As we wrap up the fall quarter and look to preparing materials for winter courses, I wanted to reach out to ask whether you might consider including some language in your syllabi or course slides that could let students know about how to access free food if they are in need.
Recent Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES) data reveals that 42 percent of UC San Diego undergraduates experience some amount of food insecurity, with certain groups of underrepresented students burdened at even higher rates. As you can imagine, this not only impacts the academic success of our students, but also their overall well-being and ability to simply thrive as individuals.
In the true spirit of Collective Impact work, as aligned with the Chancellor’s strategic plan, a group of faculty, staff, students and researchers in the Affordable Learning and Financial Support Working Group have been focusing on ideas to unite and supplement the great work already being done to reduce student food insecurity on our campus. The Working Group resolved to reinforce ongoing efforts by the UC San Diego HUB Basic Needs Center, Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science students and researchers, and other campus colleagues to raise awareness about food insecurity amongst our students. Specifically, they developed a communications plan to boost awareness of and applications to CalFresh, California’s food stamps (SNAP) program. A key element is asking academic instructors and mentors like you to help get the word out among your students.
As part of this communications effort, we hope instructors might include brief messaging about food security and CalFresh in their course syllabi and/or on classroom screens at the start and end of class. For your convenience, some sample text for syllabi is included below and the Collective Impact Resource Downloads webpage has a PowerPoint slide that can be downloaded for classroom use, as well as the syllabi language.
Sample syllabi language:
