Jocelyn Villalobos is a first-generation senior majoring in Social Welfare and minoring in Education. Prior to transferring to UC Berkeley, Jocelyn was the Student Trustee of the Contra Costa Community College District and a student intern for the City of Pittsburg Digital Office for New Americans. She collaborated with the City’s Mayor and staff to create a website for the new program and fabricated a legal resource list for undocumented residents.
At Berkeley, she was an IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistant and helped file free tax returns for low-income individuals and families and volunteers at Night on the Streets-Catholic Worker serving breakfast at People’s Park.
Today, she is UC Berkeley’s CalFresh Undergraduate Lead at the Basic Needs Center helping students apply for CalFresh, conducting outreach, and helping dispel myths. Currently, she is writing her honors thesis on CalFresh utilization and digital technology and is a research assistant for a CalFresh research team.
Jocelyn is joyful, curious, and creative. Her research interests include improving the social safety net, alleviating poverty, social psychology, stigma, digital marketing, and organized crime. She is most passionate about alleviating issues regarding basic needs injustices and poverty.
This summer, Jocelyn hopes to intern for a local California office that advocates and protects the most vulnerable and helps people get access to social services. She aspires to continue her education and receive a Master’s of Social Work (MSW) in Community Change.
Major(s): Social Welfare
Minor(s): Education