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Abstract
At institutions of higher education across the country, since the economic downturn of 2008, student affairs professionals have been hearing anecdotal evidence that students are hungry. In 2009, Chaparro, Zaghloul, Holck, and Dobbs conducted one of the first studies on food insecurity in higher education and found that there was a need to create a dedicated response to the problem. Cady (2014) noted that while data on food insecurity is scarce, based on the campus food bank movement, it is a salient concern in higher education. This multi-site case study was designed to elicit knowledge associated with developing, implementing, and maintaining dedicated responses focused on alleviating food insecurity at institutions of higher education. This qualitative study was conducted at three sites: a private research university in the nations capital, a Hispanic-serving institution in the south central United States, and an independent liberal arts college in the northwest United States. The purpose of this study is to provide a qualitative understanding of how institutions of higher education develop, implement, and maintain dedicated responses focused on alleviating food insecurity so that the results can be used by other institutions. The case study was designed to identify barriers and opportunities involved in designing campus-based dedicated responses to food insecurity. For this multi-site case study, experiences of professionals were explored through semi-structured interviews based on the work of the College and University Food Bank Alliance (CUFBA) (2017); through reviewing relevant documents such as policies, processes, procedures, and marketing; and through a photo representation project that allowed the researcher to visually observe each of the dedicated responses (Bignante, 2010; Johnson & Christensen, 2014). For each of the sites, the primary response was the establishment of a campus food pantry. In an effort to identify the emergence of both potential common themes or patterns and differences from the data there was a review of the interview transcripts and researcher notes as well as of the documents and photos provided. Findings were aligned with CUFBA recommendations and reflected the importance of documenting campus need, establishing a steering committee, identifying appropriate space, creating strong partnerships, developing effective operational strategies, and focusing on sustainability through marketing and fundraising. Recommendations for practice are included.