{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-article-tsx","path":"/primefoodpolicy","result":{"data":{"primeArticle":{"slug":"prime.foodpolicy","excerpt":"As Bruins face food insecurity across campus, university-run and student-run organizations clear the way to keep Bruins fed.","headline":"Fighting Food Insecurity","author":"Tulin Chang Maltepe and Jacqueline Jacobo","authorbio":"","authoremail":"","authortwitter":"","coverimg":"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/prime.foodpolicy/image1cover-0eb690177e58f93d0a83da07ada2a517.jpeg","covercred":"Nikole Liang","coveralt":"Illustration of a variety of foods such as a box of pasta, banana, soup stock carton, cookies, jam, sliced bread, carrot, cereal, canned corn, canned beans, tuna can, and tomato sauce can.","articleType":"article","updated":"","content":[{"type":"text","value":"For Rocio Perez, a 2023 alumna of UCLA’s graduate public policy program, academic pressure was just the start of her daily responsibilities. In between balancing her internship tasks, fellowship duties and graduate student workload, Perez was also the primary breadwinner for her family of four. Her income helped pay her parents’ rent in addition to covering her tuition. Financially stretched thin, she could not always cover her basic needs, including food."},{"type":"text","value":"Prolonged periods without a substantial meal and the stress of her schoolwork left Perez feeling overwhelmed."},{"type":"text","value":"\"When you’re stressed and you’re hungry, you’re just not going to get what you’re working on,\" Perez said. \"You’re not going to get your homework, your tests are going to suffer, and it’s just a very horrible feeling to have when you’re hungry.\""},{"type":"text","value":"In recent years, university-run and student-run organizations alike have implemented new basic needs access and education programs to support food-insecure students. However, students and faculty believe that these resources cannot fully support the number of students experiencing food insecurity."},{"type":"text","value":"According to a 2016 study by the University of California Global Food Initiative, 42% of the UC student population experiences food insecurity. This study and food justice advocates on-campus use the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s definition of food insecurity, which includes not only individuals consuming low quantities of food but also those primarily consuming nutritionally low-quality foods."},{"type":"text","value":"\"Food insecurity is a lack of access to fresh, affordable, culturally and personally appropriate food choices,\" said Dr. Janet O’Shea, a professor for Cluster M1: \"Food: A Lens for Environment and Sustainability\" and chair of the Department of World Arts and Culture/Dance. \"Food insecurity is also a situation where someone has to choose between healthy and enjoyable food and other kinds of necessities, like paying their rent or paying for transportation or childcare.\""},{"type":"text","value":"Perez experienced this tradeoff firsthand while renting an apartment in Westwood."},{"type":"text","value":"\"The apartments around there are becoming incredibly expensive, and, that’s where a lot of our money is going,\" Perez said. \"Second, bills. Third, maybe tuition. Fourth, food.\""},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"Food is nourishment ... How can anyone continue in school or continue to thrive, or even just do the bare minimum if they aren’t well fed?\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Even students not shouldering Westwood rent face unique challenges to making ends meet. Coming from a low-income family, fourth-year gender studies student Augustine Udukumbura was not always able to cover all of their basic needs. While Udukumbura lived at home and attended community college, their pantry was never full."},{"type":"text","value":"Udukumbura said their access to food affected their mental health and academics."},{"type":"text","value":"\"Food is nourishment,\" Udukumbura said. \"How can anyone continue in school or continue to thrive, or even just do the bare minimum if they aren’t well fed?\""},{"type":"text","value":"Understanding how food insecurity impacts students’ ability to learn and participate in campus life, UCLA programs and student-run organizations have created projects to support Bruins’ food access."},{"type":"text","value":"For 15 years, the UCLA Community Programs Office has run a food closet in the Student Activities Center. Students can access the food closet for free from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with hours varying during campus closures and finals."},{"type":"text","value":"\"I appreciated that it was there because if I needed a quick snack because I forgot to pack lunch, it was there,\" Perez said. \"I wouldn’t have to use money that I would have used on rent on food. And so it was just a good security to have there.\""},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Illustration of a receipt depicting the high costs of balancing 3-quarters of tuition, 1 year of housing, 26 weeks of groceries, 3-4 textbooks per quarter, and clothing.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/prime.foodpolicy/Screenshot 2024-03-04 at 9.15.44 AM-e742b4dd636fcd0c3e7fde1ef20ebfc6.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Nikole Liang/Daily bruin\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Initially, the food closet contained different types of instant food. Over time, CPO staff have shifted the closet’s focus to providing more nutritious and culturally or religiously accommodating foods, CPO director Antonio Sandoval Ayala said."