The Brief

Community colleges across California are searching for ways to help students who don’t have stable housing. And for at least one college, that now includes donations for room and board.

A 2019 survey of California community college students found that 16% of them were homeless and that 60% had experienced housing insecurity — that's the inability to pay rent, having to move frequently, or living in a place where personal safety is compromised. The lack of affordable housing can create a barrier to persistence and graduation.

To help, the state set aside money in 2021 to fund a grant program for colleges to build new dorms that will offer housing below market rate.

Sierra College is one of those grantees. The campus is located in Rocklin, just north of Sacramento. Thanks to an $80 million grant, Sierra College is now constructing a new dorm that will provide 350 beds beginning next fall. Students will pay approximately $450 dollars a month.

That price is “incredibly affordable in our region,” said Sonbol Aliabadi, executive director of the Sierra College Foundation. But, she added, “there are students who cannot even afford that.”

So in the vein of how universities endow schools and buildings, the Sierra College Foundation had an idea: create an Endow-A-Bed program. The goal, Aliabadi said, is to make 10 beds available for free. Seven of them have already been funded.

What's the need for inexpensive housing?

Aliabadi has been at Sierra College for nearly two decades. Over the years, she’s worked to help students in all manner of crises: Some were burdened with an emergency expense, others were experiencing homelessness.

Aliabadi recalled one student with a 4.0 GPA who was holding down two jobs while sleeping in his car. “All he wanted was to take a shower in the morning and be clean [when he went to work],” she said.

Faculty and custodians routinely reach out to Aliabadi and her team, asking for them to help students in need.

“I cannot tell you how often I get a call that someone's at our basic needs center, and they're desperate,” she said.

Sierra College set up an emergency fund where students can apply for up to $1,500 to cover anything from health care costs to childcare. The college also cut a deal with a nearby hotel to put up students for short periods of time until they can find permanent housing.

After the state funding for the new building came in, Aliabadi sat down with college president Willy Duncan to do some math. Together, they determined that a one-time donation of $250,000, “with the investment policy that we have in place,” could generate about $7,500 a year, in perpetuity — enough to cover one student’s room and board.

The college then began reaching out to local businesses and other community members to pitch in $250,000 each. A restaurateur who took English as a second language at Sierra College is among those who’ve signed up to endow a bed. Sutter Health and the Associated Students of Sierra College have also made a commitment.

Could endowed beds be a model for SoCal?

When complete, the new dorm will have other benefits too — it will be open year round to make sure current and former foster youth don’t have to worry about finding a place to stay during breaks and holidays.

Some community colleges in Southern California have also received state funding to build affordable student housing. But whether they’ll adopt Sierra College’s endowment model to provide free beds remains to be seen.

Aliabadi, a longtime member of the Network of California Community College Foundations, said colleagues at other campuses have reached out wanting to know details about how the Endow-A-Bed program works.

“If this would take off," she said, "I would be so thrilled."

A slow leak from a chemical tank smeared an orange cloud across the sky of a Southern California neighborhood on Tuesday, but authorities said they quickly got it under control.

Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Aaron Katon said authorities responded to a business that makes cleaning products after receiving a call shortly before noon about the cloud. Police evacuated a nearby middle school as a precaution, Katon said.

They do not yet know what the chemical was, but all shelter-in-place orders have been lifted, he said. The regional air quality management district has deployed staff to the area to investigate, said Connie Villanueva, a spokesperson for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The company, Shepard Bros., could not immediately be reached for comment.

Three company employees reported minor respiratory irritation and declined further treatment, Katon said.

The leak occurred in the city of La Habra near a mix of residential neighborhoods and industrial warehouses about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Anaheim.

Keary Godinez, who works in a nearby restaurant, said she saw what appeared to be a dark yellow cloud spread across the sky. The 20-year-old said she watched students across the street board buses to evacuate, but police told her the eatery could remain open.

“It looked like pollen dust,” Godinez said, adding she didn’t detect a smell from the cloud. “It just kind of smeared in the sky and started going away.”

La Habra Mayor Jose Medrano had urged residents to shelter in place and said some streets were being evacuated.

Luis Gomez, who manages a nearby pickleball program, said earlier Tuesday he saw the cloud, called police and was told anyone within a mile radius of the location was under an evacuation order.

The Los Angeles Lakers will unveil a statue of former coach Phil Jackson outside their downtown arena next year.

The Lakers announced the plan Tuesday to honor Jackson, who led the Lakers to five championships and seven NBA Finals appearances during two stints totaling 11 seasons as their head coach.

The statue will be unveiled April 9 before the Lakers’ home game against Minnesota.

After his famed tenure leading Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls to six championships, Jackson joined the Lakers in 1999 and immediately began another era of major success for the 17-time NBA champion franchise.

His first three teams in Los Angeles won championships behind the dynamic duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, and the Lakers added two more titles in 2009 and 2010 led by Bryant and Pau Gasol. His Lakers also made the NBA Finals in 2004 and 2008.

Jackson set the Lakers franchise record for coaches with 610 victories while leading his teams to the playoffs in every year of his tenure, which ended in 2011.

“Phil Jackson defines championship basketball for a reason,” Lakers governor Jeanie Buss said in a statement. “His masterful approach to coaching brought out the best in some of the greatest athletes to ever play the game. After he accepted my dad’s invitation to join the Lakers, Phil’s unmatched creativity and commitment to excellence restored our championship legacy, bringing five titles and setting a standard of excellence for generations to come. It is a great joy to be able to mark that achievement with the statue he so richly deserves.”

Jackson will be the ninth person associated with the Lakers to be honored with a statue in Star Plaza outside their arena. He joins Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Bryant, O’Neal, broadcaster Chick Hearn and former coach Pat Riley, whose statue was unveiled earlier this year.

Jackson’s 11 championships as a head coach are the most in NBA history. The North Dakota native and former New York Knicks forward is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.