TCC Emergency Funds Helping Students Stay on Track for Success

Tidewater Community College has provided individuals in the Hampton Roads area with education and skills-based training for decades. TCC not only offers a wide range of areas of study and trade skills but has resources that help students overcome challenges that may hinder them from learning in the classroom and earning a degree and/or certification. 

Around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, TCC started encouraging students to reach out to the newly established office, the Student Resource and Empowerment Center (SREC), to utilize the Student Emergency Assistance (SEA) funds. SEA funds are available to students who are experiencing financial hardship. The intent of this resource was to provide small assistance grants to help students overcome financial issues that make it difficult for students to continue and succeed in their academic programs during the pandemic. It continues to serve the TCC student body today.

Davien Armstrong, Lead Case Manager of SREC, has been connecting students to resources at TCC since July 2022. He previously worked as advisor for Open Door, a federally funded program that helps first generation students and students with disabilities with academic performance. 

“When COVID came around and we received a lot of money through the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the funding really opened the door for us to provide assistance on a much broader scale. We were able to help with more items financially than we were previously,” Armstrong said.

The small assistance grants can go towards books, car repairs, childcare, commencement regalia, medical/dental expenses, rental assistance and deposit, required course supplies, transportation, tuition, and other living expenses.

Armstrong notes that there are other types of assistance that SREC has available including diaper distribution, food bank, internet and technology access, mental healthcare services, mothers’ room access, and more. The SREC has services available for all students from a variety of backgrounds.

Armstrong says that SREC also can help students build a financial plan for long term stability as they enter the workforce or go on to a four-year institution to earn their bachelor’s degree.

Recently, students have reached out to SREC with gratitude after they were assisted financially in tough times.

Melody Romines, a General Studies student on the Portsmouth campus, recently received financial assistance to help repair the roof on her house. 

She is originally from Texas and said that TCC has been her support system with her family out of state. She served active duty in the military from 2016 to 2022 and worked at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth until spring 2024. She decided she wanted to go back to school to expand her educational background to provide her with more opportunities for her and her children. 

Romines said her roof was leaking and worried about the safety of her family with the anticipated arrival of snow and other inclement weather. She said she started supporting her and her two young children on her own after a separation from her ex-husband and subsequently didn’t have the funds to repair it.

“My roof started leaking and needed to be replaced. I filled out an emergency fund request form, and Ms. [Brittany] Scott was able to help me,” Romines said. 

She emphasized that TCC quickly provided the financial assistance in a short turnaround time.

“This time last year, I was donating plasma to pay for expendables because my disability check and GI bill only covered my bills,” Romines said.

She said she was able to receive extra diapers and utilize the food bank to help support her family. She also received the CCAMPIS childcare scholarship and now her kids attend the daycare on Portsmouth’s campus while she attends class and works for the Dean of Retention, Valerie Burge-Hall, Ph. D., at the welcome desk.

Romines praises the college and staff for all the support and opportunities she continues to receive, “I’m very thankful that TCC had all these programs, and I’m very thankful that the environment is very open and welcoming. There are people that will help you and provide resources. You just have to be humble enough to ask for help.”

Romines plans on entering nursing and possibly transferring to Old Dominion University to earn her Bachelor of Nursing degree.

Teneka Newsome, a Human Services student also on the Portsmouth campus, received financial assistance for her apartment funds after a turn of challenging events occurred including an eviction and the death of loved ones.

In the fall of 2023, Newsome decided that she wanted to go back to school and advance her education in human services after working as a personal care aid for over 15 years in the behavioral health sector. Newsome had previously struggled with school during her childhood in the rural town of Ahoskie, North Carolina, where she left high school without a diploma because she didn’t pass a state reading level test.

In 2024, Newsome said she was witnessing her world falling apart while still enrolled in school. In the spring, she was living with her parents when a foreclosure occurred, and then her uncle, whom she was very close to, passed away. In the fall, she hit the lowest of lows when she and her children were evicted from her parents’ house. A month later, her teenage son passed away. 

Newsome received funds for her new apartment shortly after her eviction. She says that TCC not only helped her financially but gave her the extra support she needed when she was going through deep emotional and mental turmoil. She praises TCC’s mental health resource (Timely Care) and faculty and staff for all the support she received.

“If you’re going through things, don’t be afraid to talk and share because so many people are so willing to help. I know if you come from a long background, there are people who are skeptical to help because they don’t know what the situation really looks like, but then there are people who have good faith who say, ‘I do trust that if I do this for this individual, they’re going to do right. And that’s what I strive to do now. Anything that has been given to me, I try to pay it forward,” Newsome said.

Newsome was accepted into the College Attainment for Parent Students (CAPS) program that guides low-income single mothers throughout their higher education experience. She said that wanted to give back to TCC after all the assistance the college has provided her and her family. Last December, she created a kids’ toys donation and drive for the holiday season as vice president of her Human Services club.

“TCC is a star. The community speaks for itself. Everyone who I have spoken to or encountered have been so welcoming and nonbiased. TCC has transformed my life as a whole. I found support within the community and resources here on campus,” Newsome said.

Newsome plans to transfer to Norfolk State University to earn her bachelor’s degree in social work and eventually earn her master’s degree to be a licensed social worker. She recently earned a certification as a peer recovery specialist.

Armstrong strongly encourages students to seek out resources that TCC offers. “This is entirely a judgment free zone. We’re not here to judge anyone. We’re purely here to help in every sense of the word. We’re not here to pry. We simply want to know, ‘What can we do to help?’”.

The four campuses: Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach all have SREC offices with case managers available during the weekdays.

For more information about SREC, visit https://www.tcc.edu/service-support/empowerment-center/.