California State University, Dominguez Hills
IN-47: Innovation A

CSUDH is surrounded by food deserts- areas where residents have low mobility access combined with low availability to fresh food- and serves many students who live in these food deserts and/or are food insecure. A recent CSUDH study shows that 62% of its students are food insecure, in comparison to the CSU-wide average which is 41% of all students. To address this need, the Office of Sustainability along with the Basic Needs Initiative, Campus Dining, Student Affairs, IT, and community partners have built up an elegant but effective network of sustainable food sources tied with a student-run distribution system. This includes a Campus Urban Farm that grows fresh produce for campus food pantries and Campus Dining, a student-run Food Recovery Network chapter that recovers unsold food from Campus Dining that would otherwise go into the landfill, and the addition of a community Farmers Market on campus to increase the availability of fresh produce as well as EBT and Market Match services for on and off campus community members. Campus IT has also developed a CSUDH Eats app which notifies students of extra food at events to further food recovery efforts on campus. The Office of Sustainability has also piloted cooking education demonstrations that have uncovered unique challenges and best practices for encouraging students to take advantage of these resources. These elements work together to increase access to fresh, locally farmed produce for the campus and community, to directly alleviate food insecurity, and to combat food waste while creating opportunities for engagement and education around sustainability.