Gifted Share: Justin Mendez

Justin Mendez was born in Los Angeles, matriculated through public schooling in K-12 in Palmdale, and became the first in his family to attend college by enrolling at Santa Monica College. Being involved during community college in student organizations and working with community non-profits, he developed his passion for social justice and supporting underrepresented and minoritized populations. Justin transferred to UCLA and received his B.A. in Chicana and Chicano Studies with a double-minor in African-American Studies and Education. He achieved his M.A. in Education from UCLA with a specialization in Race and Ethnic Studies. Justin then worked for a college-access non-profit in low-income communities throughout Los Angeles and initiated a multi-campus young Men of Color program to reduce racial and gender disparities for students in grades 9-12. Then, while working at Norco College from 2017-2020, he led efforts in creating mentoring and empowerment programs for Men of Color, Foster Youth, and first-year students. Justin currently serves as the Basic Needs Program Manager at Long Beach City College. He stays inspired by the resiliency of his students as they accomplish their educational goals through their hardships, and continues his passion of supporting marginalized students’ mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being.

The LBCC Basic Needs Program provides support for all currently enrolled LBCC students who face difficulties accessing food, housing, or transportation resources. With a holistic approach to well-being, we help connect our students to basic needs resources such as free bags of groceries and grocery gift cards, housing agencies and emergency shelters, as well as mental health clinicians, career services, and other county benefits and social services. The LBCC food pantry is called The Viking Vault, and we host bi-weekly, drive-thru, Grab & Go events for our students to pick up their free grocery bags with social distancing. College students facing these type of basic needs insecurities is not new, however since the Covid-19 pandemic there has been an increase of students in need of emergency support. With many of our students experiencing homelessness, unemployment, and food insecurity on a daily basis, the Basic Needs Program is thankful for the generosity of the Long Beach community’s food and monetary donations that are critical for our continued efforts.