},{"type":"text","value":"\"A lot of our students come from communities where there’s high incidences of diabetes, high blood pressure, hypertension,\" Sandoval Ayala said. \"We want to make sure that we’re not perpetuating those things as well. So, whenever possible, we’re trying to add fresh fruits and vegetables.\""},{"type":"text","value":"Across campus, chef Julia Rhoton, the culinary arts coordinator at the UCLA Teaching Kitchen, teaches students and UCLA affiliates how to sustain themselves with cost-effective ingredients. As a part of UCLA Recreation, the Teaching Kitchen hosts sessions to educate participants on fundamental kitchen skills – from how to bake bread as a beginner to concocting a breakfast of champions."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"You go through our programs, and you learn how to feed yourself in its most basic form, no matter where you come from.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"\"The recipe that we taught today for the pediatric residents program was specifically designed that every single ingredient could be purchased with … EBT or at the 99 cent store,\" Rhoton said. \"We don’t try to insist that everybody go to Whole Foods.\""},{"type":"text","value":"Rhoton also values making the Teaching Kitchen a shame-free learning environment. She said that she has worked with adults who have never made a salad or a meal for their children because they did not know how. Rhoton added that growing up without access to healthy groceries or opportunities to learn culinary skills contributes to this lack of experience."},{"type":"text","value":"\"You go through our programs, and you learn how to feed yourself in its most basic form, no matter where you come from,\" Rhoton said."},{"type":"text","value":"Besides university-based initiatives, students at UCLA may also qualify for food stamps programs like CalFresh, the California branch of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Through this program, students can receive an electronic benefit transfer card which can be used to buy up to $291 per month of groceries at most stores."},{"type":"text","value":"Once Udukumbura and Perez received their CalFresh spending cards, they could buy food for both themselves and their families. Additionally, Udukumbura said having an EBT card allowed them to purchase foods outside of what was available in their parents’ home. This flexibility gave them more control over their options and a sense of independence, they said."},{"type":"text","value":"However, third-year human biology and society student and UCLA CalFresh Initiative lead Selene Lam said the CalFresh application process can be challenging. The month-long application process requires a phone interview with a county caseworker."},{"type":"text","value":"Rejections sometimes occur even when students are food insecure, Lam said. For example, the county rejects many graduate students’ CalFresh applications because the income they receive through teaching surpasses the qualification threshold. However, because of the high rent prices in Westwood, many of these graduate students struggle to pay for basic needs beyond housing."},{"type":"text","value":"\"A big issue is that a lot of times, even the county workers don’t understand all of the student exemptions,\" Maria Beaucage, a student at UCLA School of Law, said. \"So there’s kind of a knowledge gap there.\""},{"type":"text","value":"To help prevent this issue, in 2023 Beaucage co-founded the Bruin Food Access Project, a pro-bono program out of the School of Law, where law students and lawyers from the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles navigate case appeals. For example, if a student does not feel that they have received an adequate amount of benefits or if there is an issue processing their CalFresh application, the BFAP will help them appeal their case."},{"type":"text","value":"Students can also turn to the UCLA CalFresh Initiative, an organization run out of the CPO that helps individuals apply to CalFresh."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"It was very traumatizing to some students that they had this need, and equally traumatizing to be seen as unworthy of UCLA.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Despite these organizations’ efforts to create access, some students are still reluctant to reach out for help because of the stigma surrounding food insecurity. Sandoval Ayala said that when the CPO food closet first opened, students would often sneak into the closet with the lights off to avoid being seen. He explained that this shame was difficult for students to deal with, given many CPO patrons already had a feeling of not belonging as Bruins."},{"type":"text","value":"\"It was very traumatizing to some students that they had this need, and equally traumatizing to be seen as unworthy of UCLA\" Sandoval Ayala said."},{"type":"text","value":"Fourth-year political science student John Luke Piepgras has seen this culture of silence among his peers. As the external vice president of Swipe Out Hunger, a student organization that provides free dining hall meal swipes to food-insecure students, he said he hopes his organization can help remove the shame."},{"type":"text","value":"\"(We) let people know that food insecurity is an issue, both as awareness for people who aren’t experiencing it and then destigmatizing it for people who are,\" Piepgras said. \"Just knowing that you’re not alone in dealing with it and it’s more the university’s fault than it is yours.\""},{"type":"text","value":"Piepgras added that one pathway to address food insecurity is improved university communication about the cost of basic needs to students prior to them enrolling at UCLA. While the university advertises how much financial aid it gives out, that financial aid does not always cover the cost of food and other necessities, he explained."