Survey result: College students struggle with food insecurity

Survey result: College students struggle with food insecurity

Basic Needs Support | 0 comments

College students experience many challenges throughout their higher education journey. Students face many challenges which can include family expectations, financial debt and dealing with mental health problems. One of these challenges include being food insecure. The Health Affairs calls it the “Invisible Epidemic” as 30% of all college students experience food insecurity at some point in their college career. Breaking this down further, 38% are from two year colleges and 20% are students at a four-year institution. 

Recently a former Let’s Go intern, Nathen Ortiz, conducted a survey and asked the Let’s Go community if they experience food insecurity. 31.8% of respondents were community college students, 31.8% were CSU students, 9.1% were from a private institution, 27.3% were students at a UC institution. These students were asked a variety of questions related to food insecurity, such as if they also experienced housing insecurity, if their institution offered a food pantry and how accessible said food pantry was. About 45.5% of the respondents consider themselves food insecure, 31.8% do not consider themselves food insecure and 22.7% said they were not sure. From this data, it is gathered that almost 50% of the respondents were food insecure and from these correspondents, 60% also struggled with housing insecurity. Challenges that contribute to students struggling with food insecurity have to do with not receiving enough financial aid, having to pay for other expenses and bills, losing jobs, and having financial emergencies. 

Suggestions students presented to address food insecurity among college students and improve food services in their institutions were:

  • Institutions being more vocal of resources outside school like food banks and other food-related programs
  • Giving leftover food to students
  • Outreach programs and outside resources
  • Grocery store gift cards
  • Providing stipends or emergency funds for students in need
  • Giving free meal swipes for students 
  • Providing free grocery food stamps and other forms of food insecurity support for eligible students 

Source: https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/forefront.20220127.264905

Taking Care of Your Body During a Pandemic: Daily Walks, Workouts, and Dancing!

Taking Care of Your Body During a Pandemic: Daily Walks, Workouts, and Dancing!

Mental Health & Self Care | 0 comments

By MONICA AGUILERA

Boba-drinking, Zelda-playing, Horror-watching brown girl from Oaxacalifornia.

A lot of our daily routines have halted like driving to work or school, meeting up with friends, and working out. While some of these are still not yet safe to do, there are ways to shift these activities into our new reality. Gyms will most likely be one of the last public spaces in California to open but we have gathered some tips for you to stay fit at home! 

Tips: 

  • Youtube workouts: There’s plenty of workout videos on Youtube that you can follow along to. Try searching for what fits your environment! For example workouts in small spaces, backyard workouts, low impact workouts, no equipment workout, etc.
  • Outdoor Workouts: While gyms are not open, outdoor activities are still open for you to safely participate in. This includes going for a walk, running, hiking at your local trails.  Just make sure to follow the CDC guidelines of staying 6 feet away from others and wearing a mask. Find your local open state park here: State Parks COVID-19 Resource Center
  •  Working out with others: Feeling lonely? Don´t feel too down, you can still work out with others without having to leave your home. Set up a time for you and your friends to work out together via facetime, zoom, etc. Follow an online video or influencer, or switch it up and have someone in your group lead!
  • Daily routine: Little activities like dancing, cleaning, taking your pet for a walk all count as a fitness activity, add fitness into your daily routine and you’ll forget you’re even working out.

Staying fit is not only good for your body but your mental health as well. It allows you to destress and get away from the overwhelming amount of news that is currently happening. But at the same time, we also understand that what’s going on in the world might make it difficult to do things like getting up and being active. Remember to be patient with yourself, you are doing the best you can. Taking a break and just staying in bed, is taking care of yourself and your body just as much.