, students are being withdrawn, dropped or failed from a class because they have a financial hold on their account — even though some of them rely on financial aid.

In its next iteration, Perez said the Basic Needs Initiative will go beyond just strengthening student support services to address what is happening in the classroom, bringing together other university departments and community organizations.

“Many of the answers lie in our local communities,” she said. “And so it's making those intentional connections for transportation, childcare, housing.”