On August 27, 2018, SparkPoint at Skyline College launched a much-needed project to support student success: SparkPoint Snacks. This project addresses a most basic human need – food – by making free snacks available to Skyline College students with no barriers to access. Intended to dramatically impact student food insecurity and curb the stigma with which it is often associated, SparkPoint Snacks has twelve strategically placed baskets filled with popular snacks around campus, each one hosted by a sponsor program working with SparkPoint to ensure that the baskets are fully stocked and supported at all times. SparkPoint distributed over 2,100 snacks to students in the first week of operations, and will continue to disburse more throughout the academic year.
SparkPoint Snacks is a synergistic component of Skyline College’s paradigm of comprehensive support for the whole student. While it addresses food insecurity, it also serves as a point of contact for other SparkPoint services, all of which are specifically designed to assist students to overcome financial barriers – each snack has a SparkPoint business card attached to it in order to connect food-insecure students with CalFresh application assistance, financial coaching, the SparkPoint Food Pantry and more.
If you have any questions regarding SparkPoint Snacks or other SparkPoint services, please contact Chad Thompson, Director for SparkPoint and Career Services, at thompsonc@smccd.edu.
Article and Photo by Chad Thompson
