Speaker Coughlin Voices Support for Hunger-Free Campus Bill in Massachusetts Legislature, Points to New Jersey’s Success

(TRENTON) – Food insecurity and a lack of resources to obtain nutritional food remains an obstacle for students working to advance their education across the nation. In a letter of support for legislation to address college hunger submitted to the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Higher Education for its hearing on Thursday, Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin (D-Middlesex) writes of New Jersey’s Hunger-Free Campus Act:

            “As New Jersey has worked over the past years to lower barriers to higher education opportunities, providing students with the corollary support to meet their basic food need was crucial… This year, $1 million in total grant funds were distributed across eleven public colleges and universities. After speaking directly with students and university administrators at one of the recipient institutions, it was clear that having access to a network of on-campus support provided students with more stability and confidence to seek out help.”

Speaker Coughlin has long championed initiatives to fight hunger among New Jersey’s more vulnerable populations, sponsoring a package of bills signed in 2019 and another package signed last week during Hunger Action Month.

Similar to New Jersey’s Hunger-Free Campus Act, the Massachusetts bill would support institutions of higher education who establish on campus food pantries, require that they put together a task force on student hunger, help enroll eligible students in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and coordinate anti-hunger programming on campus.

New Jersey was the second state to pass its version of the Hunger-Free Campus Act after California. If legislation were successfully moved, Massachusetts would become the fifth state behind only Maryland and Minnesota with such a law, according to advocacy organization Swipe Out Hunger.