San Diego Community Colleges Get Grant To Fight Student Hunger

SAN DIEGO, CA – The San Diego Community College District announced Tuesday it received a nearly $100,000 state grant to assist students facing food insecurity at City, Mesa and Miramar colleges.

The funds will be used to bolster the colleges' on-campus food pantries, which each week provide emergency food to hundreds of students who would otherwise go hungry. The grants come from a $2.5 million fund administered by the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office aimed at fighting student hunger.

City College will use the entirety of its $33,000 share to buy non- perishable food. Mesa College will use its $41,000 in a partnership with Feeding San Diego. Miramar College will spend its $20,000 to expand the size of its food pantry and purchase food, according to the college district.

The Community College Equity Assessment Lab at San Diego State University found that 12 percent of community college students in California sometimes aren't sure where they'll get their next meal.

More than 24 percent of San Diego Community College District students reported in an online survey that they "sometimes" didn't have money to feed themselves after running out of food. An additional 16 percent said they "often" faced such a predicament, according to the district.

Among the district's programs is the San Diego City College Emergency Food Pantry, which provides pre-packaged items suitable for an on-campus meal to about 300 students each week.

By City News Service

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