MassBay Community College’s Student Development Office conducted an on-line survey of enrolled students to determine if students had food insecurity and found that more than half (52%) who participated in the survey reported “low” or “very low” food security. This statistic is comparable to the results of a national study of community college students conducted by The Wisconsin Hope Lab called “Hunger and Homelessness in College”, which found 56% of students reported “low” or “very low” levels of food security.
MassBay held the food insecurity survey in the Spring 2017 semester after hearing some students lack food or are hungry and wanted to explore how many students were affected. The responses were collected from 308 MassBay students and showed differences in food insecurity by subgroup: 55% of women, 75% of Black or African American students, and 62% of students who took classes on the Framingham campus had food insecurity.
To fight hunger on its campuses, the Student Development Office and many college wide departmental offices has spearheaded food insecurity initiatives to ensure members of the MassBay community have access to food while on campus. These include;
Since Spring 2016, MassBay partnered with The Greater Boston Food Bank to host a monthly mobile food market with free fresh fruits and vegetables, located on the Wellesley campus. Students on the Ashland and Framingham campuses can pre-register, and the food will be brought to those campuses for them. This has benefitted more than 2,648 students, faculty and staff since it came to campus.
Snack bins have been placed in Student Development, Athletics, Advising and Financial Aid on the Wellesley Hills campus, offering free, sustainable snack options to all students. The snack bins are also in Advising and Student Development on the Framingham campus.
The Student Development Office, Student Government Association and the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences held a student essay contest around hunger issues. The two winners of the contest will join Student Development staff in attending the National Convening on College Food and Housing Insecurity Conference in Philadelphia later this month.
By providing this support on-campus, the hope is to eliminate a stigma surrounding food insecurity, give access to healthy food options and eliminate a potential barrier for college success.
MassBay has also started a Student Hunger Assistance Fund, where individuals can make a donation to the MassBay Foundation, and their contribution will go directly to helping students have access to food. To make a donation visit; https://donate.massbay.edu/sslpage.aspx?pid=298
For more information on food resources at MassBay Community College; www.MassBay.edu/foodresources.
Issue Date:
November, 2017
Article Body: