Giving Compass' Take:

• Tacoma Community College (TCC) is partnering with local nonprofit organizations to provide housing and assistance to its homeless student population. 

• How can donors elevate these types of partnerships?

• Check out the Giving Compass Homelessness guide for donors. 

Four years ago, Dorothy Gorder was living under the I-5 bridge in downtown Seattle. Addicted to meth and heroin, she lived in makeshift shelters fashioned out of cardboard boxes and pallets, draping clothing to block out the wind. Her car had been stolen.

It was Tacoma Community College, or TCC, that helped her finally find a home for herself and her youngest son, now 3.

Gorder was able to move into her apartment thanks to a rental voucher she received through the College Housing Assistance Program, or CHAP, a collaboration with the Tacoma Housing Authority, which provides vouchers for subsidized rent to 150 students who are, or may become, homeless.

Widely reported research has shown surprising levels of hunger and homelessness among American college and university students. Some have been found living in their cars in campus parking lots; others rely on food banks, often stocked by classmates.

Now colleges and universities themselves are pulling together more permanent solutions, often in collaboration with local housing authorities and nonprofit partners.

Read the full article about colleges taking care of homeless students by Charlotte West at The Hechinger Report