Santa Clara University

The Food and Agribusiness Institute funds Dr. S. Andrew Starbird’s Hunger Index research, completed in collaboration with the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. 

The Hunger Index was developed to measure hunger for the most food insecure households within specific counties.  Food assistance provided in both counties has increased in 2008, but not faster than the rise in unmet food needs.  The Hunger Index also calculates the number of meals that are provided by various food assistance organizations and programs: SFHB, Children and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), Meals on Wheels, School Meals Program, Senior Nutrition, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the food stamps program), and Woman Infant and Children (WIC).  The county food assistance programs provided 90 million meals in 2008 in Santa Clara County and 23 million meals in San Mateo County. 

The Food and Agribusiness Institute hopes to expand the Hunger Index research to include all Bay Area counties in the coming years.

The creation of a new education and community garden on campus begins this year under the leadership of the Environmental Studies Institute and with the support of the Food and Agribusiness Institute as well as the College of Arts and Sciences and the Ignatian Center. The garden will soon bloom on the vacant lot at the corner of Benton and Sherman streets, just one block from Lucas Hall.

The Bronco Urban Garden (BUG) program, a new environmental justice outreach initiative, will utilize the garden to serve the greater community. BUG will work with several community-based organizations and schools to help build and nurture community and school gardens in San Jose, improving community food security and environmental literacy.

BUG Americorps members will help build new gardens (including SCU’s garden) and will provide teacher training, garden assistance, gardening resources and educational program support for our community partners. The neighborhoods that will be served this year include Gardner, Washington, Alma, and Alviso.