from the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |
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JAFSCD peer-reviewed article by John C. Jones, Lauren Linkous, Lisa Mathews-Ailsworth, Reyna Vazquez-Miller, Elizabeth Chance, Jackie Carter, and Isaac Saneda (all at Virginia Commonwealth U) |
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College student food insecurity continues to be a pressing public health concern, affecting a significant portion of college students nationwide. Recent research estimates that approximately 35-45% of college students experience food insecurity, highlighting the urgent need for effective interventions to ensure consistent access to nutritious food. In response to this challenge, researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Virginia, launched a pilot program aimed at mitigating food insecurity in its student body. The article reporting on this research, "Smart Little Campus Food Pantries: Addressing food insecurity at Virginia Commonwealth University," was published on April 16.
The pilot intervention deployed miniature food pantries across VCU's urban public university campus, providing anonymous access to shelf-stable food 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Over the course of nearly two school years, the research team systematically restocked these pantries on a weekly basis, while sensors installed in the pantries collected data on user "interactions" with the pantry door.
KEY FINDINGS
Users interacted with the pantries nearly 8,000 times over a period of nearly two school years, and in many cases took food. Given the frequent disruptions of sensor functions, these data are conservative estimates of true interaction with the pantries.
Interactions occurred at all hours of the day, but most occurred in the early afternoon. Roughly 800 interactions occurred in the middle of the night, between midnight and 8 am.
Ethical, logistical, and financial challenges to more expansive data collection make it difficult to make a stronger case toward true effectiveness, but the pilot appeared to be effective in mitigating student food insecurity based on what data the team could collect.
No significant instances of vandalism, injury, or illness were observed during the pilot period.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH -
Creating a decentralized, anonymous, miniature food pantry network on a college campus that is restocked regularly and allows for 24/7 access is feasible. Such a program may effectively help mitigate food insecurity for college students.
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Research on administrative and information technology improvements to enhance the sustainability and effectiveness of decentralized food pantry models will likely increase the effectiveness of such programs.
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Other upstream interventions both at the college level, such as systematizing the donation of meal plan swipes, or national level policy change, such as increased funding or eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), may be more effective than a miniature food pantry program. However, a program such as this may be actionable by interested staff or faculty, while affecting change upstream may not be possible.
The research identified several areas for improvement. Challenges such as the decentralized nature of the model, instability of sensor systems, and heavy reliance on undergraduate students posed potential obstacles to long-term sustainability. Nevertheless, with revisions and improvements, the model shows promise as an effective intervention for addressing food insecurity on college campuses. This research concludes with a reflection by the research team about the complicated role colleges must play regarding food insecurity of their students given contemporary political and economic forces.
The success of the pilot intervention at VCU underscores the importance of innovative strategies in addressing college student food insecurity. By leveraging data-driven approaches and interdisciplinary partnerships, higher education institutions can play a pivotal role in supporting the well-being and academic success of all students, regardless of their economic circumstances. The data sets for both school years are included as supplemental files. For more information about this study or article, contact corresponding author John C. Jones at jonesj39@vcu.edu SHARE ON YOUR SOCIALS
A sensor network built into a system of decentralized, anonymously accessed miniature dry-goods food pantries at @VCU Virginia Commonwealth University documented over 8,000 interactions with the pantries over two school years. This research supports the idea that similar decentralized, anonymous access points for emergency food systems may be effective at mitigating food insecurity, especially on college campuses. Read the new @JAFSCD article for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2024.133.016
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Photo above: A Little Ram Pantry (the name is a nod to the VCU mascot); photo by John C. Jones.
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"Transformational change is not the usual incremental or adaptive change but is defined as 'a dramatic evolution of some basic structure of the business itself—its strategy, culture, organization, physical structure, supply chain, or processes.' . . . I believe the changes in food systems, past and future, have been and will be just as transformational as the changes in agriculture. . . . The corporately controlled, global food system of today is very different from the community-based, local food systems of the 1940s. Most important, there is no assurance that consumers are being offered an assortment of foods that best meet their needs and preferences or that food prices are as low as they would be in competitive markets. So, what are the implications for the future?"
Read the entire column for free in the spring issue of JAFSCD.
John Ikerd has contributed Economic Pamphleteer columns to JAFSCD since its inaugural issue in 2010. See all of his columns here.
Image above: The produce department at the Walmart Supercenter in Ellicott City, Maryland, USA. Photo taken in 2014 by Ben Schumin and shared via Flickr.
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