},{"type":"text","value":"Perez also noted that the university can do more to alleviate food insecurity on campus. When she was a graduate student, UCLA had just begun allowing students to use EBT cards to buy food at the UCLA Store. Perez said that this greatly expanded her access to a larger quantity of convenient foods like cup noodles, as well as her access to fresh fruits. She added that she hopes the university will extend the same policy to the restaurants and cafes across campus."},{"type":"text","value":"In December, UCLA began accepting EBT cards at the <a href=\"https://www.asucla.ucla.edu/pressreleases/calfresh-now-accepted-at-health-sciences-store\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UCLA Health Sciences Store</a>. In January, the <a href=\"https://www.asucla.ucla.edu/pressreleases/ucla-store-furthers-food-accessibility-on-campus-as-third-storefront-begins-to-accepts-calfresh-for-food-groceries\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">North Campus Shop</a> located in LuValle Commons also began accepting EBT cards. As of February, no restaurants have begun accepting EBT cards."},{"type":"text","value":"Lam also said that UCLA should expand its dining options to students who do not live on the Hill. Currently, most UCLA students living off campus cannot purchase a meal plan. In November, UCLA Dining launched a pilot meal plan for students who live in a select group of university apartments. However, this policy does not extend to students living in other university apartments or non-university residences."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Illustration of a hand holding a bowl of red soup sitting on a table.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/prime.foodpolicy/image2-47b40ff958cd7bf2a8ffb3d4b038b93b.jpeg\",\"credit\":\"Nikole Liang/Daily bruin\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"\"What I would hope for the university to do is to provide more leeway for students who are off campus or students who commute, who don’t even live close, they can have access to dining halls so they don’t have to worry about food,\" Lam said."},{"type":"text","value":"Lam added that UCLA could increase awareness about how to maintain basic needs while living off campus without access to dining halls."},{"type":"text","value":"\"Once you move off the Hill you’re just left to figure out how to cook for yourself, how to get food, stuff that no one really teaches you about,\" Lam said. \"So maybe more education modules on that.\""},{"type":"text","value":"This is not the only way Lam said UCLA fails to support students. She said that supplying food security programs with additional funding and the UCLA CalFresh Initiative with law student staff would be beneficial changes. Yet, Lam believes that the university is not prepared to take these necessary steps."},{"type":"text","value":"\"I think inherently, UCLA just does not have the capacity to care for this many students, and it doesn’t have enough resources for the good quality that every student deserves,\" Lam said."},{"type":"text","value":"While O’Shea also noted that the UC’s offices could do more to fight student food insecurity, they mentioned that the UC is in a difficult position because of decreasing state funding."},{"type":"text","value":"Due to this lack of funding, O’Shea said that grassroots organizing will ultimately play the biggest role in overcoming student food insecurity. Similarly, Lam said the responsibility to fill in the basic needs services gap falls on student organizations such as Swipe Out Hunger."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"Our program isn’t a systemic solution. Ours is more like a band-aid solution.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Despite the wide reach of student-led programs, Piepgras said that these organizations don’t fully tackle the problem of campus food insecurity. Regarding Swipe Out Hunger specifically, Piepgras said that its swipe donation program is just a temporary fix."},{"type":"text","value":"\"Our program isn’t a systemic solution. Ours is more like a band-aid solution,\" Piepgras said. \"Even though we’re distributing that many meals, that’s not close to addressing people’s chronic needs.\""},{"type":"text","value":"Piepgras believes that while UCLA programs have room for improvement, the UC system still has an opportunity to transform higher education institutions’ approaches to students’ basic needs."},{"type":"text","value":"\"Right now the UC system is probably like 15, 20 years ahead of the rest of higher education when it comes to infrastructure around basic needs, as bad as it still is,\" Piepgras said. \"It kind of creates this market pressure. Universities start falling in line and start aligning their resources with what students want out of school.\""},{"type":"text","value":"Udukumbura said that by collaborating with students, UCLA has the opportunity to build a system of resources that better addresses student needs."},{"type":"text","value":"\"I think it really should be like an integrated community system,\" Udukumbura said. \"Because if we have only the university do it (build resources), it becomes heartless and bureaucratic,\""},{"type":"text","value":"Perez shares Udukumbura’s sentiment."},{"type":"text","value":"\"Students know students best,\" Perez said. \"I think working together to make sure that student needs are heard and the university providing support – by that I mean financial support because that’s usually what it comes down to – would be beneficial to a lot of students.\""}]}},"pageContext":{"term":"winter24","slug":"prime.foodpolicy"}},"staticQueryHashes":[]}