7/1/2023 0 Comments Teampaper snap![]() ![]() Once final approval is granted, which is expected soon, Homestead Market will be the first campus store at any of the 29 public colleges and universities in Massachusetts to accept SNAP benefits. The opening this fall of Homestead Market, our campus convenience store, takes our work to the next level by providing students convenient access to fresh produce, pantry essentials, and quick meals they can purchase with SNAP benefits. ![]() ![]() HCC’s Thrive Student Resource Center, which runs HCC’s food pantry and helps students apply for food subsides through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, has been doing this work for years. Once we address their most basic needs, we see them thrive. Students who experience food insecurity have the same desires as everyone else to change their lives through the power of education and positively contribute to their communities and the world at large. This is one of the reasons I have been such a vocal advocate for the “Hunger Free Campus Initiative” now under consideration by the state Legislature. My story of poverty is not any more special than that of others who grew up poor, but the piece that I’ve carried forward is a desire to reduce the stigma associated with food insecurity and other forms of poverty and give students the lift they need to help them unlock their academic potential. This was pre-pandemic, and we know that the pandemic has exacerbated a lot of these basic needs issues.Īt HCC, we have made it a priority to address these non-academic barriers, which can fundamentally cripple a student’s ability to succeed in the classroom.įollowing my inauguration as HCC president in 2017, the college, working through the nonprofit HCC Foundation, established the President’s Student Emergency Fund to provide grants to students needing critical and immediate financial support.Īs someone who grew up poor, this issue is important and very personal to me. ![]()
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