The University of Houston-Downtown (UHD) has announced it has expanded its existing partnership program with the Houston Food Bank to provide food scholarships for fresh and healthy meals to all UHD students.
Students can apply for the food scholarship by visiting the Food for Change Market in UHD’s One Main Building and filling out the required registration form, Tremaine Kwasikpui, director of UHD Student Activities said.
With this expansion, students now have the opportunity to receive a maximum of 60 pounds of food from the Food for Change Market each week. Items that will be available to UHD students include frozen meats, fresh fruits and vegetables, non-perishable foods, toiletries, baby supplies and cleaning products, according to a UHD release.
All UHD students are eligible for the program, regardless of their grade point average or the number of hours taken during a semester. Over 600 students are currently enrolled in the program.
“Nationwide, food insecurity is a problem on college campuses, including UHD,” Kwasikpui said. “We’ve expanded the program to support all of our students, but we couldn’t do that without the support of our partners at the Houston Food Bank and UHD president, Dr. Juan Sánchez Muñoz.”
“The Houston Food Bank has opened the Food for Change Network,” Kwasikpui said. “When students are part of the network, they can visit any HFB pantry to access food using their scholarship.”
As part of partnership with the Houston Food Bank, the university is participating in a study to assess students’ performance after the scholarships have become in effect. Students can volunteer to participate in the study, and Houston Food Bank researchers will review academic performance and other data measuring student success.
“Student scholarship recipients not only can feed their own student success at the Food for Change Market, they also can feed their families,” Kwasikpui said. “It’s very gratifying to know that these food scholarships support our students and the community.”
