Pop-Up Boutique Offers Students Free Early Childhood Items
LONG ISLAND CITY, NY (May 21, 2024) — On May 21, LaGuardia students were invited to a pop-up boutique to shop for free essential items for children ages 6 months to 5 years old. Items included baby shampoo, body wash, diaper, crip, diaper bag, and clothing. The pop-up boutique was hosted in room C-316 and was created through the LaGuardia Student-Parent Initiative to support student parents.
The initiative began in 2019 with guidance from Koun Eum, Ph.D., Associate Professor in Social Science, Dr. Cheri Carr from the Humanities Department and Sonya Evariste, Director at the Early Childhood Learning Center (ECLC), who have supported and advocated for student-parents at LaGuardia Community College. Currently, the Initiative members are Brenda Cotto (ECLC), Cheri Carr (Humanities), Julie Weinstein (Social Science), Koun Eum (Social Science), Nathan Tosh (Women’s Center and LGBTQIA Safe Zone Hub), Raheem Brooks (CUNY Fatherhood Academy), Regina Varin-Mignano (Wellness Center), and Sonya Evariste (ECLC),
Dr. Eum said pursuing higher education while taking care of children takes additional resilience and commitment.
“Our student-parents are incredibly resilient, yet have unique needs for support,” Dr. Eum said. “It is often difficult for them to create a collective voice as they often run back and forth between classes, work, and pick-up and after-school care. We hope that the Pop-Up Boutique shows our student-parents that we do care about them, and we do support their journey at LaGuardia. We also hope that this event raises awareness among faculty and staff about the unique challenges faced by student-parents and encourages further support initiatives.”
“Since its inception the initiative has developed and provided various support programs, including the Power Hour workshop, Family Pride Student Panel Discussion Events, Voices of Students, and the development of a comprehensive list of campus resources for student-parents,” said Dr. Eum. “The pop-up boutique event is a new initiative hosted by the Student-Parent Initiative in collaboration with LaGuardia CARES. We recognized that raising young children incurs additional financial responsibilities, which can be challenging for our student-parents. To our knowledge, this is the first year we have organized a donation drive and the pop-up boutique to offer essential items for LaGuardia students with young children.”
To create the pop-up boutique, Dr. Eum said donation boxes were placed at various locations on campus, and monetary donations to LaGuardia CARES during the donation drive were used to purchase high-demand items such as diapers.
“Through the pop-up boutique, we were able to collect email addresses of the student-parents,” Dr. Eum said. “In the past, student-parents were identified mostly through word-of-mouth, unless they were ECLC parents or Fatherhood Academy students. With the email that student-parents shared at the pop-up boutique, we plan to conduct a survey for student-parents to identify the items they need most for future donation drives. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to faculty and staff, and students whose generosity made this initiative possible.”
Dr. Eum said she hopes to make the pop-up boutique an annual event each May in recognition of National Family Month.
“We believe that a sustained program is important to provide consistent support to raise awareness and build a sense of community among student-parents,” Dr. Eum said.
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LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC), a Hispanic-Serving Institution, located in Long Island City, Queens offers more than 50 degrees and certificates, and more than 65 continuing education programs to educate New Yorkers seeking new skills and careers. As an institution of the City University of New York (CUNY), the College reflects the legacy of our namesake, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, the former NYC mayor beloved for his advocacy of underserved populations. Since 1971, LaGuardia’s academic programs and support services have advanced the socioeconomic mobility of students while providing them with access to a high quality, affordable college education.
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