Cerritos College hosted its annual Community Resource Fair in the Student Center on March 25 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. which featured 27 community agencies and 12 on-campus agencies.
The Community Resource Fair is to provide information to students and the community with programs that help with food, shelter and many other resources.
This year marks 16 years of the Community Resource Fair. The fair is held every year during the spring semester.
Attendees started by signing in at the entrance and then were offered a survey to complete to receive a raffle ticket while also having the option of spinning a wheel to win prizes.
After getting through the entrance, attendees would head down to the area where the booths of the community agencies were located.
The event is put together by Shannon Estrada, who has been working at Cerritos College for 38 years and is the reentry resource specialist on campus.
Estrada used to do the resource fair by herself and now she partners with student accessibility services, CalWORKs, the Falcon’s Nest and the reentry program career services.
The fair was advertised on all their websites, through flyers and posters that are put out throughout campus along with around the community and also social media platforms like Instagram.
The tables were manned by student staff and student volunteers.
There were different booths from the community like CalFresh which helps students apply for programs that are offered.
They also assist low-income families who might qualify for help with food.
Analissa Cabrera is a first-year student at Cerritos College attending the Community Resource fair as a class assignment found the fair to be very interesting with a lot of information.
Lupe, the benefits counselor at Disabled Resources Center in Long Beach, an independent living center stated, “We offer multiple programs and services such as housing support giving you information for low-income housing, applying for section 8, if needed.”
The Disabled Resources Center also helps with applying for CalFresh, Medicaid, Calworks, GR, SSI, SSDI, employment services and volunteering support.
Cerritos College student Mino, a natural science major, accidentally found out about the fair. He said, “I just came in to get food and realized that the event was also going.”
He’s gone to a few of the spaces he was aware of and has also gone to SAS and Falcons Nest to find out what he can do.
He said he liked the event and found the information very helpful.
Mino also showed appreciation as he said, “It seems so easy to talk to everyone, no one seems to be like not wanting to answer questions, everyone is here because they want to be here, it feels like at least.”
More information is offered on their websites including the Cerritos College website.
