{"id":749,"date":"2025-03-26T16:26:58","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T16:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/agroecology\/?p=749"},"modified":"2025-03-26T16:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T16:33:09","slug":"student-basic-needs-research-and-action-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/agroecology\/2025\/03\/26\/student-basic-needs-research-and-action-continues\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Basic Needs Research and Action Continues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Student researchers <strong>Wanyu (Mary) Xiang<\/strong> and <strong>Amelia Koenig<\/strong> of the <strong>Agroecology, Climate Resilience, and Food Justice (ACRAF) Lab<\/strong> presented their work at the <strong>Sustainability &amp; Environmental Justice Student Research Symposium<\/strong> on <strong>March 11, 2025<\/strong>. Their research highlighted critical disparities in <strong>food and housing security<\/strong> among Santa Clara University students, drawing from the <strong>2023 Food Security and Basic Needs Survey<\/strong> (800+ respondents). Key findings include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>28% of students experienced food insecurity<\/strong>, with disproportionately higher rates among marginalized groups:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>African American\/Black (30%)<\/strong>, <strong>Latin\u00e9 (28%)<\/strong>, and <strong>first-generation students (44%)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>First-generation students face <strong>twice the food insecurity rate<\/strong> of their peers and <strong>1.5x higher housing insecurity<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These disparities underscore the urgent need for <strong>institutional action<\/strong> to create a more <strong>equitable, sustainable, and just campus<\/strong>\u2014especially as marginalized communities bear the brunt of climate crises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Progress &amp; Challenges: The Basic Needs Committee<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong>In response to ACRAF Lab\u2019s earlier research, SCU established the <strong>Basic Needs Committee<\/strong> (2023\u201324), uniting students, staff, and faculty to develop an <strong>action plan<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1DlackDNx6Cw-7QxphCPJI8eFl2_Rso2c\/view?usp=drive_link\">While progress has been made <\/a>(e.g., hiring a <strong>Basic Needs Coordinator<\/strong>), the 2023 survey revealed critical gaps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Only <strong>40% of students<\/strong> know about the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scu.edu\/osl\/basicneeds\/\"><strong>Basic Needs Program<\/strong><\/a> (Bronco Food Pantry, etc.).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Among food-insecure students, awareness drops to <strong>38%<\/strong> (vs. 42% of food-secure peers).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>To address this, the Committee has formed <strong>three working groups<\/strong> this year to advance <strong>targeted outreach, policy recommendations, and institutional support<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Innovation in Action: Food Recovery &amp; Advocacy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>SCU Food Alert Slack Channel<\/strong>: Launched by ACRAF Lab member <strong>Mary Xiang<\/strong>, this platform <strong>centralizes food recovery and mutual aid efforts<\/strong>, mobilizing students, staff, and faculty. <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/439hocZ\"><em>Join here!<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1SU3CiEhtYKcIGSelq67ocdd_brgMoVmsufrFk5Fk5q4\/edit?usp=sharing\"><strong>ASG Resolution S.R. 8 (2025)<\/strong><\/a>: Co-authored by Xiang, this resolution pushes to:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Expand resources<\/strong> for students in need.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Destigmatize<\/strong> conversations about basic needs insecurity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Increase awareness<\/strong> of existing support systems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>At the <strong>ACRAF Lab<\/strong>, we turn research into action. Our findings expose systemic gaps in basic needs security\u2014but we don\u2019t stop there. We push for institutional change (<em>Basic Needs Committee<\/em>), build grassroots solutions (<em>Food Alert Slack<\/em>), and amplify student voices (<em>ASG Resolution<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Here\u2019s how you can be part of the movement:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Join the SCU Food Alert Slack<\/strong> to redistribute surplus food and support peers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Demand institutional action<\/strong>: Read and share <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1SU3CiEhtYKcIGSelq67ocdd_brgMoVmsufrFk5Fk5q4\/edit?usp=sharing\">S.R. 8<\/a> with faculty and administrators.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Stay informed<\/strong>: Follow our work\u2014because data without mobilization changes nothing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Hunger is a policy choice. Together, we can rewrite the rules<\/strong><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Student researchers Wanyu (Mary) Xiang and Amelia Koenig of the Agroecology, Climate Resilience, and Food Justice (ACRAF) Lab presented their work at the Sustainability &amp; Environmental Justice Student Research Symposium on March 11, 2025. Their research highlighted critical disparities in &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/agroecology\/2025\/03\/26\/student-basic-needs-research-and-action-continues\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"qubely_global_settings":"","qubely_interactions":"","kk_blocks_editor_width":"","_kiokenblocks_attr":"","_kiokenblocks_dimensions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"gutentor_comment":0,"qubely_featured_image_url":null,"qubely_author":{"display_name":"cbacon","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/agroecology\/author\/cbacon\/"},"qubely_comment":0,"qubely_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/agroecology\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>","qubely_excerpt":"Student researchers Wanyu (Mary) Xiang and Amelia Koenig of the Agroecology, Climate Resilience, and Food Justice (ACRAF) Lab presented their work at the Sustainability &amp; Environmental Justice Student Research Symposium on March 11, 2025. Their research highlighted critical disparities in &hellip; Continue reading &rarr;","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":751,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749\/revisions\/751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}