‘Hunger-free campus’ program may soon come to Louisiana colleges – Louisiana Illuminator

Louisiana faculty college students battling getting sufficient meals may quickly get help from their universities. A invoice to set up the “Starvation-Free Campus” program superior Tuesday from the Louisiana Home Schooling Committee.

The proposal’s writer, Rep. Barbara Freiberg, R-Baton Rouge, mentioned she was shocked to listen to so many faculty college students reported being meals insecure. Based on a survey by the HOPE Middle, 4 out of 10 Louisiana faculty college students reported being meals insecure, which the federal authorities defines as somebody in a family with restricted or unsure entry to ample vitamin.

The survey additionally discovered one-third of scholars within the state didn’t have the funds for to purchase meals and 20% misplaced weight as a result of they couldn’t afford to eat.

Freiberg’s invoice would have the Louisiana Board of Regents set up a grant program that might ship cash to high schools designated as “hunger-free campuses.” To obtain the designation, a university must:

• set up a Starvation-Free Campus activity drive;
• notify college students who obtain need-based monetary support of their potential eligibility to obtain Supplemental Vitamin Help Program (SNAP) advantages;
• maintain or take part in no less than one anti-hunger consciousness occasion per educational yr; and
• assess the necessity for an on-campus meals pantry

Larger training leaders echoed to the committee that meals insecurity was a “important concern” for his or her college students.

Chris Broadwater, vp for workforce coverage for the Louisiana Group and Technical Faculty System, mentioned this system could be “a small step ahead, however a vital one” in combating meals insecurity on faculty campuses.

“Now we have to determine how we’re assembly all of those wants” of scholars, he informed the committee.

Jim Henderson, president of the College of Louisiana System, mentioned meals insecurity is an issue “hidden in our society that folks don’t like to speak about.”

“After I was a pupil, I may work 300 hours over the course of summer season and pay for my whole faculty training the subsequent yr,” Henderson mentioned. “At present, a pupil must work virtually 2,000 hours to come back shut to only the schooling and charges to go to highschool.”

Frieberg’s invoice will transfer to the Home ground.