Alissa Parlante, Campus Compact AmeriCorps member serving at
Capital Community College, Hartford, Connecticut
Mission Statement
Capital Cares Pantry is a place for students of Capital
Community College to have a convenient, easily
accessed place to get assistance in a private, safe,
and friendly environment. Capital Cares Pantry’s goal
is feeding student success by providing necessities
such as food, clothing, and personal care products.
Background
Capital occupies part of the historic G. Fox
Building in downtown Hartford, Connecticut. The
pantry is located on the 7th floor.
The drop in enrollment as it relates to COVID has
fluctuated between 15% - 20%; the lowest drop ever.
As this host site's first AmeriCorps member, my
project focused on supporting the development and
management of sustainable new community
partnerships with institution departments that
support the alleviation of food insecurity on campus.
Capacity Building Impact
In Connecticut, food insecurity was estimated to
increase 28% (actual increase: 32%) due to COVID,
which means that 1 in 7 adults and 1 in 4 children
were at risk of hunger. With a poverty rate of 28.1% in
Hartford, Capital applied for an AmeriCorps member
to build the pantry program and capacity due to
increased food insecurity.
I created this informational overview video of the
pantry to inform students of our services and how
they can utilize the pantry. This video is posted on
the food pantry page on Capital's main website.
SWAP - Supporting Wellness at Pantries
SWAP is a stoplight nutrition system designed to promote
healthy food choices at food banks &
pantries. SWAP ranks food based on
levels of saturated fat, sodium and sugar
because these nutrients are linked with
increased risk of chronic diseases.
Studies show that people who visit food
pantries experience a double burden of
food insecurity and chronic diseases,
such as high blood pressure and type II
diabetes. I have implemented SWAP at
Capital Cares Pantry as a sustainable
program to be used to help students
make healthier choices when visiting
the pantry.
Hunger Action Teams
Joining Hartford's & East Hartford's Hunger Action Teams
allowed Capital Cares Pantry to build capacity by
collaborating and sharing community resources such as
alternate food pantries and distributions, 211/United Way
resources, COVID testing and vaccine information, and many
other community efforts and events. We distributed this
information to students via bi-weekly emails, the pantry
Instagram page and marketing materials in each curbside
order. HATs are a networking program of Foodshare.
@capitalcarespantry
Fresh Check Day
Fresh Check Day, the signature program of the Jordan Porco
Foundation, is an uplifting mental health promotion and
suicide prevention event for colleges. I partnered with
Helena Carrasquillo to plan Capital's Healthy Eating &
Mental Health Fresh Check Day cooking demo and nutrition
lesson. The presentation was recorded and is used
throughout
Capitals' media
platforms.
Anti Poverty Focus Impact
Many Capital students are low income and non traditional,
including first generation, continuing education, and
students working while attening school. Students that
utilize the pantry are TEFAP participants. My project
connects to my sites mission & vision by improving the
pantry program and making it more accessible for students
to get the essentials items they need to be successful.
Curbside Pick Up Program
In efforts to expand client base and usage, I developed the
curbside pick up program by structuring an order form via
Google Forms, an order receipt, new student intake
spreadsheet, and recruited volunteers to run orders.
This graph demonstrates the positive impact of curbside
pickup on pantry usage after its launch in February. From
December to April, pantry usage increased by 95%.
Resource Development
Over the course of my service, I developed partnerships with
organizations to secure in-kind and cash resources for the
pantry. Partnerships include:
Men in Nursing Club - Coat Drive
SGA - Thanksgiving Turkey Giveaway
Alpha Beta Gamma - Holiday Food Drive
Academy of Aerospace and Engineering - Health &
Hygiene Product Drive
Christ Church Cathedral - Food Drive, Personal Care
Product Donation
Cash and in-kind donations by many amazing individuals!
Challenges
The location of the pantry played a major role as to
why students were not utilizing the pantry. After
surveying students, the most common answers to why
this was were that the pantry was "inconveniently
located" or "too out of the way."
Capital Community College closed for three weeks
due to COVID in late December and early January,
causing all employees to work completely remote.
Volunteer limitations due to COVID restrictions.
My recommendations for future AmeriCorps members
for this specific host site include to remember that it is
a small school , don't expect insant results, and to
reach out to outside organizations - there are many
eager to help Capital! An additional recommendation is
to get creative and to reach out to other anti-hunger
organizations in your area to share and learn concepts
and ideas. I have grown so much from my service
experience - I am proud of the skills I have developed,
the work I have done and the confidence I have built!
By The Numbers
$9,323 In-Kind Resources
$1,750 Cash Resources
226 Students Assisted
6,848 Pounds of Food Received
3,812 Pounds of Food Distributed
COVID-19
Capital Cares Pantry remained closed until September
24, 2020 from its initial COVID shut down. The pantry
opened on an appointment only basis due to public
safety and building restrictions, until January 2021
when the curbside pick up program launched in
response to COVID. Low student usage due to 85% of
classes being virtual presented the opportunity of new
program development to solve our overall biggest
challenge. COVID has pushed AmeriCorps members so
be creative and resourceful, and the concepts I have
developed, executed and implemented throughout my
service is written in a pantry guide/ resource book that
can be used by the next AmeriCorps member or
employee to fill my place.