The COVID-19 years have been hard for everyone. But few have felt the pinch as acutely as students, who have needed to take classes from home in the midst of a global crisis. To make matters worse, many college students and families with children experience major financial hardship and struggle to pay for basic expenses like food and utilities, making it difficult to focus on learning and succeed in school. No one can read or do homework in a cold, dark house!

Last year, Oregon Energy Fund launched the Year of the Student, a dedicated effort to help low-income students pay their bills. Our first program provided a monthly energy assistance stipend to the families of students at KairosPDX, a K-5 charter school. We’re delighted to announce this program has been renewed for a second year thanks to a $10,000 grant from our partner CareOregon, allowing us to create a productive home environment for even more students.

We also established two new programs to help older students pay their expenses. The first, a partnership with Portland State University, will create an on-campus energy assistance fund for PSU students facing financial hardship – the first of its kind in the nation. We’ve also partnered with Get Schooled, a digital counseling service that prepares high schoolers for college and the job world. By reaching low-income students through texts and online tools, we can connect them directly with necessary resources like energy assistance.

We’re proud to address this overlooked need and look forward to adding more programs soon. Support our work today with a donation to Oregon Energy Fund.

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