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Last Spring HU Student Congress passed a resolution that led to the establishment of an $80 annual student fee to help institutionalize the Food Resource Center (FRC). With these funds, a new full-time position has been created--in addition to the part-time FRC Coordinator position--Hamline's first Basic Needs Program and Case Management Manager. This position will:
create a new Basic Need Program and Case Management System to support Hamline community members (students, staff, and faculty) in need of assistance with basic needs
establish partnerships with local government and community-based agencies to provide basic needs resources
supervise the Coordinator of the Food Resource Center (position recently held by Sadie Berlin)
The position was posted this past August and the Search Committee began interviewing candidates at the beginning of Fall. The search was successful! Jess Cheney was offered the position and accepted. She holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Minnesota. She is coming to us most recently from St. Paul College, where she was the Gender-Based Violence Prevention Coordinator.
After the search concluded, Chaplain Kelly Figueroa-Ray wrote in an email to students, staff, and faculty, saying:
"As Chair of the committee, I thank the other members of the search committee, Hussein Rajput, Director of Counseling Services; Cassondra Thornton, Coordinator of Orientation and New Student Programs, Laila Abu Hassoun, Academic Advisor in CASA, Elisa Lopez, External President of HUSC, and Keegan Terrone, Multi-Faith Student Lead for Christian Campus Ministry in the Multi-Faith Alliance, for serving as members of the search committee. Finally, thank you to Human Resources Partner, Davi Prashad, who supported the search committee and helped shepherd the entire position search process."Jess's first day as the Basic Needs Program and Case Manager will be January 6th, 2025. As part of her position Jess will supervise the Coordinator of the Food Resource Center, a position recently held by Sadie Berlin since January 2024. In September 2024, Sadie made the tough decision to step down from this position to focus on her graduate school work. To read more about Sadie's new adventures click here.
After Jess settles into her position at Hamline, the search to fill the Coordinator of the Food Resource Center position will be underway. Please look out for a Meet and Greet held in the FRC, for a chance to meet Jess in the new year.
We are all so excited to welcome Jess Cheney to the Wesley Center Department in January and we hope you are too!
Written by Emily Miles '25
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