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Reynolds Community College, part of the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), serves students in the Richmond, Virginia, region. Its Student Support Services office focuses on the non-academic barriers that can make it difficult for students to succeed, including food insecurity, housing insecurity, financial emergencies, and navigating public benefits. Through case management, the team connects students to an on-campus food pantry, weekly veggie tables offering free organic produce, emergency financial assistance, SNAP application support, and a network of community resources.
At Reynolds, the resources students needed already existed. The harder problem was helping students learn what was available and connect to the right support at the right time. Many students didn't know what they qualified for or where to start, and some had already tried to find help on their own and come away frustrated.
The Student Support Services team faced a parallel challenge: seeing the full picture of a student's circumstances. A student might tell one staff member they were struggling to afford food, mention transportation problems to someone else, and then surface again when a professor reported they had stopped coming to class. Without a centralized system, those pieces stayed scattered, making it difficult to understand each student holistically.
The stakes showed up in the classroom. "Students can have the ability and the motivation to be successful academically, but then life happens," said Kristen Holt, Counselor of Student Support Services. A student picking up extra shifts to cover rent has less time for coursework; a student facing a utility shut-off notice has trouble focusing on homework. In grade reports, those pressures don't appear as basic needs issues. They appear as academic struggle. The team needed a way to make it easier for students to get help before those pressures pushed them out of school.
Reynolds introduced Single Stop in 2019 under President Dr. Paula Pando, who brought a strong belief that basic needs are central to student success: students can't focus on academics when they are worried about their next meal or navigating a crisis. Reynolds adopted Single Stop ahead of the VCCS systemwide rollout, working with the Single Stop team over the summer to configure the platform and launching it by September 2019. Strong leadership and a staff committed to using the tool helped it take hold quickly.
Reynolds initially used Single Stop as a benefits screener, but the team has steadily expanded its role. Today, the screener is the front door: the way a student first connects with the office. Behind it, Single Stop serves as the foundation for case management, documentation, weekly outreach planning, and reporting. It also gives the team a confidential, shared place for case notes, so any staff member can pick up the thread when a student meets with several people over time.
Reynolds also works to make Single Stop visible and normal. All new students take SDV 100, a required introduction-to-college course, and the first major assignment is a resource scavenger hunt that includes questions about Student Support Services and Single Stop. The screener is also featured on the college website. The goal is for students to see basic needs support as just as routine as meeting with an academic advisor, visiting financial aid, or going to tutoring.
One student came to Student Support Services asking only for access to the food pantry. Hesitant to share more, the student agreed to complete the Single Stop screener and review the results together with staff, an approach the team uses to start judgment-free conversations. The results showed financial stress reaching well beyond food. The student applied for SNAP, then learned about upcoming SUN Bucks summer grocery benefits for their children. From there, staff connected them to utility assistance and summer childcare subsidies. "It just builds and builds," Holt said.
In another case, a student reported being denied SNAP. Reviewing the student's Single Stop record gave Kristen the confidence that the student was likely eligible and should appeal, and she helped the student advocate for themselves through that process. The same history helps staff recognize patterns, such as a student who faces housing insecurity at the same point each year, so they can ask what is driving it and address it earlier.
For the Reynolds team, these stories reinforce a core lesson: referrals can't be disconnected. "There isn't one big intervention that's going to change the circumstances," Holt said. "It's a lot of little supports working together that make it possible for a student to feel like they can focus on school and stay enrolled."
At Reynolds, Single Stop has become part of how the college understands and responds to the challenges students face, from the first day a student shares that something is going on until they graduate. The data it captures also shapes program development. Patterns across students help the team see which needs are going unaddressed, which referrals students struggle to complete, and which groups could benefit from proactive outreach.
Looking ahead, Reynolds aims to move from helping students through a crisis to helping prevent one. Because Single Stop tracks students' histories over time, the team can identify where earlier intervention might have changed the outcome and apply those lessons to future students.
Holt’s advice to other colleges reflects that experience. Technology alone doesn't solve the problem; it takes staff who build relationships, follow up, document their work, and act on what the data shows. "If you have that commitment, Single Stop is an amazing, valuable tool to build your structure around so you can bring those pieces together."
