Progressive Magazine interviews Bria Burris, who speaks on student struggles surrounding housing. Nearly 60% of students struggle with food & housing access - making school success even more difficult. Read more about it here!

Less discussed than the cost of tuition are the ways in which life becomes more expensive when someone decides to attend college. Rogelio Regis, an MATC student himself, expands on these struggles. Read more here!

Read about how Changemaker fellows John Williams & Marz Ezeji worked with the FAST Fund to address one of MATC's biggest issues around student housing. Read more here! 

When John Williams decided to enroll at Milwaukee Area Technical College, he didn’t anticipate the support he would receive from a faculty member outside his major. On June 14, that instructor — Liz Franczyk — will mount her bike for a 24-hour ride, with the goal of raising money for MATC students like Williams. Read more here! 

The FAST Fund at MATC, a non-profit organization that provides quick, emergency assistance to Milwaukee Area Technical College students, is excited to announce that its online application is now available in Spanish by WisPolitics. Link

How FAST Funds Meet Students’ Needs, by AFT. Link here

Outstanding debt can prevent MATC scholarship recipients from enrolling at the school. Listen more here! 

Eric Hoover, a journalist at The Chronicle of Higher Ed,  recently flew to Milwaukee from his home in Washington D.C. to learn more about the FAST Fund, how we work, and why we do what we do. The article, 48 Hours Inside a Student Emergency-Aid Experiment: A small-grant program in Milwaukee offers hope, $275 at a time, against a torrent of needs, is excellent and we are excited to share it with you all. Read more here!

Click here to learn more about FAST Fund during the 2021-22 academic year including total number of students helped, donor profiles, and student success stories.

Even as FAST Funds help to fill gaps in social services today, labor leaders think that in the future, the movement has the potential to organize faculty and staff around advocacy for campus policies that actually close those gaps for low-income students and educators.

The president of the nation’s second-largest teachers' union was in Milwaukee Thursday to throw support behind a pioneering college affordability program at MATC. Read more here.

The Faculty and Students Together (FAST) Fund is partnering with the city of Milwaukee and Mayor Cavalier Johnson as the city approved a $200,000 grant to the FAST Fund which will go students of MATC to help cover basic needs costs.

In the last installment of the StoryCorps-inspired series, we hear from Corey Lee. He’s a father of two who graduated with a business management degree in December.

During his time at MATC, Corey turned to the faculty-run FAST Fund for emergency financial aid. Read more here.

Liana Howard, 29, is a hospital critical care technician, college student and mother. She took classes at MATC over the past couple years with the goal of enrolling in the nursing program. Read more about her success here.

Nearly 60 percent of college students report struggling to access basic necessities, including food and housing. A national program is providing emergency funds to change that.

AFT Local 212’s FAST Fund has helped 1,426 students with basic needs costs over the last five years

When government and colleges come up short in meeting student needs, faculty unions step up

Millions of college students face food insecurity and it’s time for the federal government to step in.

Advancing a federal agenda for #RealCollege students.

Natalie's Everyday Heroes: Dr. Michael Rosen, director of MATC's FAST Fund. Listen to more by clicking on the image!

US Congresswoman for the FAST Fund Gala held on February 21, 2020.

MATC students living on economic margins rely on emergency funding to avoid homelessness, hunger
BY MARGARET CANNON 

A View From The Front Lines Of The COVID-19 Pandemic 

By JOY POWERS 

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Meet five people willing to share the stories of their homelessness –

BY BARBARA MINER

Dr Michael Rosen, acting FAST Fund board member & volunteer, speaks on the concerns around the approval of a for-profit nursing school opening. Listen to more about this City of Milwaukee meeting here.

Liz Franczyk, Elsa Lysette, Charlie Himburg, and John Williams join in a roundtable with senator Bernie Sanders to talk about the upcoming election Read and listen more here!

FOX6 Interviews Liz Franczyk, executive director of the FAST Fund. Watch them discuss the upcoming bike fundraiser and a little bit about what the FAST Fund does for MATC students. Click here to watch! 

TMJ4 covers Liz Franczyk, a local woman ready to ride her bike for 24 hours. On June 14th, Liz will begin riding her bike for 24 hours to raise funds for the local 212 FAST Fund. View the segment here!

Senator Baldwin helps FAST Fund with $500,000 of support, “The FAST Fund at MATC is so grateful for this funding from Senator Baldwin. She clearly recognizes the realities for Wisconsin community college students and the basic needs emergencies they face," says Director Liz Franczyk. Link here.

Local 212 FAST Fund: Helps MATC students with emergency basic needs, by WIS Business. Link here.

Bria is the ultimate FAST Fund success story. Check out this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article to learn more about our Board member and how a little helping hand can make a huge difference.

The first of its kind, the Great Lake FAST Fund Consortium is a regional organizing effort with student Changemaker Fellows and faculty leaders working together to develop an advocacy agenda, increase awareness about students' basic needs and advocate for policy and practice changes.

“Milwaukee Area Technical College is the only college in Wisconsin that has a majority of its students are people of color,” Shea said during the committee meeting Thursday. “Many of them come with all kinds of economic challenges attending school; some of our students are homeless; many of our students are single parents… They’re not asking for a handout as so much as a hand-up.”

While being short on money has been part of college life for decades, for some students the need can force them to quit school. Liz Franczyk, Director of MATC's FAST Fund, is trying to relieve that financial stress for students. Read more here.

Click here to watch video footage of Mayor Johnson's announcement of a $200,000 grant to the FAST Fund 

Clink on the link to read about the struggles and triumphs MATC students endured during the 2020-21 school year, faculty testimonies; and to learn about our amazing donors!

Tiffany Mosby dropped out of high school as a junior, after struggling to read for years. Read about her experiences and journey through MATC here.

Inspired by the long-running StoryCorps series, WUWM invited Milwaukee Area Technical College students to talk about these questions with someone who has helped them on their education journeys. Read more here.

"We've seen a greater need since the pandemic, but at the same time I think all the pandemic did is exacerbated an already existing issue," Franczyk said. "That need was there, it just got worse." 

The most stunning finding of the report is that 93% of FAST Fund students remained enrolled, transferred to another college or university, or graduated from MATC.

Digital Bridge, the non-profit organization that provides refurbished laptops to marginalized communities, delivered laptops for FAST Fund to provide to MATC students.

A new study argues that debt aversion and transportation problems pose major barriers to college completion for Latinx students

Students receiving aid twice as likely to graduate.

An MATC student has overcome some challenges thanks to MATC's FAST Fund program.

FAST Fund partnership with Pete's Fruit Market

Many MATC Students Are Experiencing Homelessness, Survey Finds
By ANGELINA MOSHER SALAZAR 

Local 212/MATC FAST Fund on MPTV’s Adelante