Aramark, a food service provider, is collaborating with non-profit Swipe Out Hunger to design solutions to the problem of food insecurity on campuses.
The non-profit partners with colleges and universities to provide financially and logistically efficient anti-hunger programs.
Both will fund a Research and Development (R&D) Lab that seeks to surface and promote high impact, innovative solutions to address campus hunger.
Swipe Out Hunger will develop advocacy strategies to catalyze public funding for higher education basic needs programs and piloting cutting-edge projects on campuses.
“Swipe Out Hunger has been developing its meal swipe donation program since 2010 and now we’re looking to provide support to campuses that complement and go beyond meal swipes,” said Rachel Sumekh, CEO and founder of Swipe Out Hunger.
Aramark also supports the initiative by Philadelphia based Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice to drive innovative practice, evidence-based policymaking, and effective communications.
Nationally, approximately half of two-year and four-year students are food insecure. A similar report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that 30 percent of college students today are food insecure.
Lack of access to a reliable supply of nutritious food can make a student fail assignments and exams, withdraw from classes or the university, score lower grade points and even stay away from such important career opportunities as internships.