I have been collaborating with the Jamil Niner Student Pantry, faculty, staff, and students since 2015 to understand food insecurity and other issues facing UNC Charlotte students. Inspired by the Hope Center’s #RealCollege work, we have created a team of people looking beyond “need” and other labels to understand how students at UNC Charlotte experience their education, their assets, and the barriers they face. If you’re new to the topic of student food insecurity, housing insecurity, or related topics, I recommend you watch this video of Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab as she talks about #RealCollege.
We have produced reports, articles, and recommendations based on our work and that of others.
Our current recommendations include increasing awareness of the issue, such as through syllabus language, workshops for faculty and staff, and generally de-stigmatizing the issues and de-mystifying the process of getting assistance.
Other resources include work done by the Hope Center at Temple University, as well as the reports and resources by other colleges. Our recommendations refer to many of these. See also the 2018 report on graduate student funding at UNC Charlotte.
Team: Nicole Peterson (Anthropology), Andrea Freidus (Anthropology), Kim Buch (Psychological Sciences), Sean Langley (formerly Student Affairs), Ellissa Brooks Nelson (Student Affairs), Erin Bentrim (Student Affairs), Heather Dinkins (Anthropology MA program), Kimberly Savage (Anthropology BA program), and many other students: Kara Adams, Jessica Allison, Quinn Barnette, Kylen Blanchett , Ashlyn Booth, Victoria Bracken, Eman Bukhamseen, Ashley Burke, Patrice Bynam, Curtis Chancy, Crystal Cruz, Benji Douglas, Maggie Dye, Daniel Dvorak, Heather Gaffney-Darnell, Corie Gattis, John Hemrick, Corrine Huffman, Taylor Hurwitz, Kyleigh Keen, Janet Lomax, Emily Long, Jessica Mack, Hadley Mason, Alexis Mitchell, Audrey Page, Amy Rhoades, Julian Robinson, Tyler Spring , Christopher Smith, Mitchell Souders, Shanna Stewart, Anna Thring, Stephanie Walsh, Maya Washington, and Yvette Whitley