The average person—the average person who doesn’t have to worry about making ends meet, that is—might not know what CalFresh is. Santa Monica College has an outreach project manager—Thaddeus Phillips—whose entire focus is helping eligible students sign up for CalFresh. “A lot of people think of it as food stamps, or as EBT cards. Essentially, it’s the California version of the federal program SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and helps pay for groceries, for those who qualify.”
SMC’s Director of Basic Needs, Sharlyne Massillon, points out that Thaddeus is particularly well-suited for a role that is so vital to supporting students in their journey. “Thaddeus has openly shared his story of growing up with a single mom who also received food stamps while attending college.” And his background—a familiarity with CalFresh, from his time working with the Department of Children and Family Services—certainly is an added plus.
In the Beginning
Today, Layli Maparyan—Thaddeus’s mother, and the biggest influence in his life—is an executive director
for women-centered research in academia. His parents divorced when Thaddeus was very
young, and Layli had a major role in raising him; Thaddeus spent most of his childhood
in Athens, Georgia. When she was in graduate school in Philadelphia, money was tight. So she took her children to the local WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) office.
“They checked our blood iron, and gave us coupons,” Thaddeus says. “And she went to
the grocery store to get some eggs and bread, because those were the things she could
get with those coupons. Then she made egg sandwiches for dinner.” But Layli didn’t
eat that night—she wanted to make sure her growing, hungry children had enough.
His mother’s personal trajectory inspires Thaddeus. “She is the smartest person I know. She’s successful, and has done a lot of great things. But at the same time, she struggled, having kids she needed to support—and I don’t want people to have to suffer [like that].”
The influence of resilient, world-changing women in Thaddeus’s life goes back a generation further. His grandmother, Mary Worthy, was a student at Spelman—which is close to Morehouse—around the time that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was teaching there. “She took classes from him, marched with him,” Thaddeus recalls, and draws an arc from his grandmother’s activism to the work he does today at SMC. “It’s not so far removed that people had to struggle and fight for things. It’s also about being in service to others, and doing this to make a better future. That’s what [my work] is all about . . .”
A Cycle of Support
Thaddeus has been working at SMC since 2021—first as a counselor, and then as a project
manager—but before that he interned at the college, while a graduate student in USC’s Master of Social Work program. He is a proud community college product—transferring from Los Angeles City College to UCLA, where he earned a BA in Psychology. What brought him into this field?
The answer is, again, “service to people.” In reference to his undergraduate studies
in psychology, Thaddeus reflects that “the emotions we feel within ourselves and for
one another are important. And sometimes we need a little help or guidance processing
all of that.”
Eventually, he decided to focus on the very practical aspects of service, which led
him to social work. This resolve took him to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services where he was an eligibility worker for Medi-Cal and CalFresh, and then to the Department of Children and Family Services as a children’s social worker, doing both continuing services and emergency response.
(He continued in this even while beginning his graduate studies at USC).
The leap to working at SMC was a natural, and even fated, one. “It is kind of hard
to navigate a bureaucracy,” Thaddeus says, noting that sometimes even those who work
for CalFresh might not have all the answers. His days mostly consist of answering
queries from students, helping them figure out whether they’re eligible for CalFresh,
and walking them through the application process—which can be knotty, and have lots
of specific requirements. Thaddeus also often does in-person outreach at campus events—his
smiling face and the badge he wears with a QR code to “Get More Money for Groceries” makes him immensely approachable—and works with the SMC Foundation for events like the annual Giving Thanks(giving) to provide holiday groceries to students. He collaborates with Sharlyne and the rest
of the SMC Basic Needs staff and interns who are mostly housed at The Bodega, SMC’s first on-campus pantry and hub for all things basic needs.
“There’s No Risk”
Thaddeus notes that more than 50% of students who are eligible don’t ever apply for
CalFresh—and that this is what the SMC Basic Needs team is trying to address. The
biggest piece of advice Thaddeus would give anyone is this: “There’s essentially no
risk to applying for CalFresh—I often compare it to the FAFSA application for students. The application takes—depending on the family size—45 minutes
to an hour-and-a-half. This can feel a little daunting, but it is something we can
help with.”
The worst thing that can happen, Thaddeus points out, is that the application gets
denied—but it does not “come back on you.” “All this support exists for a reason,”
he says, “And so, I say, just apply anyway.”
Beyond how time-consuming and arduous the application process might appear to be,
there is another barrier—that of stigma. The SMC Basic Needs Team, as Sharlyne points
out, has been intentional about normalizing the entire process of accessing/seeking
out resources. This touches everything from the Bodega’s colors—which are bright,
fun, and inviting—to their marketing and outreach. Thaddeus plays a big part in this
effort.
“Some people don’t realize Thaddeus is quite creative,” Sharlyne says, “and that creativity
is necessary to help in de-stigmatizing Cal Fresh.” She points out examples of his
creativity: the CalFresh branded stickers which were added to pumpkin pies students
received during the multi-day Giving Thanks(giving) event, with a QR code that led
to more information about CalFresh.” The revamped CalFresh webpage—which lays out information in an accessible, organized, and concise way—is Thaddeus’s
brainchild, too.
Community college campuses are mainly commuter campuses. And when students, who are
mostly non-traditional, transfer or move on to a career, “we want to make sure that
they have some stability, that they have some knowledge of the resources that can
help them and their families,” Thaddeus says, pointing out that the “super high cost
of living” in Los Angeles makes “a little help go a long way.”
Extra-Curricular
A self-identified introvert, Thaddeus stays centered by practicing breathing exercises
he learned while taking yoga classes, and by “trying to be very honest with myself
about what I need.” He has learned when to seek out community, and when to sit back
and be with himself.
He has a pastime that gives him that much-needed solitude: playing video games. A
recent favorite is Like a Dragon, which Thaddeus says is “also very humanistic” and he likes Sonic the Hedgehog, too. Another fact most people might not know is that Thaddeus was also a video game
tester for a few years (indeed, his love of video games was part of the draw of Los Angeles, a hub for the video game industry) and he has his name in the credits of roughly
19 video games.
“People are like, how did you go from video games to psychology and resources?” Thaddeus
says with a smile. “I think the arts are beautiful in a lot of ways. Video games to
me are art. And the arts are a way for us to escape and feel heard and seen. To me,
that’s very much about our wellness and our wellbeing.”
To be in the presence of Thaddeus is to understand that whoever—and whatever—has made
him everything he is did a tremendously good thing.
* * *
SMC in Focus Volume X, Issue 6
Dream Chaser
SMC to Columbia transfer Hunter Doradea is one of just 11 students worldwide chosen to be a Future Nobel Laureate Scholar. Read Article
Fit for Hollywood
Chimechi Oparanozie. Remember that name. The erstwhile SMC multi-sport athlete is making his big play in the newly released wrestling movie, “Unstoppable.” Read Article
Hair, Hair! Barbering is Here
SMC’s Cosmetology Department now offers a degree and certificate in barbering, which prepares students for success in a rigorous, quickly changing field. Read Article
For Thaddeus, it’s Personal
Thaddeus Phillips, CalFresh project outreach manager, connects eligible SMC students with state-funded resources for groceries. He knows first-hand the difference it can make. Read Article
Bragging Rights
A counselor publishes a book to guide young adults starting their education/career. An Accounting prof. has a piece published about his journey from community college to Stanford. Read Article
Cultural Exchange
SMC student Aldo Barrera is teaching English in Spain, sharing his knowledge about the United States while learning about Spanish culture. Read Article