The UCLA Food Security Work Group approved a plan last Wednesday that will allocate $75,000 in an effort to increase the accessibility of healthy food options for students struggling to afford a meal.
In May, the University of California Office of the President provided $75,000 to each UC campus after President Napolitano launched the Global Food Initiative last July. On June 24, the group decided to spend funds on upgrading existing food programs and securing future funding sources.
“The $75,000 grant from Napolitano is just a one-time allocation,” said Louis Tse, a member of the task force and graduate student in mechanical engineering. “We have to make sure a portion of the funds will be used to secure future funding sources to ensure our projects can be sustained.”
The task force allocated $32,500 to three existing food programs: the Community Programs Office Food Closet, the Student Affairs Food Vouchers Program and the 580 Cafe, which provides free meals on- and off-campus to students who cannot otherwise access healthy food options.
Depending on what each food program lacks, the funds will be either used to improve infrastructure or provide healthier food options, said Brenda Robles, a research analyst for the public health department and a member of the task force.
The funds directed toward the 580 Cafe will be used to purchase additional infrastructure that will allow the program to provide hot meals rather than just non-perishable foods, said Heather Rosen, the undergraduate student government president. The $17,500 going toward the CPO Food Closet increases the amount of healthy food options available in the pantry, Rosen added.
The group allocated $40,000 to fund a researcher, who will manage and develop a future plan to sustain food security, and a coordinator, who will supervise existing food projects.
The Healthy Campus Initiative Graduate Student Researcher would analyze which resources are needed the most on campus and a strategic plan for the future, Robles said.
The researcher would work closely with the CPO Student Food Logistics Coordinator, a position in charge of overseeing current food programs, in order to survey the amount of students using their programs and analyze which programs need improvement, Robles added.
The remaining $2,500 would go toward creating a student-run grocery store modeled after the Berkeley Student Food Initiative, a grocery store outside UC Berkeley which provides organic produce to students, Rosen said.
The grocery store will provide local produce to UCLA students at a convenient location nearby campus, Rosen added. Rosen is currently working with the UCLA Student Food Collective to find a suitable location for the store and aims to open the store sometime in the school year.
The task force also intends to develop an evaluation process that allows the group to analyze the effects of their investments, which will begin in late July.
“We want to understand the impact of our program, such as the number of students using our services,” Robles said. “However, there’s a stigma against people who receive free food and we need to evaluate in a way that’s not intrusive.”